Present Participles in Spanish

Introduction

Present participles in Spanish are verb forms used to express continuous or ongoing actions

Spanish present participles end in -ndo, which is the equivalent of the English ending -ing.

Check out the present participles in the examples below.

Él estaba leyendo.
He was reading.
Sigo pensando en ti.
I keep thinking about you.

A Note on the Term Gerund

In Spanish, the verb form that ends in -ndo is called the gerundio. It is used in compound verb forms, such as Estoy nadando. (I'm swimming.), as well as adverbially, as in Salió corriendo. (literally, He left running.)

In English, a gerund is the noun form of a verb, such as swimming in the sentence Swimming is fun. (Es divertido nadar.). In Spanish, this form is translated using an infinitive verb, such as nadar.

The term used for the -ing form used in compound verbs in English is the present participle.

How to Form Regular Spanish Gerundios

To form the gerundio of regular verbs, most of the time you just drop the infinitive ending (-ar, -er, -ir) and add -ando to the stem of -ar verbs and -iendo to the stem of -er and -ir verbs

Check out the table below to see how to form gerundios.

Verb Type Infinitive Example Stem Example Gerundio Example
-ar verb hablar habl- hablando
-er verb tener ten- teniendo
-ir verb vivir viv- viviendo

Gerundios that March to a Different Beat

There are also several types of gerundios that don't follow the above rules. Let's learn about them now!

1. -yendo

If the stem of an -er or -ir verb ends in a vowel, -iendo becomes -yendo. Check out the examples below.

Verb Type Infinitive Example Stem Example Gerundio Example
-er verb atraer atra- atrayendo
-er verb caer ca- cayendo
-er verb contraer contra- contrayendo
-er verb creer cre- creyendo
-er verb leer le- leyendo
-er verb traer tra- trayendo
-ir verb construir constru- construyendo
-ir verb contribuir constribu- contribuyendo
-ir verb excluir exclu- excluyendo
-ir verb destruir destru- destruyendo
-ir verb huir hu- huyendo
-ir verb incluir inclu- incluyendo
-ir verb influir influ- influyendo
-ir verb oír o- oyendo

Pro tip: whenever an unstressed i appears between two vowels, the spelling always changes to a y.

2. Irregular ir

Ir (to go) is an irregular verb, and does not follow the pattern above. For pronunciation reasons, the gerundio of ir is yendo.

3. -endo

If the stem of an -er or -ir verb ends in -ll or -ñ, -iendo becomes -endo.

Verb Type Infinitive Example Stem Example Gerundio Example
-er verb tañer tañ- tañendo
-ir verb bullir bull- bullendo
-ir verb engullir engull- engullendo
-ir verb mullir mull- mullendo
-ir verb gruñir gruñ- gruñendo
-ir verb reñir reñ- riñendo
-ir verb teñir teñ- teñendo

4. Stem-Changing Present Participles

There are also some verbs that need a stem change before adding the gerundio ending to maintain pronunciation:

  • Any -ir verb that has a stem change in the third person preterite (e > i, or o > u) will have the same stem change in the gerundio.
  • The -er verb poder also maintains its preterite stem change in the gerundio.
Stem Change Infinitive Example Third Person Preterite Form Gerundio Example
e>i advertir advirtió advirtiendo
e>i competir compitió compitiendo
e>i conseguir consiguió consiguiendo
e>i consentir consintió consintiendo
e>i convertir convirtió convirtiendo
e>i decir dijo diciendo
e>i hervir hirvió hirviendo
e>i mentir mintió mintiendo
e>i pedir pidió pidiendo
e>i reñir riñó riñendo
e>i repetir repitió repitiendo
e>i seguir siguió siguiendo
e>i servir sirvió sirviendo
e>i sugerir sugirió sugiriendo
e>i venir vino viniendo
o>u dormir durmió durmiendo
o>u morir murió muriendo