Using Spanish Gerunds Without an Auxiliary Verb

Using Spanish Gerunds Without an Auxiliary Verb Although the Spanish verbal present participle or gerund - that is, the form of the verb that ends in -ando or -iendo - is most commonly used with estar and a few other verbs to form what are known as the progressive verb forms, it can also be used by itself (without an auxiliary verb) to indicate that something is being done or occurring while something else is occurring. In most such cases, the present participle can still be translated using the English -ing form of the verb. There are several ways in which sentences using the gerund can be translated or thought of in English. One common way is for it to be used as the equivalent of the English while followed by an -ing verb: Here are some examples: Llorà © escuchando tu voz. I cried while listening to your voice. Ganaron cinco partidos, perdiendo trece. They won five matches while losing 13.  ¿Soy la à ºnica en este planeta que se durmià ³ viendo El silencio de los inocentes? Am I the only person on this planet who fell asleep while watching The Silence of the Lambs? Los participantes comenzaron el estudio comiendo una dieta americana. The participants began the study while eating an American diet. Note that in most of the above English translations, the word while can be omitted with little or no change in meaning. In some cases (including some of the above examples, depending on how theyre interpreted), the gerund is used much like an adverb to describe how the action of the main verb is carried out: Mi amiga salià ³ corriendo. My friend left running. Finalmente se fue sonriendo. Finally he went away laughing. Sà ³lo compraron Nescafà ©, ignorando el resto de las marcas. They only bought Nescafà ©, ignoring the other brands. When the gerund is used to describe how something is done, it can often be translated using the English preposition by: Usted puede darles el mejor comienzo a sus bebà ©s teniendo un buen cuidado de usted. You can give your babies the best beginning by taking good care of yourself. Podemos ahorrar tiempo usando la bicicleta. We can save time by using the bicycle. Estudiando mucho, tendremos à ©xito. By studying hard, we will be successful. Often, in the English translation, the word by can be omitted with little or no change in meaning, as in the second example above. Note that while it is sometimes done in imitation of English, as in news headlines, it is not standard Spanish to use the gerund to affect the meaning of a noun. You would not use fumando, for example, to talk about the smoking man. Normally, youd use phrase such as el hombre que fuma. In effect, the Spanish gerund fulfills the function of an adverb, while the English gerund can take the role of an adjective.