Gerundio

[imfromwales]

what is this form of the verb for?

I have seen it can be used for saying stuff like "The fish is not running" - "el pez no está corriendo".

[Legazpi]

Originally Posted by imfromwales

what is this form of the verb for?

I have seen it can be used for saying stuff like "The fish is not running" - "el pez no está corriendo".

I've also seen it referred to as the "continuous" form. It's the form a verb takes when you want to express that the action was ongoing (or continuing) at a point in time. In English you usually do this by adding an "ing" to the end:

walking
running
raining

In Spanish you usually add either an "ando" or an "iendo" to the verb stem:

andando
corriendo
lluviendo

[Juanjo]

Originally Posted by Legazpi

I've also seen it referred to as the "continuous" form. It's the form a verb takes when you want to express that the action was ongoing (or continuing) at a point in time. In English you usually do this by adding an "ing" to the end:

walking
running
raining

In Spanish you usually add either an "ando" or an "iendo" to the verb stem:

andando
corriendo
lluviendo

The confusion is that in English, the "-ing" ending can be used either as a verbal noun (gerund) or a as participle i.e. "Reading (i.e. gerund) is good." and "The boy fell asleep while reading (participle)".

In Spanish, the gerundio is solely an "adverbial participle" as Legazpi points out, and the Infinitive has to be used as the verbal noun. "Leer es bueno"

[imfromwales]

So can you use thecontinous form to refer to anyone or anything i.e. "soy no está corriendo" and "ellos no está corriendo"?

Originally Posted by Juanjo

The confusion is that in English, the "-ing" ending can be used either as a verbal noun (gerund) or a as participle i.e. "Reading (i.e. gerund) is good." and "The boy fell asleep while reading (participle)".

In Spanish, the gerundio is solely an "adverbial participle" as Legazpi points out, and the Infinitive has to be used as the verbal noun. "Leer es bueno"

Sorry Janjo, i dont understand this at all. Could you please explain it in a bit more of a basic way.

[Juanjo]

Originally Posted by imfromwales

So can you use thecontinous form to refer to anyone or anything i.e. "soy no está corriendo" and "ellos no está corriendo"?



Sorry Janjo, i dont understand this at all. Could you please explain it in a bit more of a basic way.

I can't improve on Legazpi's explanation

[I was just pedantically highlighting a difference between English and Spanish grammar in that "gerundio" is not the same as "gerund".]

[imfromwales]

Coming back to this, i read that "Él come" means "He is eating"...Does "Él comiendo" also mean this? Im a little confused.

[Legazpi]

Originally Posted by Juanjo

I can't improve on Legazpi's explanation

[I was just pedantically highlighting a difference between English and Spanish grammar in that "gerundio" is not the same as "gerund".]

Another example that might help is in English you'll see a sign that says "No smoking", where the gerund "smoking" refers to the act of smoking as a type of noun rather than a description of an ongoing action. However the Spanish equivalent would not be "no fumando", instead it'll be "no fumar" (using the infinitive).

[Legazpi]

Originally Posted by imfromwales

Coming back to this, i read that "Él come" means "He is eating"...Does "Él comiendo" also mean this? Im a little confused.

"Él come" is grammatically equivalent to "he eats" (indicative) and "él está comiendo" is grammatically equivalent to "he is eating" (continuous/gerund). However in practice the Spanish often use the indicative when when the English would use the continuous/gerund:

e.g. voy a comer - I'm going to eat

[Legazpi]

Originally Posted by imfromwales

So can you use thecontinous form to refer to anyone or anything i.e. "soy no está corriendo" and "ellos no está corriendo"?

I think that should be "(Yo) no estoy corriendo" (I'm not running) and "ellos no están corriendo" (they're not running)

[imfromwales]

Thanks for your help

[timg]

Have a look here. Hope it helps

[DarrenGriz]

Imfromwales,

Here are some English uses of "running"-called the present participle-, then I'll compare them to Spanish.

He is running right now. (the action is taking place at this moment)
He is running in a marathon at the end of the month. (the action will take place in the near future.
Running is a good aerobic exercise. (This is the gerund, a form of the verb doing a noun's job.)
The announcer gave a running commentary on the Parliamentary discussions. (Running is used as an adjective to describe the type of commentary given.)

In Spanish, it is best for beginners to only use the -ing equivalent (called confusingly the "gerundio" in Spanish, but with a different technical definition) to talk about actions in progress at that moment.

(I'm using a borrowed computer that isn't set up for accents, sorry)
My first sentence from above:
El esta corriendo ahora.

The other uses should typically use different parts of speech than the present participle.

The future:
El va a correr en un maraton a finales de este mes.

The infinitive is as close an equivalent to a noun as you'll find in the verb forms:
Correr es un buen ejercicio aerobico.

Find a true adjective to describe your noun:
El locutor daba un comentario continuo/ininterrumpido sobre las discusiones parlamentarias.

Final thought. This particular verb tense is not very useful and you could just as well never use it for the rest of your life simply by focusing on the main conjugations. But, English will compel you to overuse it anyway. Have fun.
Darren