Gerund not used as often in Spanish compared to English?

[u/ApprehensiveWeek5414]

I am just learning about gerund in Spanish, which from what I understand is basically like -ing ending words in English, so "walk" becomes "walking", "caminar" becomes "caminando" etc.

I Googled "Spanish gerund" to read up more about it and the AI response said gerund in Spanish isn't used as often as it is in English.

Is this referring to, for example in English it's more common and proper English for someone to say "I like walking", while in Spanish you would say "Me gusta caminar" and not use the gerund form?

Or does it mean people generally don't use the gerund form of verbs as often in Spanish as they do in English?

[u/iste_bicors]

English uses the same -ing form to create both the continuous aspect (I’m walking) as well as noun forms of verbs (Walking is fun). Technically, the first form is a present participle and the second is a gerund, but it’s typical to use the same term to refer to both in English.

Most languages don’t do this, in fact, in English, it comes from a merger of two distinct forms; one of the forms is actually the source of the form without a G, walkin’, which is not an alteration of walking, but a preservation of an older distinct form.

In Spanish and most Romance languages, it’s the infinitive that’s used to form a noun from a verb.

Spanish does have gerund forms as well, but they are used adverbially not as nouns, eg. llegué caminando, I arrived (by) walking*.

[u/maporita → u/iste_bicors]

If you are not already a language teacher you should be. Thanks for this great explanation. I learned Spanish empirically and only now am starting to understand the grammar behind the sentence structures. This really helps a lot.

[u/iste_bicors → u/maporita]

Yeah haha, I was a language teacher for a long time and I still work in language learning, but mostly designing materials and exams and things like that.

[u/LokiStrike → u/iste_bicors]

Also, English uses the continuous for the future which Spanish never does. "I'm taking a test tomorrow" or "this summer I'm going to Spain." This contributes significantly to the difference in frequency.

[u/BestNortheasterner → u/iste_bicors]

Beautifully explained.

That's precisely how gerund works in Portuguese, my native language, too.

Cheguei caminhando (I arrived "walking")\ vim a pé (I came on foot)\ vim caminhando (I came walking)

Grammatically, caminhando and a pé are equal terms.

[u/LeilLikeNeil → u/iste_bicors]

Shit that’s helpful

[u/r3ck0rd → u/iste_bicors]

Not that it needs reaffirming but this is pretty much exactly the explanation

[u/Oso_the-Bear]

no one has mentioned yet the related thing where in English we say "I am driving a Ford" like that's what kind of car I am driving in, and we also say "I am driving to the store" like that's what I'm doing right now.

In Spanish "Estoy conduciendo a la tienda" right now, but something you're doing normally, generally, "Conduzco un Ford" = I drive a Ford; the gerund is only used for what you are actively engaged in, "estoy conduciendo un Ford" = I am in the car telling you this with my foot on the gas of the Ford that I rented today

I don't know how to explain this in language words

[u/mechemin]

We do use it often, we just not use it in the same way it's used in English. In those situations we use infinitive form, so it would be closer to "I like to walk"

[u/Alexlangarg]

Yeah... native here xd Gerunds in English are infinitives or nouns in Spanish... I like walking = me gusta caminar. I like cooking = me gusta la cocina. We just use gerunds for actions that are happening at the moment... in Spanish we have something called "gerundio de posteridad" which is a mistake natives often make... Se cayó muriendo al instante (he fell, dying instantly), this sentence is incorrect because you first fall and then die when you like hit ground unless you died while falling.

[u/Eddiewhat → u/Alexlangarg]

When you say at the moment , I get so confused with this . Let’s say I’m studying Spanish , not literally at the moment but I’m studying it in general , do you use the gerund then?

[u/Alexlangarg → u/Eddiewhat]

Yes... because it's something you didn't finish yet... (you could also say I study Spanish xd but Gerund also does the trick) example: trabajas o estudias? estoy estudiando en la universidad de Buenos Aires (i'm currently studying at university, i didn't finish studying yet)

[u/Eddiewhat → u/Alexlangarg]

Perfecto , muchas gracias

[u/vacuous-moron66543 → u/Alexlangarg]

"Se cayó y murió al instante." Is that how one would correctly translate that sentence?

[u/Alexlangarg → u/vacuous-moron66543]

Yeah. We would say that's correct... i think someone told me that our language regulation institution started accepting things like "muriendo al instante"... You guys, learners, have cool tools like Fundéu or RAE (Real Academia Española) these are entities that gather all or almost all words of the Spanish language and grammar points. La RAE is composed also by all the spanish language regulator institution from Uruguay, Argentina etc. supposedly we have to speak like RAE says in order to speak "correctly" XD

[u/Eulerian93]

A native explained to me that the gerund is only used when talking about a continuous action that’s currently happening and use infinitives when we’d normally use a gerund to talk about the noun form of the same word. Por ejemplo:

Estoy bebiendo. (I am [currently] drinking.) Beber no es bueno para la salud. (Drinking is not good for the [your] health.)

Estaba enfocando en mi tarea. (I was focusing on my homework. / I used to focus on my homework.) Enfocarse más sería útil para ti. (Focusing more would be useful for you.)

Idk if this distinction works for every situation (no soy maestro), but native speakers understand me when I speak and text like this.

edit: forgot the translation for the last example

[u/Incrediblyjamon]

From personal experience studying Spanish - this is correct. “Me gusta caminando” would never be said, and even when referring to something actively happening, native speakers will often use just use the present tense - “caminamos” instead of “estamos caminando.” I’m sure it differs by dialect.

[u/Useful_Course_1868]

Yes this is true, in Spanish they only use the gerund to indicate a current action that is taking place, but even then I feel like they use it less than us.

Another thing I have noticed is that where in English we use the future tense 'I will/I'll', Spanish speakers usually go for the present tense, so 'I'll pass it to you now' would instead be 'ya te lo paso'

[u/RickyTurnover]

When talking about the gerund in English or Spanish, make sure you’re not confusing it for the present continuous tense, because they’re identical in English. I am walking/estoy caminando, present continuous. I like walking/me gusta caminar, gerund. The gerund form of a verb is identical to the infinitive form in Spanish, just like how in English the gerund is identical to the present continuous tense. And in my experience, the Spanish gerund is used just as often as the English gerund.

[u/enofita]

I like walking -> this is not a gerund acting as "verb gerund" but a word acting as a noun. Walking can be exchanged for "sport", a noun.

Same happens in Spanish, but the infinitive acts as a noun: me gusta caminar.