Verbal periphrasis Quiz
To Moderator or Administrator of Quiz section
Please take "Verbal Periphrasis Quiz" and correct quiz explanation sentences, which are missleading. For example:
1. Lleva (llorar) todo el día. Well done! A verb following llevar will be in its present participle form. For llorar, this is llorando.
It should state "gerund form" instead of "present participle form".
Similarly: 2. ¿Sigues (trabajar)?
Well done! A verb following seguir will be in its present participle form. For trabajar, this is trabajando.
3. Estoy (pensar) hacerlo.
Correct! A verb following pensar will be in its present participle form. For pensar this is pensando.
And perhaps other quiz examples, I did not list them all.
Regards
4 Answers
I agree with bosque, and hence with Samdie, another superstar on this site. 
Progressive tenses should not be defined as "to be + gerund" (for example)
Hi Marco. This is Stephanie, the Customer Happiness Champion for SpanishDict. You can always get ahold of me through the "Feedback" button on the right side of your screen. The quiz explanations are actually correct, but we appreciate knowing that we neglected to update this grammar article with the correct terminology. Wherever the word "gerund" had been used in that article, it should have said "present participle" instead. The article has now been edited and updated, so you can now find the correct information.
As was stated in previous replies in this thread, the term "gerundio" is used in Spanish to describe English present participles. These are the -ing words (-ando/-iendo in Spanish) that can be adjectives or continuous verbs. The word "gerund" in English is used for -ing words that are used as nouns, such as "swimming" when referring to the activity instead of the action of moving through the water. In Spanish, the infinitive form of a verb would be used for a case like this (Nadar es divertido.).
If you ever notice something on SpanishDict that you have a question about or think might need some editing, please either contact us through the Feedback button or send us an email at support@spanishdict.com. We work really hard with our small team to make sure that the content we publish is of the highest quality, but we are humans that make mistakes and typos sometimes!
Thank you, Stephanie
In the College text books from which I teach, "present participle" (NOT gerundio) is the proper word for those words ending in "ing" in English and "ando/iendo/yendo" in Spanish.
A "gerund" , in English, at any rate, is the "ing" form that is used as a noun whereas in Spanish an infinitive would be used.
Ex. "Learning Chinese is difficult for English speakers."
"Aprender chino es difícil para angloparlantes."
(Note: I have read Spanish grammars which DO prefer the word "gerundio" to "present participle." These same books also use Complemento directo for direct object rather than "objecto directo")
(Another note: This is another reason why I hate "grammar". It is hard to get people to agree with the terminiology. This is why I prefer the term "structure" and the more scientific approach it takes in teaching a new language to students.)
Keep in mind the difference between a past participle and a present participle. I think the use of the term is accurate.
There is a fair amount of controversy as to what the word gerundio should be translated to in English, typically people use gerund, but in my link Samdie- a real stickler on grammar, points out that is wrong, and indeed it should be present participle. A favorite Spanish teacher of mine, Jehle, in the second link, notes he prefers to just call it gerund, and not use present participle. I tend to just use the Spanish word gerundio when I am referring to the (Spanish) gerundio.
http://www.spanishdict.com/answers/172088/gerund-participle
samdie
From the O E D entry for "gerund": A form of the Lat. vb. capable of being construed as a n., but retaining the regimen of the vb.
The definition makes reference to Latin but the same definition applies to English. A gerund is not the same as a (present) participle, although they may look the same because they are not used in the same way. The -ing form is a gerund, if and only if, it is used as a noun. In all other cases (when forming progressive tenses or when used as an adjective, the -ing form is a (present) participle.
In Spanish there is no such thing as a "gerund" (the only verb form that can be used as a noun is the infinitive. The "gerundio" (aka present participle) is used to form progressive tenses (as in English) or as an adverb (not an adjective). Despite the apparent similarity of "gerund" and "gerundio", they refer to quite different things.
But:
A. [Please do me a personal favor and refrain from calling the gerund “the present participle”.]
