The Catalan gerund is a non-finite form ending in -ant, -ent, or -int: parlant “speaking,” perdent “losing,” dormint “sleeping.” It presents an event from inside, as unfolding or accompanying another situation. Its form is compact, but it does not by itself mean English “is doing”; a progressive meaning needs a finite auxiliary such as estar, as explained on the progressive-periphrases page.
The central formation rule is regular. The real difficulty lies in frequent second-conjugation verbs whose gerund stem is not transparently visible in the infinitive, and in colloquial analogical forms such as vinguent that careful standard Catalan avoids.
The three regular endings
Remove the infinitive ending and add the gerund ending associated with the conjugation.
| Conjugation | Infinitive | Formation | Gerund |
|---|---|---|---|
| first: -ar | parlar | parl- + -ant | parlant |
| second: -er | témer | tem- + -ent | tement |
| second: -re | perdre | perd- + -ent | perdent |
| third: -ir | dormir | dorm- + -int | dormint |
| third, incoative | servir | serv- + -int | servint |
The incoative extension visible in serveixo does not appear in the gerund: servint, never serveixent. The same applies to decidir → decidint and construir → construint. A diaeresis that appears in finite forms such as construïm is absent in construint, because the spelling and syllable pattern are different.
Estan parlant al passadís; ara surto.
They're talking in the hallway; I'll be out in a moment.
Va arribar corrent perquè feia tard.
She came running because she was late.
Continuen servint dinars fins a les quatre.
They keep serving lunch until four.
No person, number, tense, or mood marking
A gerund is invariable. The finite verb or the surrounding clause identifies its subject and locates the event in time. Here is the complete person-number paradigm of parlant: every cell has exactly the same form.
| Subject | Gerund | Progressive example |
|---|---|---|
| jo | parlant | estic parlant |
| tu | parlant | estàs parlant |
| ell / ella / vostè | parlant | està parlant |
| nosaltres | parlant | estem parlant |
| vosaltres / vós | parlant | esteu parlant |
| ells / elles / vostès | parlant | estan parlant |
The endings on estic, estàs, està, estem, esteu, and estan express agreement and present time. Parlant contributes the imperfective, internal view of the speaking. In estaven parlant, only the auxiliary changes to past imperfect.
Jo estava cuinant i vosaltres estàveu parant taula.
I was cooking and you were setting the table.
No estem buscant culpables; busquem una solució.
We're not looking for people to blame; we're looking for a solution.
Stress and spelling
Gerunds have final stress: par-LANT, per-DENT, dor-MINT, di-ENT. Because words ending in -nt normally take final stress, standard gerunds do not need a written accent. Do not transfer an accent from an infinitive: conèixer has an accent, but coneixent does not; témer becomes tement.
Anirem coneixent millor la ciutat a poc a poc.
We'll gradually get to know the city better.
Vaig passar tota la tarda escrivint correus.
I spent the whole afternoon writing emails.
Spelling protects the sound of the stem where necessary. Llegir gives llegint, començar gives començant, and buscar gives buscant. There is no automatic -guent ending in standard Catalan: a g that occurs elsewhere in a paradigm does not simply carry over to the gerund.
Frequent stem alternations
Many high-frequency gerunds must be learned as principal forms. The patterns below are more useful than treating every item as unrelated.
| Pattern | Infinitive → gerund | Warning |
|---|---|---|
| short irregular stem | fer → fent; dir → dient; dur → duent | not faent, diguent, duguent |
| u becomes i / disappears | caure → caient; creure → creient; riure → rient; seure → seient | learn the whole form |
| u becomes v | beure → bevent; moure → movent; ploure → plovent | not built from the present bec/moc |
| -vi- stem | viure → vivint; escriure → escrivint | third-conjugation-looking ending despite -re infinitive |
| no velar extension | tenir → tenint; venir → venint; poder → podent | formal standard avoids tinguent, vinguent, poguent |
| other frequent forms | saber → sabent; voler → volent; haver → havent; ser → sent / essent | memorize as vocabulary |
Sent and essent are both standard gerunds of ser/ésser. Sent is the ordinary compact form; essent is especially common when writers want to avoid ambiguity or adopt a more (formal) register. The choice does not change agreement: neither form varies for gender or number.
Ho va dir rient, però parlava seriosament.
She said it laughing, but she was speaking seriously.
Tenint tan poc temps, vam repartir-nos la feina.
Having so little time, we divided up the work.
Essent aquest el darrer punt, podem tancar la reunió.
This being the last item, we can close the meeting.
Standard regional variants
Most gerund formation is shared throughout the Catalan-speaking territory. A small number of second-conjugation verbs have standard variants associated with geography. Alongside general traient from treure/traure, (regional: Valencian) uses traent. The dictionaries also record (regional: Valencian) veent beside general veient.
Alguerese has a broader local pattern in which many verbs in -ure form gerunds in -ient—for example (regional: Alguerese) beient beside general bevent. These forms belong to a coherent dialect system; learners aiming at the general written standard should use the general forms unless writing in that regional norm.
Està traient els plats de l'armari.
She's taking the plates out of the cupboard.
Està traent els plats de l'armari.
She's taking the plates out of the cupboard. (regional: Valencian)
Weak pronouns after a gerund
Outside a finite periphrasis, weak pronouns attach after the gerund with a hyphen or apostrophe according to the ordinary postverbal rules: mirant-lo, dient-li, explicant-m'ho, anant-se'n. With a progressive periphrasis, both attachment to the gerund and placement before the finite auxiliary are possible: l'estic llegint and estic llegint-lo.
Anant-me'n tan d'hora, em vaig estalviar l'embús.
By leaving so early, I avoided the traffic jam.
La nota? L'estic escrivint ara mateix.
The note? I'm writing it right now.
The pronoun belongs semantically to the gerund: -lo is the object of llegint. Its surface position does not turn the gerund into a finite form.
Gerund versus infinitive and participle
The infinitive names an event without an internal viewpoint (Vull parlar); the gerund presents it as unfolding or accompanying (Va entrar parlant); the participle typically presents a completed result (La porta està tancada). English often uses “-ing” for both nouns and progressive verbs, so its form cannot predict which Catalan non-finite form is needed.
Abans de sortir, tanca totes les finestres.
Before leaving, close all the windows.
Va travessar el passadís tancant les finestres una per una.
She crossed the hallway, closing the windows one by one as she went.
Mini-dialogue
—Com es diu el gerundi de venir: «vinguent»? —En l'estàndard formal, venint.
—What's the gerund of venir: ‘vinguent’? —In the formal standard, venint.
—I el de riure? —Rient; no hi afegeixis cap ge.
—And the one for riure? —Rient; don't add a g.
Common Mistakes
1. Using -int for every verb because English has one “-ing.”
❌ Estem parlint del pressupost.
Incorrect — parlar is first conjugation and takes -ant.
✅ Estem parlant del pressupost.
We're talking about the budget.
2. Keeping the incoative extension.
❌ Continuen serveixent cafès després de dinar.
Incorrect — the gerund of servir is servint.
✅ Continuen servint cafès després de dinar.
They keep serving coffees after lunch.
3. Building a gerund from a velar present stem.
❌ Està vinguent cap aquí.
Nonstandard in careful prose — use venint.
✅ Està venint cap aquí.
She's coming this way.
4. Adding person agreement to the gerund.
❌ Nosaltres estem parlem massa fort.
Incorrect — the finite auxiliary agrees; the gerund remains parlant.
✅ Nosaltres estem parlant massa fort.
We're speaking too loudly.
5. Separating an enclitic pronoun as if it were an English object.
❌ Va entrar dient ho a tothom.
Incorrect — a postverbal weak pronoun attaches to the gerund.
✅ Va entrar dient-ho a tothom.
She came in telling everyone about it.
Key Takeaways
Form regular gerunds with -ant after -ar, -ent after -er/-re, and -int after -ir. The gerund is always invariable and normally bears final stress without a written accent. Learn frequent irregular stems—especially fent, dient, duent, rient, veient, tenint, and venint—and attach postverbal weak pronouns correctly. The gerund contributes aspect; a finite verb supplies person, time, and mood.
Now practice Catalan
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Catalan →Related Topics
- Finite and Nonfinite Verb FormsA1 — Distinguish person-marked indicative, subjunctive, and imperative forms from infinitives, gerunds, and participles and use each to build clauses.
- Infinitive Forms and Conjugation ClassesA2 — Recognize Catalan infinitives, their stress patterns, and the three conjugation classes that organize finite verb forms.
- Gerunds for Simultaneous Manner and CircumstanceA2 — Use Catalan gerund clauses for manner, means, and accompanying action while keeping their subject and punctuation clear.
- Progressive Periphrases with the GerundA2 — Choose among estar, anar, continuar, and seguir plus a gerund, and avoid nonstandard aspectual venir plus gerund.
- The Compound GerundA2 — Form the Catalan compound gerund with havent plus a participle and use it for a completed circumstance before another event.
- Postverbal Pronouns with Infinitives, Gerunds, and ImperativesA2 — Attach weak pronouns after infinitives, gerunds, and affirmative imperatives with the correct full or reduced form.