#gerund

Only 9/30, but each cat takes 15-30 minutes to lineart, colour, etc.

So my question is when should you use “verbs ending in ing, in spanish?

The gerund/progressive forms [the -ing forms] in Spanish show up with -ando, -iendo, sometimes -yendo (depending on the verb)

There are two minor things first:

The present tense would be fine for expressing this. Present tense is used for regular declarative statements that read more like talking about someone's general habits or more static/non-continuous actions hablas ["you speak"], as well as present continuous hablas ["you are speaking"]

The gerund forms [the -ando, -iendo, -yendo] can show up by themselves in some cases, but they often show up with estar or a verb of motion/continuation like ir, andar, seguir, continuar etc.

I'd also mention that whether you use habla or hablas depends on if you're using formal or informal "you", so habla could be usted "talks / is talking" depending how formal you're being

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Basically though:

¿Hablas con Renato? = Are you talking to Renato? [continuous] / Do you talk to Renato? [plain present tense] ¿Estás hablando con Renato? = Are you talking to Renato? [progressive; implied "at this moment" or "continuously"]

Present tense by itself can be used for progressive/continuous

And generally you're not going to see gerund by itself unless it's part of a narrative structure [like: es la anfitriona perfecta, hablando con todos los invitados "she's the perfect hostess, speaking with all the guests", or something like that]

I doubt Duo would spring hablando on you without wanting you to use estar or something:

estás hablando con la gente = you're talking to people andas hablando con la gente = you go around talking to people sigues hablando con la gente = you keep talking to people

That's the general way you use gerund forms... and you can use them in any tense as long as the verb is conjugated; estaba hablando "he/she was talking", or estaré hablando "I will be talking" [future tense], estarían hablando "they might/could be talking" [conditional tense]

You can even see them in multiple verb constructs: voy a estar hablando con Renato luego "I will be talking to Renato later"

I was studying the differences between particles and gerunds last night (for my Na'vi studies lol) and got a little stuck.

But i found it helpful to change a verb from a gerund or participle back into its infinitive form to distinguish its role in the sentence and differentiate the two from each other since they can look identical in spelling in English but have very different functions (a gerund having more limited function). This also helps me more explicitly see tense in participles and see the "agent" nature of a gerund. My thought process went a little like this:

"I like jogging." -> example of a gerund

It wouldnt make sense to say "I like jog" because the verb is in the infinitive and English doesnt use infinitives as agents like this. So I see how the "-ing" suffix is a gerund forming morpheme to make a noun out of the verb by changing the syntatic function of the verb. The infinitive verb is now a noun that describes the "ability" to do that verb or the general essence of that verb. Ability and essence are nouns. This is specifically a gerund and not a participle because the "-ing" suffix on the verb "jog" is not used to change the verb into an adverb to describe a verb nor an adjective to describe a noun, nor is it nominalizing a clause; its standing on its own as the agent of the predicate, transitive verb "like".

"The jogging athlete passes the baton." <- example of a participle

Here the verb "jog" is used as an adjective to describe the subject noun "athlete". It wouldnt make sense to use the infinitive of the verb to describe the noun because the infinitive form doesnt function as an attributing adjectve this way in English. The morpheme "-ing" is added to the verb to turn it into an adjective that syntatically functions to describe the ergative noun.

This is specifically a participle and not a gerund because a participle forming morpheme is used to syntatically change the verb's function to an adjective that describes the ergative noun and participles have this verb changing ability. Participles can also syntatically change verbs into nouns and adverbs. Gerunds exclusively function to turn verbs into agent nouns, and the verb in this sentence isnt functioning as an agent noun of the predicate verb "passes".

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In this post I will try to make a recap of all the past post I've written on this subject, and possibily add some more examples.

The gerund mood only has two tenses: present and past. You form it by adding a different suffix according on the verbs' conjugation you have to use. 1st conjugation (verb's suffix: -are, e.g. cantare) : -ando (cantando) 2nd conjugation (verb's suffix: -ere, e.g. vedere) : -endo (vedendo) 3rd conjugation (verb's suffix: -ire, e.g. uscire) : -endo (uscendo)

There isn't always a specific subject with it, but in general, it works together with the main sentence's subject (when not differently explicited). It can also be used impersonally. It is never conjugated accordingly to genders/numbers of the subject, as it is fixed.*

e.g. (io) Cammino cantando = I walk (while) singing (while I sing/I am singing).

*If anything, it is the past participle that comes with it at the past tense, that is conjugated, especially if you also have a personal pronoun together with the verb: e.g. mangiando = eating; mangiandoli = eating them avendo mangiato = having eaten; avendoli mangiati = having eaten them (let's suppose "li" stands for ravioli or any other masculine and plural dish/food you have mentioned before in your speech- check the personal pronouns post if you need or leave an ask).

At the present, it is used to stress (differently from the present simple of the indicative mood, that refers to a time that is present but not too specific)** the temporal value of an action, and the contemporaneity with the main clause. Ofc, that is not the only value it has (a present tense gerund may be used in a conditional, causative, modal and concessive way too).

e.g. Scrivo ascoltando musica = I write while I am listening to music.

At the past, it tells us about an action that happened before the main clause's one. Once again, the temporal value isn't the only way to use this mood's tense.

e.g. Avendo terminato il lavoro, tornò a casa =After he finished his/her job, s/he went back home.

When you find it together with "stare" or "andare", you have the progressive gerund: it means you are telling about an action that is happening exactly in this moment.

e.g. (in questo momento) Sto scrivendo questo post = (right now) I'm writing this post.

** Let's talk a little more about the tense consistency and the difference with the present simple of the indicative mood. Let's suppose you are writing a letter while eating an apple.

Present simple, indicative mood: - Scrivo una lettera e mangio una mela (it doesn't mean you're doing those two things now and together: I may also think you are going to write a letter, then eat the apple and then do something else). - Scrivo una lettera mentre mangio (=mangiando) una mela. (it doesn't mean you're doing those actions right now, but I might suppose so. It could also be that you usually act this way: when you write letters you like to eat apples. Using "mentre + indicative" or the gerund, I know you do them together.)

Progressive gerund: - Sto scrivendo una lettera e mangiando una mela = Sto scrivendo una lettera mentre mangio una mela. (it means you're doing those actions together and now, exactly as in the English "I'm writing a letter and/while eating an apple".)

Always watch/think about the main clause's verb first, then decide, according on your needs, which tense is more appropriate. If you're doing something right now, use the progressive gerund, if the action isn't happening exactly now or you don't feel like stressing that you are doing that thing now (it may be not necessary), go with the present simple indicative mood.