Gerund and the Progressive Tenses

The GERUND (gerundio) is a special, invariable form of the verb which always ends in -ndo in Spanish, for example: hablando, comiendo, viviendo. An alternate name for it is simply “the -ndo form”. In English it is translated as the “-ing” form of the verb (for example, “speaking”), which has lead to the frequent mistake of calling this form the “present participle”. The gerund is a verb form which has an adverbial function, not an adjectival function like a participle, nor a noun function like an infinitive.

To form the gerund:

1. Remove infinitive ending [-ar, -er, or -ir] 
2. Add -ando for -ar verbs, 
       -iendo for -er and -ir verbs

• caminar --> caminando
• volver --> volviendo
• abrir --> abriendo

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