Translating gerund

Question

En una frase como "I strolled through the museum, looking at the marble statues", cuando estás traduciendo la frase al español, ¿se puede traducir el gerundio inglés "looking" como "mirando" para crear "Di una vuelta por el museo, mirando las estatuas de marmól"?

(Si cometo errores en mi español, podría ser fantástico si podrías corregirlo. ¡Gracias!)

Bien. - annierats, Aug 26, 2012

... sería fantástico si pudieran corregirlos. ¡Gracias! - muy_guapo, Aug 27, 2012

Answer 1

hola, su español es perfecto, felicidades!!!! y "looking" si se puede traducir como mirando o viendo. "I strolled through the museum, looking at the marble statues", yo recorrí el museo mirando (o viendo) las estatuas de mármol.

saludos

Answer 2

I believe the term you are looking for is participle.

"looking at the marble statues" is a clausal modifier that describes the the simultaneous state of the speaker. That is, while the speaker "strolled through the museum", he/she was also "looking at the marble statues." The whole phrase acts to describe what took place while the author was strolling.

Because the main function is to describe, it plays the role of a verb-based adjective, i.e. a participle. Gerunds are verb-based nouns, note the difference. Gerunds in English are unable to be translated as the -ando/-iendo/-yendo type endings in Spanish. Rather, those endings are used for participles and compound tenses (haber + pres.part.). English gerunds are often left in the infinitive in Spanish, and can be preceded by a definite article. For example, "(El) ver es creer"-- "Seeing is believing". Note that 'seeing' and 'believing' function as abstract nouns, and thus are gerunds. The key is being able to distinguish the use of the gerund/participle in English and how the function differs in Spanish.

Hopefully this clarifies things.

All true but a bit complicated. - ian-hill, Aug 27, 2012

Easier to simply re-write the sentence I was looking at the marble statues as I strolled through the museum. - ian-hill, Aug 27, 2012

Answer 3

Hi psyche

Your word "looking" is not being used as a gerund.

It is a continuous verb.

A gerund is a "verb noun" which is not possible in Spanish.

Have a look have here.

What is a gerund .

What???? - francobollo, Aug 27, 2012

Answer 4

Desde mi punto de vista es del todo correcto , solo te puedo decir que yo diría mejor "Me di una vuelta por el museo , mirando/viendo las estatuas de mármol"

Answer 5

I'm just wondering just what funcion " looking" holds in the English sentence. It is not being used as a noun, so it is not a gerund.

I respectfully disagree on the idea that it is a "progressive verb", though. It seems to me it is acting an adverb, modifying the main verb "strolled". There are two adverbial phrases here, "through the museum", and "looking at the marble statues". This is what allows the use of the "gerundio" in this sentence.

The differences between the English gerund and the Spanish gerundio are, to me, one of the most confusing things in learning Spanish. I get it wrong very often, and I hope I'm not too far off the mark here.

Here is what the RAE has to say on the gerund:Gerundio