Gerunds in Spanish?

Question

I'm really confused regarding Gerunds and Infinitives in Spanish.

Eg. "I'm going" is "voy" But, "I spent the day going" is "Pasé el día yendo"

Why is Yendo being used rather than Voy? How does one know when to use the Infinitive (voy), or the Gerund (yendo)

How would you translate "I'm running"? Would it be the same as "I like running"

Appreciate any help, thanks.

Answer 1

Eg. "I'm going" is "voy" But, "I spent the day going" is "Pasé el día yendo" Why is Yendo being used rather than Voy? How does one know when to use the Infinitive (voy), or the Gerund (yendo)

How would you translate "I'm running"? Would it be the same as "I like running" Appreciate any help, thanks.

Very broad topic

Voy is not the infinitive, ir is the infinitive, voy is the first person indicative: I go.

In English the gerund is used for many things, as an adverb, a noun, and the present progressive, and maybe others that escape me now. And we use the progressive present to talk about the future. For that same use Spanish uses simple present indicative.

So for near future:

Voy a la tienda más tarde. Literally: I go to the store later, we would say I am going to the store later.

Present Progressive:

Estoy yendo a la tienda. Literally: I am going to the store (as we speak). This tense is only used in Spanish for something you are in the midst of. Like you called me on a cellphone while I’m on my way and I am telling you I am halfway there.

Informal future:

Voy a ir a la tienda. Literally: I go to go to the store. In English I am going to go to the store. Uncommon to repeat ir this way in Spanish, but voy a (any infinitive) is a common future, voy a hacerlo más tarde, I go to do it later= in English, I am going to do it later.

When you use a verb form to act as an adverb, and modify how you did something you use the gerund(io) in both languages, always:

"I spent the day going" is "Pasé el día yendo"

How did you spend the day, spent the day (by) going. In English in this formula we sometimes use by, you never do that in Spanish, if you add por and infinitive instead of a bare gerundio it means because of.

I’m running- Estoy corriendo, if you are running as you speak. If you are running at 3 pm- corro a las tres. If you are going to run at three- voy a correr a las tres.

I like running. Here running is a noun. You use the infinitive for this always in Spanish, never the gerund, you can use the infinitive also in this one in English. I like to run. Either sentence is “me gusta correr” in Spanish.

This is a lot but I probably still missed many of the subtleties. Hopefully I covered the broad bits enough to get you started.

Another good thing to keep in mind, if you put a gerundio immediately after a preposition in Spanish, rethink it, because it will essentially always be wrong.

Here is a useful link, with some good caveats at the end:

http://users.ipfw.edu/jehle/COURSES/GERUND.HTM

Bosque typo: missing word: " Never the gerund. You can "use" the infinitive also etc...I hope this helps :) - FELIZ77, Jun 13, 2017

Thanks, it was quite a bit to type up. :) - bosquederoble, Jun 13, 2017

Thanks so much Bosque. Very helpful! - Vaderluke, Jun 13, 2017

De nada. :) - bosquederoble, Jun 13, 2017

Bosque, could substitute for me in my class when I have to be absent? Wow!! - Daniela2041, Jun 14, 2017

To clarify, in Spanish, If i said "Voy a la escuela", how would you know if I mean "I'm about to go to school now", or if I mean "I attend school (generally speaking)". Would you have to use the context? - Vaderluke, Jun 15, 2017

Answer 2

I'm running would be "Estoy corriendo". I like running in exercise would be "Me gusta hacer footing o hacer jogging".

:) - FELIZ77, Jun 13, 2017

Answer 3

A gerund is the noun form of the verb. It is not as obvious in the English language but usually the ing words are gerunds. It is a hard topic to understand and I would watch videos until you find your definition as it is different for everyone.

Welcome to SpanishDict, Bhaswith. - rac1, Jun 13, 2017

A Spanish gerund(io) is never used as a noun. :) - bosquederoble, Jun 13, 2017

Answer 4

Hello Vaderluke,

Welcome to our Spanishdict community forum

Bosque has already given you a great and detailed answer so I am not going to reinvent the wheel by covering the same explanations, instead I only intend to answer the part of your question concerning the translation of the sentence: I am running vs I like running /to run

I like to run / I like running = Me gusta correr (Spanish natives use the infinitive in this context to mean I like to do something!)

Swimming is fun! = ¡Nadar es divertido! (The Spanish people usd the infinitive where the English would use the gerund eg: verb form ending in ING )

I am running = Estoy corriendo (This uses a different verbal construction. It uses the present progressive (continuous) tense. This tense is formed using the present indicative tense of the verb estar with the gerund of the requiered verb. Eg: Estamos jugando = We are playing; Están hablando = They are talking.

I hope this helps

Corrijan mi español si es necesario, por favor