Spanish: An Essential Grammar

After prepositions

Except in one or two archaic constructions, the infinitivemust be used. See

17.2.

As a verbal noun

It is the infinitiverather than the gerund that forms a verbal noun:

No le gusta nadar. He does not like swimming.

As an adjective

If the ‘-ing’ form in English has acquired an adjective-like function (e.g. ‘an

interesting book’), the Spanish gerund usually cannot be used to translate

it. This can be resolved in a number of ways:

(a) By the use of an appropriate adjective, sometimes ending in -ante

(derived from -arverbs), or -iente or -ente (from-er and-ir verbs):

un objeto volador no an unidentified flying object

identificado

un tipo de cambio flotante a floating exchange rate

la Bella Durmiente Sleeping Beauty

(b) By a prepositional phrase (e.g. de+ a related noun or infinitive):

una clase de natación a swimming lesson

botas de montar riding boots

(c) By some other solution:

humedad de paredes rising damp

Note: The only common exceptions are ardiendo‘burning’ and hirviendo‘boiling’

which remain invariable and are placed after the noun: aceite hirviendo‘boiling oil’,

una casa ardiendo‘a burning house’.

To describe a position or condition

In Spanish it is the past participleand not the gerund which describes a

position: ‘kneeling’ arrodillado, ‘sitting’ sentado.

Similarly, the past participle indicates a condition when alternative adjec-

tives are not available: ‘boring’ pesado, ‘amusing’ divertido.

18.5.4

18.5.3

18.5.2

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Cases where

the gerund is

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