Olá, queridos alunos! (Hello, dear students!)
In this lesson, you will learn how to communicate what you are doing right now, at this moment, using a nominal form of the verb called the gerund.
I’ve prepared a PDF with exercises so you can practice what you’ve learned in this lesson.
Fill out the form below to download your worksheet.
Have you noticed that, in Brazilian Portuguese, we do not use the present tense to talk about the present moment? Strange, right? We use the present tense to talk about facts and habits, but when we want to talk about what we are doing right now, at this exact moment, we use the gerund.
For example:
Eu leio livros. (I read books.)
Here, I am referring to something I do regularly. It is a habit. But if I want to talk about what I am doing now, I should use the gerund:
Eu estou lendo um livro agora. (I am reading a book now.)
What is the gerund?
The gerund is a nominal form of the verb equivalent to the -ING form in English. The gerund is not a verb tense and can be used to talk about the past, present, or future.
The form of the gerund is very easy and is the same for all verbs. To form the gerund, you should remove the letter R from the end of verbs and add the letters -NDO.
For example:
Estudar – estudando (To study – studying)
Comer – comendo (To eat – eating)
Assistir – assistindo (To watch – watching)
The gerund is commonly used with the verb “estar” (to be) to indicate an action that is in progress. You must conjugate the verb “estar,” but the gerund is invariable.
For example:
Eu estou estudando português. (I am studying Portuguese.)
Ela está comendo chocolate. (She is eating chocolate.)
Eles estão assistindo à TV. (They are watching TV.)
We also use the gerund when we talk about two actions in the past and want to express that one thing was happening when another thing happened.
For example:
A criança estava dormindo quando seu pai chegou. (The child was sleeping when her father arrived.)
Eu estava lendo um livro quando o telefone tocou. (I was reading a book when the phone rang.)
Notice that the gerund indicates an action that was in progress at the moment another thing happened.
Similarly, we can use the gerund to talk about the future and indicate that something will be in progress when another thing happens.
For example:
A criança vai estar dormindo quando seu pai chegar. (The child will be sleeping when her father arrives.)
We can also use the gerund as an adverb.
For example:
Maria saiu de casa cantando. (Maria left the house singing.)
In this case, the gerund expresses the manner in which the action happened.
The gerund can also be used in many other ways in the Portuguese language, but today we covered the most common uses.
To really grasp what we studied today, you need to keep practicing. That’s why I’ve prepared a PDF with extra exercises. Fill out the form below to download your worksheet.
Até a próxima!
Virginia & Speaking Brazilian Team
