Spanish Gerundio – Learn and Practice

Welcome 😊 to our grammar lesson on the Spanish Gerundio (also known as Gerund or Present Participle).

The gerundio is the equivalent of the English -ing forms: drinking, studying… etc.

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to form the gerundio of any verb and use it in sentences.

You will also find a Quiz and Exercises to practice.

How to form the gerundio

In Spanish, each verb has one gerundio. Let’s study how we form it.

Regular gerundios

Most verbs have a regular gerundio. We form it this way:

• For verbs in -ar —> attach -ando to its stem
• For verbs in -er, -ir  —> attach -iendo to its stem

Examples:

Verb	Gerundio
hablar to speak	hablando
llamar to call	llamando
comer to eat	comiendo
beber to drink	bebiendo
vivir to live	viviendo
partir to depart	partiendo

Irregular gerundios

A few verbs in Spanish have an irregular gerundio. There are 2 possible irregularities:

• For some verbs, there is has a small vowel change in the stem:

Verb	Gerundio
decir to say	diciendo
dormir to sleep	durmiendo
morir to die	muriendo
pedir to ask for	pidiendo
preferir to prefer	prefiriendo
repetir to repeat	repitiendo
seguir to continue	siguiendo
sentir to feel	sintiendo
servir to serve	sirviendo
vestir to wear	vistiendo

• For other verbs, the ending is -yendo instead of -iendo:

Verb	Gerundio
creer to believe	creyendo
leer to read	leyendo
ir to go	yendo
oír to hear	oyendo
traer to bring	trayendo

Uses of the gerundio

Here are its most important uses:

After the verb “estar”, expressing an ongoing action

We use the gerundio after the verb estar to build sentences in Present Progressive that express what’s happening at the moment:

¿Qué estás haciendo?
What are you doing?

Estoy bebiendo un zumo de manzana.
I’m drinking an apple juice.

¿Vosotros estáis cocinando carne?
Are you guys cooking meat?

Nosotros estamos pidiendo la cena.
We are ordering dinner.

After other verbs

We can use the gerundio after other verbs to express different things:

• “seguir” + gerundio = to keep doing something, to still be doing something:

Por desgracia, sigo fumando.
Unfortunately, I keep smoking.

Los chicos siguen aprendiendo.
The boys keep learning.

¿Tú sigues tocando la guitarra?
Are you still playing the guitar?

• “pasar” + gerundio = to spend a certain amount of time doing something:

Ella pasa todo el día jugando.
She spends all day playing.

Nosotros pasamos horas hablando.
We spend hours talking.

• “ir” + gerundio = to go around doing something:

Roberto va siempre cantando.
Roberto is always singing around.

¿Por qué vas diciendo tonterías?
Why do you go around talking nonsense?

• “llevar” + gerundio = to have been doing something for a certain amount of time:

Llevo media hora mirando este reloj.
I’ve been looking at this watch for half an hour.

Llevamos estudiando español cinco años.
We have been studying Spanish for five years.

• “acabar” + gerundio or “terminar” + gerundio = to end up doing something:

Si trabajas duro, acabas ganando.
If you work hard, you end up winning.

Los alumnos terminan sabiendo mucho español.
The students end up knowing a lot of Spanish.

Practice

Quiz

Take this short Quiz about the gerundio:

Exercise 1

Form the gerundio of the following verbs. Click on the gray spaces to see the solutions:

1) escuchar – escuchando
2) salir – saliendo
3) contar – contando
4) tener – teniendo
5) leer – leyendo
6) dormir – durmiendo
7) repetir – repitiendo
8) vestir – vistiendo

Exercise 2

In this exercise we practice the gerundio after “estar”, as part of the Present Progressive Tense.

Fill the gaps with the gerundio of the verbs in brackets:

1) Sara está leyendo una novela de misterio. (leer)
Sara is reading a mystery novel.

2) ¿Quién está tocando el piano? (tocar)
Who is playing the piano?

3) ¿Por qué estáis discutiendo ? (discutir)
Why are you guys arguing?

4) Yo estoy regando las plantas. (regar)
I am watering the plants.

5) Los niños están durmiendo . (dormir)
The children are sleeping.

Exercise 3

In this exercise we practice the gerundio after other verbs.

Fill the gaps with the gerundio of the verbs in brackets:

1) El público sigue aplaudiendo . (aplaudir)
The audience keeps applauding.

2) Yo paso mucho tiempo pensando en mis amigos. (pensar)
I spend a lot of time thinking about my friends.

3) Ellos siempre van bromeando . (bromear)
They are always joking around.

4) Vosotros lleváis dos horas viendo la televisión. (ver)
You guys have been watching TV for two hours.

5) Yo he acabado amando esta serie. (amar)
I’ve ended up loving this show.