Gerund and Participle

Gerund: cuidando Participle: cuidado What is a gerund and what is a participle.

The gerund is equivalent to us attaching -ing to verbs in English. It is preceded by some form of the verb 'to be'. In Spanish that would be 'estar'. ex: I am eating. (Estoy comiendo.) ex: I was eating. (Estaba comiendo.) Eating and comiendo are gerunds. The participle is used in the various perfect tenses. In English that would be using some form of the verb 'to have' followed by the verb participle. In Spanish it would be using some conjugation of the verb 'haber' followed by the participle. ex: I have eaten. (He comido.) ex: I had eaten. (Me había comido.) ex: If I had eaten I would not be here. (Si yo hubiera comido yo no estaría aquí.) Eaten and comido are participles.

Tell if I am correct here. I am going to go. Voy a ir. I am going. Estoy yendo.

Those look correct. Here is one more: I have gone. He ido.

I like this conversation. Someone validate or correct this assumption: In English we can use the gerund in the past tense: I was eating. In Spanish we do NOT use the gerund in anything but the present tense.

Actually, I think any conjugation of 'estar' followed by the gerund is valid (though the preterit does not make much sense). Present Indicative: I am eating (Estoy comiendo.) Past Imperfect: I was eating (Yo estaba comiendo.) Future: I will be eating (Estaré comiendo.) Past Subjunctive: If I were eating I would be here. (Si yo estuviera comiendo yo estaría aquí.) Present Perfect: I have been eating. (He estado comiendo.) Past perfect: I had been eating. (Yo había estado comiendo.) The last two involve both gerunds and participles.

Hola a todos, Thanks to all for keeping the forum active and providing info to help us all learn. Here is a link to a past discussion regarding the use of the gerund and conjugation. http://members.rocketlanguages.com/your-community/spanish-grammar/gerunds-and-the-progressive-tenses Saludos, Ricardo