Why no gerund?

Question

I am confused about this phrase from 9-6 2014. "Oir a mi amigo guejarse de su..." Why not use Oyendo? Or could one use either word? Or why not escuhando?

I would like to see your SD profile completed amigo - IT would help me help you. gracias. - ian-hill, Sep 24, 2014

Can you provide where the sentence came from- without the full sentence it is impossible to analyze the grammar, and there is no conjugated verb in what is provided so it is not even a full clause. - bosquederoble, Sep 24, 2014

There are many cases where English uses a gerund and Spanish uses an infinitive and cannot use the gerundio, but without a full sentence it is impossible to tell. But don't ever assume every english word ending in ing is going to be a gerundio in Spanish - bosquederoble, Sep 24, 2014

Answer 1

Okay I found the sentence http://www.spanishdict.com/wordoftheday/2140/aburrido

Oír a mi amigo quejarse de su teléfono de cuatrocientos dólares es tan aburrido

Listening to my friend complain about his $400 phone is so boring

Subject of sentence: Oír a mi amigo quejarse de su teléfono de cuatrocientos dólares

conjugated verb: es

The Spanish gerundio is never used as a noun. In this sentence Listening is functioning as a noun- the act/action of listening. You cannot use the gerundio, you must always use the infinitive in this case in Spanish.

My question would be whether quejarse should/could be in the gerundo. From what I know, this could be either, but I am not completely sure.

link added: http://users.ipfw.edu/Jehle/COURSES/gerund.htm

So what is the difference between infinitive and a gerund? - Sc89, Sep 24, 2014

http://users.ipfw.edu/Jehle/COURSES/gerund.htm - bosquederoble, Sep 24, 2014

"Quejarse" cannot be gerund here either because it does not function as a direct compliment of any verb. It would have to be something like: "Siempre me habla quejandose de su teléfono" - 005faa61, Sep 24, 2014

Great answer, bosque. I had no idea why but you hear the infinitive used an awful lot and I think you must be right. - annierats, Sep 24, 2014

Thank you Julian- I have seen gerundios used to modify oír when it is functioning as a verb (and conjugated), bt didn't know if it could carry over and modify the infinitive when it functions as an infinitive. - bosquederoble, Sep 24, 2014

But I have seen thing of the type: Lo oigo quejándose de... Whether it is technically correct or not. - bosquederoble, Sep 24, 2014

Yes, annie- there is no doubt in that statement. You cannot use a gerundio as a noun, and if you ever put a gerundio immediately after a preposition you are almost undoubtedly wrong. :) - bosquederoble, Sep 24, 2014

Answer 2

Very good explanation. That is very satisfying for me. I learn from this. Thanks

Answer 3

I think escuhando looks and sounds better just from looking at your sentence but I am with hkeeter I'm not sure if it works like that but it wouldn't make sense not to put a gerund

Answer 4

im not sure but I think it sounds fine with Oyendo but I'm not sure if it would really work