When To Use "iendo" or "ando" At the End of Words
When you want to say "dancing" (bailar), you'd say "bailando". For "eating" (comer) you would say "comiendo", correct? If this is right, I've noticed people sometimes want to say words like these (with the ing at the end) and just type the normal form of the verb and it also means "eating" or "dancing". How do you know what to use when you want to add an "ing" at the end for a verb?
5 Answers
If I understand your question correctly, you are asking why sometime when in English the gerund would be used (something ending in –ing), the infinitive is used in Spanish.
In Spanish you do not use the gerundio (that which ends in iendo or ando) as the object of a preposition or as the subject of a verb (as a noun).
See this lesson.
http://users.ipfw.edu/jehle/COURSES/GERUND.HTM
I will bring over the last section:
Cautions. A few things mentioned above may need to be repeated:
A. The gerund is a verb form with an adverbial function; do not use it as a noun. Use the infinitive as the object of a preposition or as the subject of a verb: después de descansar = “after resting”; Leer es divertido = “Reading is fun”.
B. Do not overuse the progressive tenses, since they are used far less frequently in Spanish than in English, and do not use them unless you are portraying an action as truly being in progress.
C. Remember that “by (do)-ing (something)” is normally expressed with the gerund and not por + infinitive [which means “because of (do)-ing (something)” or “for the sake of (do)-ing something”.
If I misunderstood what you were really asking, just ignore this.
I was about to give the answer that bosque gave you and had the link to jehle's explanations especially the clarification at the end ready to add. His explanations are always so good.
When you learn a new language there are similarities but also differences. We use ing often but the Spanish use infinitives where we would use ing or a different tense. For that reason, it is important not to try to translate word for word and to spend time listening and reading so that the flow of your new language is understood.
One link I was intending to post, that bosque hasn't is from Spanish.com. The Spanish often use the infinitive for a noun where in English we would use ing.
Look at the examples.
ando and iendo endings are used in the present progressive/ gerund, to indicate that an action is happening right now.
Ellos están comiendo ahora mismo. Él está hablando.
As a generalism, verbs ending in ar get ando endings.
and verbs ending in ir or er get iendo endings.
Bosque and Mardle have pretty much answered this, but just to clarify as many people understandably get confused by the gerundio / gerund issue. While the Spanish "gerundio" translates to "gerund" in English, a Spanish gerundio and an English gerund are not the same thing.
A Spanish gerundio (-ndo) is basically the equivalent of an English present participle and both share the same primary function, which is to express the progressive tense. In English we use a form of the verb "be"+present participle (verb-ing): I am reading. In Spanish they use a form of the verb "estar"+gerundio (verb-i/e/a/ndo): Estoy leyendo.
An English gerund is a verb being used as a noun: Reading is fun. In English we do not differentiate between a continuous verb and a gerund (both end in -ing) but in Spanish they do. A Spanish gerundio is not used to express an English gerund. Instead the infinitive is used: Leer es divertido.
There are other gerundio uses, but the above difference between the Spanish gerundio and the English gerund is probably the source of the most confusion.
