Gerunds and the progressive tenses

Hola amigos, The thread titled " the imperfect tense" was essentially about the progressive tense and I thought I would post this link I found. Dan raised the question about the gerund not seeming to be used with the preterite and I couldn't recall it being used with it either. In any case this is an interesting bit of info about the gerund and it's usage with a number of tenses. It's pretty in depth, I have it bookmarked and I hope it is of help to all. http://users.ipfw.edu/jehle/COURSES/gerund.htm Saludos, Ricardo

Thanks. I heard it before but I don't think it was called a gerund. This really explains it. Early on Mauricio told Ann that he was a doctor and Ann apologized and addressed him as Dr. Mauricio. He answered "Estoy aprendiendo. Looks like this is a gerund.

After reading these two comments I started second guessing myself. I assumed that a gerund and a present participle, which both end in -ing in English and -ndo in Spanish, were synonymous. Apparently at least some grammarians assert that they are different, as does the article that Ricardo cites. If my quick skimming of this article is accurate, using the appropriate conjugation of estar with a gerund is permissable, even in the preterite. Back to whether they are different things or the same, SpanishDict.com says, "The gerund, also known as the present participle, is used to express several continuous actions in Spanish. You can find the gerundio right under the definition when you conjugate a word using our conjugator." I remain confused.

"El sonido de los cuernos se fue apagando, y un siseo constante llenó el aire." - Juego de Tronos 1 p. 658

Please explain the connection between this quote and the gerund. I only understand sonido, constante, lleno and aire.

Hola a todos, I too found the use of a gerund with the preterite and other tenses interesting, though it was stated that most commonly it's used with the present and imperfect. I've also seen several references saying the gerund is also known as the present participle. Papa or patata, it's still a potato. Aurora, the quote is showing the gerund "apagando" being used with the preterite "fue". Saludos, Ricardo