What are you doing? = ¿Qué estás haciendo? The Spanish Gerund

Sometimes we need to expresar what we are doing at this very momento in time. In English, we use the -ING form of the verbo (technically aka the GERUND). We use "eating" when we're eating right now, "reading" when we're reading something, "watching" when we're watching the noticias in the TV right now.

So, in español, there's an equivalent form for this -ING form of the verb. Today you're going to know the gerund of some common verbs and learn how to form the gerund of any other Spanish verbs!! (...and use them in sentences) 😉

The gerunds of the following common verbs are shown as bold letters!

dar (to give): dando
estar (to be): estando
decir (to say, tell): diciendo
hacer (to do, make): haciendo
ver (to see, watch): viendo
tener (to have): teniendo
ser (to : siendo

Ex.  Ella está dando las llaves al botones del hotel. ---> She's giving the keys to the hotel's bellhop.
       ¡Tú estás diciendo disparates!  ---> You are talking nonsense!
        Yo estoy haciendo la colada en este momento. ---> I'm doing the laundry at this moment.
        Miguel y Isabel están viendo un video sobre México. ---> Michael and Isabella are watching a video on Mexico.

How to form the gerundio from the verb?

It's easy! You gonna need to learn the endings for the gerund. They are ANDO and IENDO.
If you have an -AR verb (one that ends in AR) you use the ending ANDO. However to do this, you first have to remove the AR from the verb, and then attach ANDO to what remains of the verb!

To illustrate, let's take the verb we already saw above, "dar". It's an AR verb because it ends in AR.
First, remove the AR.
So then, we are left with only: d-
Next, we add the ANDO to the "d" and we have formed the gerund of "dar": dando!!

I told you it's easy, right? 😄

Now! What about if the verb you have ends in ER or IR (they're called -ER and -IR verbs, respectively)??? The same method as the AR verbs, only you'll need to attach IENDO instead (of course, after removing the ER/ IR ending! 😠).

So, for the verb "comer" (to eat), remove the ER and then add IENDO. What do you got? Yes, you're right... you got the gerund of "comer": comiendo!!! 
(You can imagine the transformation from verb to gerund with this formula: comer - er = com +iendo = comiendo! Haha!)

And..... for the -IR verb "escribir" (to write):
escribir - ir = escrib
escrib + iendo = escribiendo!

ESCRIBIENDO! , which in English means "writing".

Yo estoy escribiendo una carta. = I'm writing a letter.
Tú estás escribiendo el número de teléfono. = You're writing the telephone number.

Do you understand the gerund in Spanish now?


If so, I want you to write in the comments box below ↓ the gerunds of the following list of verbs! OK? Ready??

Here they are:

1. tomar (to drink, take)

2. correr (to run)

3. cumplir (to comply)

4. romper (to break, tear)

5. cocinar (to cook)


GOOD LUCK!! 💪🍀
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