Kilo Lingo

Ch 33 · Lesson 17

The gerund (-ndo): salió corriendo, aprendo escuchando

The gerund is an adverb: how ( ), by what means ( ), at the same time, and still or gradually with and .

The short version

The gerund is an adverb, not a noun

.

He/She ran out.
Why?

Spanish -ando and -iendo describe how or by what means another action happens: , . What it never does is the noun jobs English hands to -ing. It cannot be a subject ( ), it cannot follow a preposition ( ), and it rarely describes a noun ( ).

Ran out is

.

He/She swam across the river.
Why?

English puts the manner in the verb and the direction in a little word: ran out, swam across. Spanish usually flips it. The direction is the verb and the manner is a gerund: , , .

The gerund at a glance

The whole page on one screen. The first four rows are the gerund's real jobs; the last three are English -ing jobs it cannot do.

infinitivegerundque + verbWhat do the colours mean?
JobSpanishEnglish
how (manner) .He/She ran out.
by what means .I learn by listening to music.
at the same time .I have breakfast reading the news.
still, gradually .It's still raining.
a subject .Smoking is bad.
after a preposition before leaving
describing a noun a box containing books

One test covers most cases: if the English -ing means "by doing" or "while doing", use the gerund. If you could put "the" in front of it, or a preposition sits before it, use the infinitive.

Forming the gerund

the part that changesWhat do the colours mean?

Add - to -ar verbs and -iendo to -er and -ir verbs. Two groups change:

VerbGerundWhy
-ar: -
-er: -iendo
-: -iendo
a vowel before: -
a vowel before: -
-: e becomes i
-: e becomes i
-: o becomes u
irregular
Four panels, each person in the middle of an action: a woman with long hair and a bow reads an open book; a man with a moustache stirs a steaming pot on the stove; a boy runs, arms swinging; a girl with pigtails talks on the phone, with sound waves and a speech bubble.

Leyendo (reading), cocinando (cooking), corriendo (running), hablando por teléfono (talking on the phone). The gerund never changes for gender or number.

The gerund never agrees: , . Pronouns join its end, with an accent to keep the stress: . - He/She left saying goodbye.

How: the gerund of manner

gerundWhat do the colours mean?

After a verb of movement or speaking, the gerund says how it happened:

VerbSpanishEnglish
go out .He/She ran out.
arrive .He/She arrived singing.
come in .He/She came in shouting.
answer .He/She answered with a smile.
cross .He/She swam across the river.
go up .He/She ran upstairs.

English puts the manner in the verb and the direction in a little word: ran out, swam across. Spanish usually does the opposite. The direction is the verb (, , ) and the manner is the gerund.

By what means, and at the same time

gerundWhat do the colours mean?

The gerund also answers by what means?, where English says "by doing":

  • . - I learn by listening to music.
  • . - He got rich by working hard.
  • . - He/She passed the exam by studying every night.

And it adds a second action going on at the same time, by the same person:

  • . - I have breakfast reading the news.
  • . - The baby fell asleep crying.
  • , Ana. - Walking through the park, I saw Ana.

At the start of a sentence it can also mean "if": , . - If we leave now, we'll get there in time.

Still and gradually: seguir and ir

gerundWhat do the colours mean?

A few helper verbs take the gerund to say an action is still going or building up slowly:

  • . - It's still raining.
  • . - It's gradually getting better.
  • . - He/She's going around looking for work.

These are verbal periphrases; the whole set, with for "have been doing", is on the verbal periphrases page. + gerund, the present progressive, has its own page.

Going further: Trap 1: a subject or an activity is the infinitive and the rest of the guide, when you want them. This lesson does not need them.

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Lesson 17 of 27 in this chapter

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