The Portuguese gerund – Learn Portuguese with podcasts

Welcome to our Portuguese Basic Tips about Portuguese gerund

Today we are going to go over a few ways of using Portuguese gerund. This kind of verb is used to describe something that is happening at that moment.

Click on the link to access our episode called figurative meaning in Portuguese

For instance:

Eu estou fazendo isso (I’m doing it.)

Have you noticed the end of this verb “endo”? This is something similar to the “ing” in English language. However, in English it is used in a few more ways, which we don’t use in Portuguese.

For instance, in Portuguese we don’t start a sentence using gerund.

• Trying to learn Portuguese is a matter of study.

In Portuguese, we’d say:

• Tentar aprender português é uma questão de estudo.

Note that the verb tentar (to try) remained in the infinitive form, in this case.

Plus: using gerund is a common thing only in Brazil. If you want to go to Portugal, maybe they will classify it as a “bad Portuguese”.

• Instead of saying “Eu estou fazendo algo” (I’m doing something), people in Portugal will say “Estou a fazer algo”

In Brazilian Portuguese, you’ll always use gerund accompanied by another auxiliary verb.

For instance:

–        Eu estou escrevendo uma carta (I’m writing a letter)

–        Eu ando pensando muito (I’m thinking  too much)

–        Eu vivo esquecendo as coisas (I keep forgetting things)

You can also describe a situation that started in the past.

For instance:

–        Você andou estudando muito nestes últimos dias

–        You’ve been studying a lot the last days

But, please, pay attention on it:

You should never use this situation in the future tense!

Although you may find a Brazilian speaking like that, please, do not repeat a phrase as those ones:

• Eu vou estar enviando – The correct way is “Eu vou enviar” or “Eu enviarei”(I will send it)
• Eu vou estar ligando – The correct way is “Eu vou ligar” or “Eu ligarei”.

Remember: In Brazil we use gerund to describe a situation that is happening at that moment. Sometimes we can refer to a situation that happened often in the past, but never in the future!

To finish this, you should know that we have verbs finishing with “ando”, “endo” and “indo”.

For instance:

• Eu estou olhando para você (- I’m looking at you)
• Eu estou vendo você (I’m seeing you)
• Eu estou assistindo a você (I’m watching you)

If you want to study about “gerundism”, click on the link (only in Portuguese).

Visit our last episode in which we talked about members of a family in Portuguese

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That’s enough for today!

Thanks for listening to it.

Marcos Sales

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