The gerund and the indicative

Question

Can someone please explain to me the correct use in these two sentences:
English:
thank you for doing that for me.
Spanish: (1) gracías para haciendo eso para mí, or (2) gracías para hacer eso para mí.

I found this example from a previous question posted on the forum, but I didn't get a clear explanation. Can both sentences be used? or is there a certain grammatical rule between using the gerund and the indicative tense.

Answer 1

Spanish: (1) gracías para haciendo eso para mí, or (2) gracías para hacer eso para mí.

They are both wrong. For starters, "para" is use in general to indicate the end, the destination, the ultimate recipient. "Por" is used to indicate approximate location in space and time, and to provide reasons. According to this, "Gracias para hacer eso" means "(Give) Thanks to Mr. "doing that"". "Para" here indicates who is to be thanked, whereas "por" would be the reason why you thank someone.

Now, infinitives in Spanish are used instead of nouns and pronouns, so instead of "Gracias por eso", you can replaced the pronoun "eso" with "hacerme ese favor", or whatever

Answer 2

In English you use the gerund with a noun function but in Spanish we use the infinitive as nouns.
So we say:
Gracias por hacer eso por mi

para haciendo is not correct, and para hacer is not correct either. Use por hacer instead

Hope it helps!

Answer 3

I would use number (2) except it should be "por hacer". Number (1) may also be ok, but I am not too sure. It sounds alright but once again "por haciendo".