📖LearnModule 9 · Lesson 2 of 30Independent User · CEFR B2, completedUnit 1 · La narración escrita
El gerundio — two things at once
Module 9 of the free Spanish course (CEFR B2, completed), lesson 2 of 30: The -ando / -iendo form says that two things happened together. On this page: 10 words with their genders and respellings, the rule, a watch-out line, the conjugation table and the audio — the study notes behind the workbook's QR.
Respellings follow the course’s say-it key; the stressed syllable is in capitals. Print this lesson’s flashcards (PDF) — the words on the front, the English and respelling on the back.
La regla · The rule
The -ando / -iendo form says that two things happened together, or that one was the means of the other. Leía caminando — he read while walking. Aprendí español viendo películas — I learned Spanish by watching movies. No en, no preposition: the gerund stands alone.
Y también · And also
Build it from the infinitive: -ar gives -ando (caminando), -er and -ir give -iendo (aprendiendo, saliendo). A stem vowel changes in a few -ir verbs (durmiendo, pidiendo, sintiendo) and a vowel stem takes y: leyendo, oyendo. With estar it makes the progressive: están hablando.
Ojo · Watch out
The gerund never takes a preposition: aprendí viendo películas, not aprendí por viendo. And leer gives leyendo, oír gives oyendo — a y, never leiendo. The subject must be the same for both halves.
hablar, estar + gerundio — the table
yo estoy hablando · tú estás hablando · él/ella/usted está hablando · nosotros estamos hablando · ustedes están hablando · ellos/ellas están hablando
Do it now — on paper
Say all 10 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the Spanish spelling alone — begin with caminando.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the Spanish.
Write out hablar, estar + gerundio in full from memory, every person, and check each form against the table above.
This free course is the reading half. The writing half — write-in lessons, daily practice pages with built-in review, self-checks and a full answer key — is the companion workbook series, The Spanish Ladder: one workbook per module, fifteen in all, released band by band with the Basic band (Modules 1–5) first.
Keep these words
Turn this lesson’s words into flashcards, then space your reviews — the two habits the research behind our study guides backs hardest.