When you say Vi uma menina chorando ("I saw a girl crying"), the word chorando is doing the job of a whole relative clause: it tells you which girl — the one who was crying. Instead of the full Vi uma menina que estava chorando ("I saw a girl who was crying"), Brazilian Portuguese lets you collapse the relative clause into a single gerund. Linguists call this a reduced relative clause: a participle-like form that modifies a noun and replaces a longer que clause.
This is a B1 topic because it requires you to recognize that the gerund is attaching to a noun, not to the main verb — a different relationship from the adverbial gerund of the previous page. The payoff is large: reduced relatives make your Portuguese sound dramatically more fluid and native.
The core structure: noun + gerund
The gerund follows the noun it modifies and describes an action that noun is engaged in. The whole thing usually appears as the object of a perception verb (ver, ouvir, encontrar, sentir) or of any verb that introduces a scene.
Vi uma menina chorando na esquina.
I saw a girl crying on the corner.
Ouvi os passos se aproximando no corredor escuro.
I heard the footsteps approaching in the dark hallway.
Encontrei meu irmão dormindo no sofá.
I found my brother sleeping on the couch.
In all three, the gerund modifies the noun immediately before it: menina chorando (a crying girl), passos se aproximando (approaching footsteps), irmão dormindo (a sleeping brother). You can always test this by expanding it back into a full relative clause: uma menina que estava chorando, os passos que se aproximavam, meu irmão que estava dormindo.
Why English makes this feel familiar — and where it differs
English has the very same construction: "I saw a girl crying," "I heard footsteps approaching." So an English speaker rarely struggles to produce the Brazilian version. The difference is one of frequency and reach: Brazilian Portuguese uses the reduced-relative gerund a bit more freely than English, and crucially, English sometimes uses a bare adjective or a past participle where Portuguese keeps the gerund.
Where English says "a man standing at the door," Portuguese agrees: um homem em pé na porta (here Portuguese actually prefers the fixed phrase em pé, but a gerund like esperando works for an action). The key contrast to master is the next section: gerund vs. past participle.
Gerund vs. past participle: ongoing action vs. resulting state
This is the heart of the page. Both the gerund and the past participle can follow a noun, but they mean opposite things:
- The gerund describes an ongoing action the noun is performing: a menina chorando (the girl who is crying — she is actively crying).
- The past participle describes a resulting state the noun is in, often passively: o livro caído no chão (the book fallen on the floor — it lies there, the falling is over).
Encontrei o livro caído no chão atrás da estante.
I found the book lying on the floor behind the bookshelf.
Vi as folhas caindo das árvores.
I saw the leaves falling from the trees.
The same verb cair gives both: caindo (in the act of falling) vs. caído (already fallen, now at rest). Choosing between them is choosing between process and result.
| Gerund (ongoing process) | Past participle (resulting state) |
|---|---|
| a porta abrindo (the door opening) | a porta aberta (the open door) |
| o vaso quebrando (the vase breaking) | o vaso quebrado (the broken vase) |
| as luzes apagando (the lights going out) | as luzes apagadas (the lights, switched off) |
With perception verbs especially
The reduced-relative gerund is at its most natural after verbs of perception — ver (see), ouvir (hear), escutar (listen to), sentir (feel), observar (watch). These verbs naturally introduce a scene in progress, which is exactly what the gerund captures.
Ouvi alguém batendo na porta a noite toda.
I heard someone knocking on the door all night.
Senti meu coração disparando antes da prova.
I felt my heart racing before the exam.
Da janela, observei os pescadores puxando as redes.
From the window, I watched the fishermen pulling in the nets.
Note that Portuguese also offers an alternative here — the personal infinitive — for perception verbs: Ouvi alguém bater na porta. The gerund stresses the action as ongoing and drawn-out (knocking, repeatedly), while the infinitive presents it as a single completed event (a knock). For the infinitive option, see Perception Verb Complements.
Vi o ônibus chegando, mas não consegui correr a tempo.
I saw the bus arriving, but I couldn't run in time.
A note on "gerundismo" and prescriptive grumbling
Some Brazilian style commentators lump the reduced-relative gerund into broader complaints about gerundismo. They are mostly aiming at clunky corporate phrasing (vou estar enviando), not at vi uma menina chorando. The reduced relative is grammatical, standard, and used by every educated Brazilian writer. You should feel completely free to use it. The only place to tread carefully is heavily edited formal prose, where some editors prefer an explicit relative clause (uma menina que chorava) for precision — but even there the gerund is widely accepted.
Common Mistakes
❌ Encontrei o livro caindo no chão atrás da estante.
Wrong nuance — the book is already fallen and at rest; use the past participle.
✅ Encontrei o livro caído no chão atrás da estante.
I found the book lying on the floor behind the bookshelf.
❌ Vi uma menina chorada na esquina.
Incorrect — an ongoing action takes the gerund, not the past participle.
✅ Vi uma menina chorando na esquina.
I saw a girl crying on the corner.
❌ Ouvi os passos se aproximandos.
Incorrect — the gerund never agrees; it takes no plural -s.
✅ Ouvi os passos se aproximando.
I heard the footsteps approaching.
❌ Encontrei a porta abrindo de par em par.
Wrong nuance — a door standing wide open is a state; use the participle aberta.
✅ Encontrei a porta aberta de par em par.
I found the door wide open.
❌ Vi o ônibus que chegando.
Incorrect — the reduced relative drops the que; do not keep both.
✅ Vi o ônibus chegando.
I saw the bus arriving.
Key Takeaways
- A gerund placed after a noun acts as a reduced relative clause: uma menina chorando = "a girl who is crying."
- The gerund describes an ongoing action; the past participle describes a resulting state (caindo vs. caído).
- The past participle agrees with the noun; the gerund never does — a quick way to tell them apart.
- The construction shines after perception verbs (ver, ouvir, sentir), where it stresses a drawn-out, in-progress action.
- It is fully standard Brazilian Portuguese; ignore the gerundismo grumbling, which targets a different construction.
Now practice Portuguese
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Start learning Portuguese→Related Topics
- The Gerund (Gerúndio) in BR PortugueseA2 — An overview of the Brazilian gerund — its five core uses, how to form it, and why it is one of the most audible markers of spoken BR Portuguese.
- Adverbial Gerund (Simultaneous Action)A2 — How the Brazilian gerund expresses a second action happening at the same time as the main verb — saí correndo, entrou cantando — and why it beats a full 'while' clause.
- Relative Clauses: OverviewA2 — What relative clauses are in Brazilian Portuguese — clauses that modify a noun using que, quem, onde, o qual, or cujo — and the key split between restrictive (no commas) and non-restrictive (commas) clauses.
- Perception Verb ComplementsB2 — How ver, ouvir, sentir, observar, and notar take their complements in Brazilian Portuguese — gerund for an ongoing scene, personal infinitive for a bounded event, bare infinitive in speech, and 'que' for inferred facts.
- Present Participle as AdjectiveB2 — The -nte adjectives of Portuguese — descended from the Latin present participle, gender-invariable, and not to be confused with the verbal gerund in -ndo.
- Past Participle as AdjectiveA2 — How Brazilian Portuguese past participles work as adjectives — agreeing in gender and number with the noun they describe — and how recognizing them as participles expands your vocabulary.