Kilo Lingo
Spanish grammar Part of Chapter 33

CEFR B1-B2

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Test yourself (23 questions)

The Spanish Gerund (-ndo): Uses and the -ing Traps

By Michael McGettrick and Sergio Linares-HernandesUpdated 12 October 2026

The Spanish gerund (-, -iendo) is an adverb: it says how, by what means or while what else an action happens. It is never a noun, so most English -ing words that name an activity become an infinitive:

Quick check

Three quick questions on what you have just read. The full practice is further down.

Spot the mistake

0/3

Each sentence has one wrong verb form. Tap it.

  • . - He/She ran out.
  • . - Smoking is bad.

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.

Trap 1: a subject or an activity is the infinitive

infinitiveWhat do the colours mean?

When English -ing names an activity, it is acting as a noun. Spanish uses the infinitive for that, never the gerund:

JobSpanishEnglish
subject .Smoking is bad.
saying .Seeing is believing.
what you like .I like cooking.
subject .Swimming is good exercise.
a sign .No smoking.

The test: if you could put "the" in front of the English word (the smoking, the cooking), it is a noun, so Spanish wants the infinitive. More on that form on the uses of the infinitive.

Trap 2: after a preposition, the infinitive

infinitiveWhat do the colours mean?

After any preposition, single words and longer ones like alike, the verb is an infinitive:

PrepositionSpanishEnglish
before leaving
after eating
sin .He/She left without saying anything.
.Thanks for coming.
.I'm tired of waiting.
, .On arriving, I rang my mother.

English puts -ing after a preposition in all of these, which is why this is such a common gerund mistake. The old + gerund ( , as soon as he/she arrives) survives only in old-fashioned writing and some regional speech: do not copy it.

Trap 3: -ing describing a noun is que + verb

gerundque + verbWhat do the colours mean?

English lets -ing describe a noun directly: a box containing books. A Spanish gerund cannot, so rewrite with and a conjugated verb:

NounSpanishEnglish
box a box containing books
man a man carrying a suitcase
letter a letter explaining everything

Mistakes English speakers make

WrongRightWhy
. .a subject: infinitive
after a preposition
sin after a preposition
Me . .what you like is a noun
pan a gerund cannot describe a noun
leiendo, pediendo, -; e becomes i

One trap catches good writers too: the gerund means "at the same time" or just before (at most an immediate result: , , he/she fell and broke a leg), not a later event. "He fled and was arrested later" needs :

  • . - He/She fled and was arrested later. Not ", ".

What to do next

  1. Before every -ing, ask: how or by what means? Gerund. A noun, or after a preposition? Infinitive.
  2. Do the story and spot-the- drills below.
  3. Then verbal periphrases for , and .

Practise: test yourself

Complete the story

0/5

Choose the gerund or the infinitive for each gap.

Ana is late

Ana salió de casa porque llegaba tarde. Antes de , cerró la puerta con llave. Pasó el viaje en el autobús música. Le gusta por la mañana, pero hoy no tenía tiempo. Entró en la oficina y se sentó sin nada.

Gap 1 of 5

Sort into groups

0/6

Which form follows each phrase: the gerund or the infinitive?

Tap a word, then the group it belongs in.

Spot the mistake

0/4

Each sentence has one wrong verb form. Tap it.

Build the word

0/4

Build the gerund from its pieces.

  1. leer

    Accents optional

    Your word is empty.

  2. dormir

    Accents optional

    Your word is empty.

  3. decir

    Accents optional

    Your word is empty.

  4. trabajar

    Accents optional

    Your word is empty.

Pick the right one

0/4

Choose the form Spanish uses.

  1. Llegó a la fiesta. (she arrived singing)

  2. es creer. (seeing is believing)

  3. Después de , salimos. (after eating)

  4. Cruzó el río . (he swam across the river)

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Frequently asked questions

What does the Spanish gerund mean on its own?
It is an adverb. It says how something happens ( , he ran out), by what means ( , I learn by listening to music) or what else is going on at the same time ( , I have breakfast reading the news). If the English -ing could be rephrased as 'by doing' or 'while doing', the gerund is usually right.
Why is ' ' wrong when English says smoking is bad?
Because 'smoking' there is a noun, the subject of the sentence, and Spanish never uses the gerund as a noun. The infinitive does that job: . The same goes for (seeing is believing) and (I like cooking). If you could put 'the' in front of the English -ing word, Spanish wants the infinitive.
Can you use the gerund after a preposition in Spanish?
No. After a preposition Spanish uses the infinitive: (before leaving), (without saying anything), (thanks for coming). English puts -ing after prepositions all the time, which is exactly why learners get this wrong. The one survivor, + gerund ( , as soon as he/she arrives), is old-fashioned or regional.
How do you say 'a box containing books' in Spanish?
With and a conjugated verb: . A gerund cannot describe a noun the way English -ing can, so is wrong. Two frozen forms do work as adjectives, hirviendo and ( hirviendo, boiling water), and after verbs of seeing and finding the gerund can describe the person: (I found her crying).
How do you form the Spanish gerund?
Add -ando to the stem of -ar verbs and -iendo to -er and -ir verbs: , , . After a vowel, -iendo becomes -yendo: , . Stem-changing -ir verbs change e to i and o to u: , , . gives .