Spanish chapter 18

A linguistic system is a series of different sounds combined with a series of different ideas.

Ferdinand de Saussare (1857-1913), Swiss linguist

Chapter 18 -- The “ ing” form of verbs

Similar to English, the “ ing” form of a verb, called the gerund, is formed by taking the stem of a verb, and adding an ending.

An example from English is the verb to verb “walk”, we just add “ ing” to form “walking”.

A similar process occurs in Spanish, namely that certain endings are added to the verb stems.

In Group 1, the ending -ando is added to the stem of the infinitive.

examples: cantar: cant + ando = cantando formar: form + ando = formando

Fortunately, group 1, which is the largest of the verb groups, has no irregularities.

In Groups 2 and 3 , the ending -iendo is added to the stem.

examples: comer: com + iendo = comiendo vivir: viv + iendo = viviendo

In group 2, there is only one irregularity, which the verb poder, having the form pudiendo.

In Groups 2 and 3, if the infinitive ends in a double vowel ( such as caer, creer, fluir, traer, and so on), the ending -yendo is used.
Thus, cayendo, creyendo, fluyendo, trayendo, and so forth.

In group 3, When the vowel "e" occurs before the group ending, that vowel is changed to "i".

model verb = consentir, to consent: consintiendo like consentir:

acomedirse, to settle	despedir, to fire a person	preferir, to prefer
adherir, to adhere	desvestir, to undress	presentir, to presage
advertir, to advertise	diferir, to differ, disagree	preterir, to leave out
arrepentir, to repent	digerir, to digest	proferir, to profer
arrepentirse, to rue, regret	disentir, to disent	referir, to refer
asentir, to assent, agree	divertir, to enjoy	rendir, to yield, to rend
comedirse, to eat up	herir to hurt	rendirse, to surrender
concernir, to concern	hervir, to boil	requerir, to require
conferir, to confer, award	inferir, to infer	revestir, to coat
consentir, to consent, allow	ingerir, to ingest	sentir, to regret, to feel sorry
controvertir, to dispute	invertir, to invert	sentirse, to feel well or ill
convertir, to convert	mentir, to lie, to tell a falsehood	sugerir, to suggest
deferir, to defer	pervertir, to pervert	transferir, to transfer
desmentir, to deny	preconcebir, to preconceive

decir, to say, to tell: diciendo like decir

bendecir, to bless	contradecir, to contradict	desdecir, to disagree
interdecir, to forbid	maldecir, to curse	predecir, to predict

dormir, to sleep: durmiendo like dormir

dormirse, to fall asleep morir, to die (thing or animal) morirse, to die (a person)

ir, to go: yendo

pedir, to ask a favor or a price: pidiendo like pedir

ceñir, to encircle	competir, to compete	concebir, to conceive
derretir, to melt	despedir, to fire a person	embestir, to assault, attack
expedir, to send off	gemir, to groan	heñir, to knead
impedir, to impede	medir, to measure	rendir, to yield
rendirse, to surrender	revestir, to cover	revestirse, to face someone
reñir, to quarrel	repetir, to repeat	servir, to serve
teñir, to tint, dye	vestir, to dress	vestirse, to dress oneself

reírse, to laugh: riendo like reír

freír, to fry refreír, to refry sonreír, to smile

venir, to come: viniendo like venir:

circunvenir, to circumvent	convenir, to convene	intervenir, to intervene
prevenir, to prevent	reconvenir, to reconvene	revenirse, to change one’s mind

The “ ing” form is used with the verb estar (to be), and with verbs of motion to stress that an activity is, was, or will be in progress.

Some examples follow.

The surprises just keep coming. Las sorpresas siguen viniendo .

The children are playing. Los niños están jugando .

She left crying. Ella salió llorando.

Please, keep reading. Por favor, siga leyendo.

They will continue studying. Ellos continuarán estudiando.

In English,it is common to use gerunds as the names of things, especially in reference to activities. We say “Bowling is fun. Fishing is restful. Swimming is good exercise.” and so on.
The Spanish equivalent is the article “el” plus an infinitive.

example: Swimming is good exercise. El nadar es buen ejercicio.

Another difference is the usage after prepositions. Some examples follow.

She entered without saying anything. Ella entró sin decir nada.

We talked instead of playing tennis. Hablamos en vez de jugar tenis.

Upon winning the race, the team cheered. Al ganar la carrera, el equipo vitoreó .

Rule: The only Spanish verb form used after a preposition is the infinitive.

In English, gerunds are often used to describe things (“a winding road”), but this usage does not occur in Spanish. The Spanish form in such cases will be an adjective.

This book is available from lulu.com under item number 3352644. Books purchased from Lulu are accompanied by a complete list of irregular verbs and all of their forms.

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