When to Use Gerunds in Spanish (Present vs Progressive)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 มิ.ย. 2022
- ¡Hola! In this episode, you'll learn all about when to use Spanish gerunds and the present progressive tense.
Gerunds, or gerundios in Spanish, are words we can use to describe a developing action (walking, talking, eating etc.). And, these words can translate well between English and Spanish but not always.
In this video, you'll learn:
- When we can use gerunds in Spanish
- How to think about the present progressive vs present tense in Spanish
- How knowing English can sometimes throw you off the right choice in Spanish
Check out our previous video on when NOT to use gerunds in Spanish:
• When NOT to use Gerund...
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What did you think of this lesson? Do you have any other questions about gerunds in Spanish?
Fantastic teacher... I am 53 years old i am trying to learn Spanish i can read and understand the text but i cannot seem to get the listening translated and understand, i am so lost at the Comprehensive part... i was off in on with my learning because of this i get really frustrated. Do you have an any suggestions? Maybe I am too old for this now..
@@biracialhusbands9945 I will do a video on listening comprehension to address this. As for the issue of age, one of the best students that I have ever tested was 78 and he started learning when he was 71 and he outperformed students in their 20s and 30s. So I don't think age is the barrier that students assume it to be.
@@realfastspanish thank you so much … keep up the fantastic work i have to get my class mates to subscribe 👍👍👍💯
Hey I did like this video cheers mate! Is there a chance you could do a video explaining the difference between preterite/imperfect VS Preterite/Imperfect (using estar) plus the gerund?
E.g Caminaba a la clase cuando vi una pajera. VS Estoy caminando a la clase cuando vi una pajera.
I already understand the difference between the preterite Vs imperfect and I understand when to use a gerund, but my above question has raised hell in my brain lol
Thanx again. Love your work!
@@Kalza86 thanks for the suggestion!! 😊
Soy hablante nativo de español, y creo que la razón por la que usamos la forma simple en vez de la progresiva, es que es más corta, pero lo correcto (o ideal) sería usar la forma progresiva para acciones en progreso. La simple es como más general, igual que en inglés.
Great as always-keep making these videos!!!
I have always had trouble with this, because I have favored using estar in conjunction with hacer, instead of the latter by itself A LOT. Your videos help me understand why these rules apply in Spanish, especially in mistakes involving better alternatives to common phrases, as opposed to directly translating, like in this video :)
Thanks! 🙏 I'm glad you liked the video!!
My friend in Colombia use gerund form more frequently for describing the action currently happening or the recent past.
Perfect explanation thank you!!
Thank you..as always a great lesson. One that I needed!
Thanks for the feedback! 😊
very good lesson! thanks!
I’ve always wondered this. Thanks
Thank you for making this video! I have been confused about this and you’ve made it a bit clearer, thks 🙏
I'm glad to hear it's a bit clearer now! 😀
It's always a great day when you upload!
Thanks Jerohn 🙏 You've made my day! 😊
Muy útil. Muchas gracias. Ud tiene un suscriptor nuevo 😀.
So helpful. New reasons. Great
Thank you so very much
First, a gerund in English is the noun form of a verb but in Spanish a gerund is the English present participle.. Spanish rarely has a noun form of a verb (it's just a direct translation of an English word - Curling is fun) so in Spanish they use the verb in the infinitive - to eat, to run etc - running is fun "correr es divertido"
When it comes to whether to the simple present or the present progressive in Spanish it appears that the situation dictates which to use. If you were in a restaurant and you walked up to a friend, in English we would say "what are you eating?" In Spanish they would say "what do you eat?" In the same situation in both Spanish and English the question what are you reading would be different from what do you read unless the person was reading a book at the table then you would say in Spanish what do you read.
Thanks for sharing Ed! 😊
I actually find the tips clear cut haha, thankyou
Thank you for this video. It’s review for me, but it’s good to hear someone else come to the same conclusion I have between what to say when using the present progressive is appealing. I tasked myself long ago with trying to say what felt the most unnatural to me East her than falling into the direct translation trap. Gracias desde I el medio oeste !
As an ESL teacher, I have always understood the "gerund" to be a verbal noun.
I think your presentations are very good.
May i make a suggestion that i believe will increase understanding more quickly?
My suggestion is to
1) reduce your explanation time spent
and 2) to increase the example time spent. Why? Because both are methods of learning Spanish but # 2) has a built in added benefit - examples subconsciously and automatically creates the "why" in the students mind which is painless! . #1 is just the opposite. It forces the student to recreate the instructors logic and don't we get enough of boring chatter in boring classrooms?
In sum more examples please.
At 5:57 "QUE estoy trabajando fuera de Madrid unos días"... Actually, that QUE is not necessary. It is possible to tell that phrase without QUE and it doesn't change its meaning. I guess it is similar to the word like, when the English speaker use it without meaning. Or, sometimes we used that QUE in that position to add emphasis, maybe the interlocutor is asking him with anger or several times and he is annoying with that. Thanks again for your videos! I am realising how complex is the Spanish grammar, it is a simile with the English pronunciation.
I wonder (I'm wondering) if in Spanish there are stative verbs. In English, some do not occur in the continuous and some can but the meaning changes slightly or is more of a colloquial use. For example, "I want a donut." vs. "I've been wanting to get my apartment painted" or "I love you" vs. "I'm loving this weather."
Hola Andrew. Great video as usual.
One point I kept waiting to hear you say was that the Gerund form (ie Present Progressive) should be used for actions occurring “en este momento”.
For example, I would typically ask someone ¿Qué haces? But if I rang them up on the phone and wanted to know what they were doing “right then”, I would likely say ¿Qué estás haciendo? Is my usage correct here?
Thanks.
Hola Gary, one of the key points I was trying to make is that there is no "right" and "wrong" here. If you call someone up and want to know what they are doing "right then" you can use both "¿Qué haces?" and "¿Qué estás haciendo?". And if you watch the first part of the video I provide a bunch of examples that show this. In general, Spanish natives will go for "¿Qué haces?" as the more common option here, and English natives will want to go for "¿Qué estás haciendo?" because it better matches their first language.
Also, terminology might be helpful to touch on here. I teach English (ESL) and we don't refer to the "present progressive/continuous" as the "gerund" form. The "gerund" is generally a verb in the "-ing" form that functions as a noun in a phrase = Swimming is my favorite activity"(gerund) // I am swimming right now (p. progressive).
Thanks for this video, Andrew. What is the function of “que” in this sentence: “Que estoy trabajando fuera de Madrid unos días…”
It's a good question Limell! I may have to make another video addressing this 😊
¡Muchas gracias!
Siempre usaba el gerundio cuando hablaba con mi compañero de cuarto colombiano. Siempre 😂
😂 Gracias Finn!
I have often seen Spanish translated into English where a the Spanish is in the simple format and the English translation used the gerund.
Not really sure that convincing native speakers that I am a native speaker is a realistic goal.
I wonder if here in California where so many are bilingual if using a form that is more common in English is such a bad thing.
After all given a choice between two words that mean the same thing if one is a cognate I always go for the cognate.
I really enjoy your videos Andrew I gave this one a like.
Thanks for the feedback Eric! 🙏
Are you a big fan of la casa de las Flores? 😉 I’ve been recently watching it (with English subtitles) to practice my hearing Spanish / identifying words, and I noticed quite a few of your clips were from the show!
Yes I am!
Unfortunately the hours of the course on line don't match other global hours. Is it possible to make on line course pre recorded in a decreased price?
Interesting about your "banned" list. In fact, in English, there is a rule about not using "stative" verbs in the gerund form. "Stative" verbs means words related to thoughts and opinions, feelings and emotions, senses and perceptions, etc. For example, it is incorrect to say, "I am thinking that you are wrong" -- you would only say, "I think you are wrong." So there actually *is* a bit of overlap in where you shouldn't use gerunds in English and Spanish.
Do you have lessons about the subjunktiv?
what shows do you pull these clips from?
Hi,
Apologies not related to this lesson but one thing I really struggle with is when you have to trill a word beginning with r that follows the word "el".
For example, "el rico", or "el red".
I always find that I am moving my tongue down after saying "el" and then moving it back up to trill "rico". This creates a gap and almost makes it sound like I'm saying "el arrico"/"el arred"
But when I listening to Native speakers, there doesn't appear to be this gap. Can you help me with how to place my tongue to correctly solve this issue? When I try to keep it up, I can't produce the trill sound.
I can relatively comfortably trill when the preceding letter is an "o", such as in the word "correo", but this specific one I find hard.
Hope this makes sense and thanks for all the help!
As native, I can tell you I don’t change the position of my tongue from L to R in your examples. I just start vibrating it in R, but the tongue remains in the same position as in L 😂
Is it just me or are the little film clips playing at a very low volume?
As usual, very clear. Is this preference similar at all to whether to add the pronoun even when the verb makes it clear? So is "que tú haces" just an emphasis/judgement call?
Hola Michael, yes it is similar, emphasis is a driver of the decision to use a pronoun when we don't always need it.
Woo hoo! Yo realmente estoy aprendiendo español!
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Gerund or present participle?? They have different functions to me.
¿Qué haces?
Escucho el vídeo nuevo de Andrew, como siempre, para aprender otra matiz de español.😜
¡Gracias Cleona! 😊
Hola, Andrew! I am confused with the example : He's always wanting more=Siempre quiere mas. Where is the pronoun "he" in the translation?
In Spanish, personal pronouns are often dropped, especially when it's clear to the people in the conversation WHO is acting. Spanish verbs change a lot in conjugation. For instance, in English, to eat is conjugated I eat, you eat, he eats, we eat, they eat. Very little difference. In Spanish the verb conjugations are distinct enough not to require a personal pronoun to make it clear who is acting. I eat: como; you eat: comes; he/she eats: come; we eat: comemos; they eat: comen. That said, you can add a pronoun to make it clear. I eat: yo como, you eat: tú comes, él come, etc.
What is “Gerund Form”? A gerund is is the usage of the present participle as a noun. i think “present progressive” is better.
My understanding is the gerund is used when the subject is in the immediate process of doing something. ¿Qué estás haciendo en este momento? Estoy andando el perro ahora mismo.
Thanks Max. Yes, in theory, that is true. But in practice you'll find much more varying use as I was trying to point out in this video.
Why is “yo caminado” is wrong and “yo caminé” correct I understand some verbs like “hablar” for instance “I speaked” is wrong but I still don’t get why it is a big deal I have looked at all sorts of literature and it still doesn’t satisfy me when they either say “it’s the Spanish language and not English” or “it doesn’t provide the complete idea or context” when it clearly does like the shortest sentence in the world “Jesus Wept.” It conveys the idea of -ed in the -t suffix I am being critical because it is frustrating when I can see that it could be done and simplify the language but no I have to be given unconvincing arguments I am just asking a critical question is that bad.
Not that I want to open another can of worms. The concept of gerunds is very different in Spanish. For example: Upon returning = al regresar. That Spanish construction would be totally wrong in English!
Yes, that's a good point York! I talk about this in my other video on when NOT to use gerunds in Spanish.