First things first: what's that? Spanish Gerundio is a verbal form that expresses a developing action. Despite its name, usually it is not similar to the English gerund.
In order to form a Gerundio, we must
- drop the infinitive ending and add –ando for -AR verbs.
hablar – hablando - drop the infinitive ending and add –iendo for -ER verbs and -IR verbs.
comer – comiendo
vivir – viviendo
And we can even add some details to that:
- -IR verbs with stressed stem vowel -e- that change it into -i- in the Present Tense, also do it forming the gerundio:
pedir – pidiendo - The verbs dormir, morir, poder change -o- into -u-:
dormir – durmiendo,
morir – muriendo,
poder – pudiendo - verbs with the stem ending in a vowel and the verb ir according to the rules of Spanish spelling change -i- into -y-:
leer – leyendo
ir – yendo - verbs with the stem ending in -ñ add –endo instead of –iendo:
teñir – tiñendo
- reflexive pronouns with –se conjugate and are written in one word with their gerundio:
levantarse:
levantándome, levantándote, levantándose, levantándonos, levantándoos, levantándose
Bear in mind that in this case always there is the tilde in writing.
Note that the reflexive pronoun can totally change the meaning:
– ¿Cómo podemos hablar por Skype si tenemos 12 horas de diferencia? – How can we skype ourselves if there is 12-hours time difference?
– Pues, levantándote dos horas antes – (you) getting up 2 hours before
– Pues, levantándome dos horas antes – (me) getting up 2 hours before