When to Use Infinitives as Gerunds in Spanish?

Question

Hi! Having found this site, I can now spare my compañeros de idiomas frequent interrogation on Spanish grammar. :^)

Question: When is it best to use infinitives as gerunds? I've seen it done both ways, so is one more correct, (or simply more formal), than the other? For instance, I've seen the following examples:

1. Pienso de salir contigo. I'm thinking about leaving with you.

I can see how that's the most correct way, just due to my basic understanding of how Spanish verb conjugation works. However:

2. La vida es un abrir y cerrar de los ojos. Life is an opening and closing of the eyes.

Would it be incorrect to say "abriendo y cerrando"? (If so, why? ;^)

3. Me gustaría hablar de saliendo afuera, trabajando, relaciones, y la vida cotidiana.

This one is my own quite possibly grammatically ill-formed sentence. Should I be using "salir afuera, trabajar," etc.? (Again, if so, why? ;^) Hee-hee.)

Thank you. I look forward to any insight you can offer.

Thank you for being so brave to ask this. This has been on the back of my mind for weeks but I never got around to ask it. - BradyLabuda, Feb 9, 2012

Umm, whoops. I meant to post the reply here, not as an answer to my own question. A newbie to SpanishDict, lol: Ohh, ¡tengo muchas preguntas! Estoy junto empezando! Jejeje... - UnNouveauDepart, Feb 9, 2012

Answer 1

Your first and second examples are perfect. However your third I don't think is right. I think, as you surmise, you should use the infinitive.

The present participle is used after estar (present progressive tense) and verbs like andar, seguir, hacer, continuar.

But you should not use the Spanish present participle where the English present participle is used as a noun, which is what you were trying to do in example #3.

Answer 2

1 is correct 2 & 3 are wrong. The infinitive is the only verb form that can be used as a noun in Spanish.

P.S. To say "used as a gerund" is redundant. The gerund is a verb form used as a noun. However, in Spanish an infinitive used as a noun is still called an infinitive (as is the case in English).

P.P.S. the "gerundio" (which is totally different from a gerund) is a verb form (looks just like a present participle) which can be used as an adverb and, rarely, as an adjective.

Answer 3

Jeremias, Samdie, thanks so much. So a sentence like, "I don't like running; walking is better," would always be...:

No me gusta correr; caminar es mejor.

...and along those lines, it will always be incorrect to say "'caminando' es mejor" because "caminando" is only used when one is discussing something being actively done at this time. I've understood, correct?

And hmm, Samdie ... sorry for using incorrect terminology. Admittedly, I know very little about monikers for parts of speech, only how to use those. Therefore ... I don't quite understand your P.P.S. Would you mind giving an example, please, (in Spanish and English) of what you're admonishing against?

You're interpretation above has it jkust right - Jeremias, Feb 9, 2012

¡Gracias nuevamente! Lo agradezco mucho. :) - UnNouveauDepart, Feb 9, 2012

Answer 4

Ohh, ¡tengo muchas preguntas! Estoy junto empezando! Jejeje...