Please note: comment moderation is enabled and may delay your comment. The most common way to use the gerund in Spanish is to talk about actions in progress, which in English is known as “progressive tenses” and in Spanish as “Perífrasis durativas”.In order to talk about actions in progress in Spanish, we generally use the verb ESTAR + Gerund in Spanish. Q ", "walking" is the form of the verb "to walk" that is being used as a noun but (despite functioning as a noun) can still take a direct object ("the dog"). the gerund and the infinitive forms. Gerundio (Gerund): aprendiendo. "We spend the day laughing." Participio (Participle): continuado. present participle = gerundio; past participle = participio; gerund = no direct translation; Though you may see gerund erroneously translated as gerundio, there is no direct Spanish equivalent to an English gerund. Participles are a different story because it possesses qualities of both adjectives and verbs. For example, “He thinks of resigning soon from his current job.” In this sentence, the gerund is the word “resigning.” This word is clearly a verb as its basic verb notation is “retire.” However, if you closely examine the sentence, the gerund immediately follows the preposition “of,” which makes it an object. in the definition serves to distinguish the the "gerund" from an ordinary noun that may have been derived from a verb. Pasamos el día riendo. Gerund vs Participle. I Ella estaba caminando bajo la lluvia. Similarly, "Walking quickly can be tiring." 2.A participle is the combination of a verb and an adjective. Instead, use a past participle or restructure the sentence. Unlike a gerund, a present participle can act like an adjective that modifies a noun or follows the be verb. If so, then its an adverb, and you use the gerund. A gerund is not the same as a present participle, though they look the same. P The Spanish verb form equivalent to "-ing" verbs in English is known as the present participle or gerund. -ando is the equivalent of adding -ing to an English verb. Since the simple gerund and the present participle have the same form (verb-ing), sometimes it can be difficult to decide whether an -ing form is a gerund or a present participle. use an infinitive in the confusing cases, everything else is a gerund. Fortunately, there are a few simple tricks I will show you to determine if you are The first is a word in verb form that is utilized as a noun whereas participles are verbs that are utilized in sentences to function as adjectives. Noun. The -ing form is a gerund, if and only if, it is used as a noun. SpanishDict is the world's most popular Spanish-English dictionary, translation, and learning website. From the O E D entry for "gerund": lol. Unfortunately a number of textbooks about Spanish (for English speakers) misuse the term "gerund" (treating it as a synonym for "gerundio"). P.S. Both a participle and a gerund are classified as verbals, which, in English grammar, are defined as verbs that operate in a sentence as if they were other parts of speech. → "I kept on studying.". An exciting time was had by all. Free resources to help you enjoy learning Spanish quickly. The definition makes reference to Latin but the same definition applies to English. The tip here is if the word comes after a preposition, or could All rights reserved. It is used to express a continuous action in Spanish, like the English verbs talking, singing, or dancing. Gerund or infinitive? I just don't dunderstand these meanings and what they do. F Gerunds often do not need additional punctuation because verbs must not be separated from their objects or subjects. The word exciting is a present participle used as an adjective to modify a noun or to follow the verb to be. Thus, in "Walking the dog is my favorite form of exercise. Adverb. U • Categorized under Words | Difference Between Gerund and Participle. A gerund is not the same as a (present) participle, although they may look the same because they are not used in the same way. the gerund is modified by an adverb ("quickly"). Ellos estaban abriendo los regalos cuando llegamos. now must make that distinction. This eating (without the "to be" verb) is a gerund and can act as a noun. A dealing with the infinitive, and if not, then use the gerund. Julita. Copyright © 2016 - Maestro Spanish. Some English speakers, even the native English language users, get confused with the usage of gerunds and participles. I dn't need these is spanish, just explaining it to me in English would be fine. Al parecer, Bryan Danielson estaría volviendo pronto a WWE. Well, you can substitute "To see is to believe." Despite the apparent similarity of "gerund" and "gerundio", they refer to quite different things. rather "el grupo de leer". I didn't want to have to ask here, but it's the last place I'm turning to, trust me. Like the English gerund, the Spanish infinitive when used as a noun also retains the regimen of a verb (can take a direct object, be modified by an adverb, etc.). H Laughing. A more confusing example that makes use of both the gerund and participle is, “I was pissed by Mike’s persistent interrupting.” The verb “interrupting” is a gerund because it acts like a noun (persistent interrupting as a kind of specific behavior). Fortunately, that's pretty much it, and with these two simple rules you can figure out when to The Spanish gerunds are used much less than the "-ing" verbs of English, however. Their use is different. Note that an English Gerund is not the same as a Spanish Gerundio. noun and you want to use the infinitive. between the use cases. In Spanish, we have to distinguish between using el gerundio and el infinitive, S Rather than an adverb, if the word is describing a noun, it is an adjective and works, so it is Ver es creer. If you can replace the -ing form in English with the infinitive "to + ", then it is a The gerund is a verb form which has an adverbial function, not an adjectival function like a participle, nor a noun function like an infinitive. Use our free online Spanish test to estimate your level of fluency. They were opening the presents when we arrived. T Adverb. particular verbs, andar, ir, seguir, and venir, to express ongoing action. X A form of the Lat. progress if using the past continuous tenses). P.P.S. I've tried to understand it by my own, but apparently, my IQ isn't that high. Orange = Advanced. Similar to the first case, here we use the gerund with one of a few Full list of teacher resources here. B "Difference Between Gerund and Participle." In Spanish there is no such thing as a "gerund" (the only verb form that can be used as a noun is the infinitive. The past participle for the verb "to eat" is "ate". A Gerund is the same thing as a Present Participle. K How to use the gerund in Spanish Talking about actions in progress in Spanish. Progressive. In English, we use the verb form ending in -ing quite often without distinguishing In Spanish it's -iendo or ado. 3.For many, the use of gerunds is often seen as the harder one as opposed to the use of participles. For example vivir (to live) is viviendo (lived). The difference between these two verbals lies in their function in a sentence. If you write the above sentence in this manner, “I was pissed by Mike persistently interrupting,” then “interrupting” already becomes a participle because it qualifies the person (noun) Mike. It's the equivalent of adding -ed to English verbs. Is your word, e.g., "walking", "talking", "laughing", describing how an action What is a Gerund? This makes it difficult when we switch to Spanish, since we capable of being construed as a n., but retaining the regimen of the vb. A gerund in English is not the same as a gerundio in Spanish, either. A Gerund is another term for Present Participle. Los niños que griten serán premiados con una visita al director. In most translations, the closest thing would be the infinitivo (infinitive). V Spanish Verb: continuar - to continue. This is also the reason why some grammarians consider gerunds as simply the combination of a verb and a noun. action, such as estoy leyendo, or "I am reading." June 8, 2016 < http://www.differencebetween.net/language/words-language/difference-between-gerund-and-participle/ >. It is used to express a continuous action in Spanish, like the English verbs talking, singing, or dancing. Black icons are unrelated to Spanish level: Al parecer, Bryan Danielson estaría volviendo pronto a WWE. I am talking to mom. Ellos estaban abriendo los regalos cuando llegamos. vb. An example of a Gerund is estudiando. C Spanish Verb: aprender - to learn. W Easy, right? want to reserve this for when it is important that the action is in progress (or was in you want to use the infinitive. A Past Participle is a way of expressing a verb in the Past Tense. Y