The words “gerund” and “present participle” often get tossed around like they mean the same thing. Some folks think they’re the same, while others see a difference. To keep things easy, let’s just call it a gerund!
Making a gerund in English is super simple: just add ‘ing’ to the base form of a verb. For example:
| ROOT | GERUND |
|---|---|
| eat | eating |
| go | going |
| work | working |
In Spanish, it looks like this:
To create the gerund for -ar verbs, take the root of the verb and add “ando”:
| INFINITIVE | GERUND |
|---|---|
| hablar | hablando |
| cantar | cantando |
| comprar | comprando |
To create the gerund for -er and -ir verbs, just take the root of the verb and add “iendo”:
| INFINITIVE | GERUND |
|---|---|
| comer | comiendo |
| vender | vendiendo |
| vivir | viviendo |
| escribir | escribiendo |
If you want to learn about Spanish irregular gerunds, click here!
USES
1. When a verb acts as the subject of a sentence (like a noun), we use the gerund in English. However, in Spanish, we use the infinitive in these situations:
Smoking is bad for your health.
Fumar es malo para tu salud.
We can also add “el”, to make it more formal:
Smoking is bad for your health.
El fumar es malo para tu salud.
2. In English, when we use a preposition, we need to follow it with a gerund. In Spanish, though, we use the infinitive instead.
I am interested in reading.
Estoy interesado en leer.
3. Both in English and Spanish, we use the gerund as part of a progressive verb form.
I am eating.
Yo estoy comiendo.
Juana was cooking.
Juana estaba cocinando.
And now, let’s play this game. Irregular gerunds are also included, so check this post!
