Those TroublING gerunds!
I have given myself a headache trying to understand when and when not to use the spanish gerund. It is my understanding that it should only be used for something in progress. In using several online translators, they give me the following sentence for:
Did your son have fun skating Saturday night? ¿Se divirtió tu hijo patinando el sábado por la noche?
Can someone explain why it is correct to use the gerund here? Is it because it is introducing an adverbial phrase? I'm not sure if "skating Saturday night" is an adverbial phrase.
Me duele la cabeza! 
Gracias!
4 Answers
Usos correctos del gerundio
Simultaneidad: Cocinamos cantando.
Anterioridad: Corriendo se lastimó.
Posterioridad inmediata: Llamó diciendo que no quería verte. (Este uso tiene connotación de exageración más que literal).
Función adverbial: José juega disfrutando.
This is what they say on wiki.
See if this helps.
more observations take this article with a grain of salt, for instance, the gerundio can be used as an adjective, but is usually an adverb (and usually related to the verb, not to other adjectives or adverbs)
Because the question is asking something that was happening in the pass. So, in that pass, it was happening. I can say, estoy patinando. The action is happening right now. Patiné, is pass, yo do not need the gerundio for pass tense. But the original question is, Did your son have fun skating (the ...ing in English tells you that it is present continuous as well). Is asking you if he had fun when he was "skating".
Que no dueles en la cabeza. No importa si usas el gerundio demasiado. Todos van a entenderte.
Dont give yourself a headache. Its not that important if you use the gerund too much. Everyone will understand you.
I am not sure the sentence above IS grammatically correct but every understands it.
One of the big problems I had starting out was overthinking the grammer. When I just started talking I made (and continue to make) lots of mistakes. Sometimes I get corrected, sometimes I get laughed at (and laugh at myself), but almost always I get understood.
