Gerúndio Overview

The Portuguese gerund — called gerúndio — is the verb form ending in -ando, -endo, -indo (falando, comendo, partindo). It looks like the English -ing form and does some of the same jobs, but European Portuguese uses the gerund dramatically less than Brazilian Portuguese — so much less that the difference is one of the most audible markers between the two varieties.

The most critical thing an EP learner needs to know is this: European Portuguese does not use the gerund to form the progressive tense. The Brazilian construction estou falando ("I am speaking") does not exist in everyday EP. Instead, EP uses estou a falar — the verb estar + preposition a + infinitive. The gerund is reserved for a handful of specific adverbial and absolute constructions; it is not the workhorse of continuous aspect that it is in Brazilian.

This page explains what the gerund is, what it is used for in EP, and — most importantly — what EP uses instead of the gerund for the jobs Brazilian Portuguese gives to it.

The form: -ando, -endo, -indo

The gerund is built by replacing the infinitive ending with -ando, -endo, -indo according to the conjugation class.

Remarkably, the gerund is one of the most regular parts of Portuguese morphology. Almost every verb — including most "irregular" verbs — forms its gerund by a simple class-based ending swap. The only notable irregular gerund is pondo (from pôr), and even that is straightforward.

The gerund does not conjugate for person. Unlike the personal infinitive, it has a single invariable form regardless of who the subject is. Falando is the gerund of falar whether the speaker is eu, tu, nós, eles, or anyone else.

The big headline: EP does NOT use gerund + estar for the progressive

This is the single most important fact about the EP gerund, and every learner needs to internalize it immediately.

European Portuguese progressive is estar a + infinitive, not estar + gerund.

If you say estou falando in Lisbon or Porto, you will be understood — Portuguese speakers know Brazilian forms well — but you will be marked immediately as either a Brazilian speaker or a learner who has been absorbing Brazilian material. Native EP speakers use estou a falar, estás a comer, estamos a ver. This is not a small stylistic difference; it is a structural fact about the two varieties.

So what IS the gerund for in EP?

The gerund has a real place in European Portuguese, but it is a narrower one. EP uses the gerund in four main ways, all of them more adverbial or stylistic than aspectual.

1. Simultaneity and manner

The gerund can describe an action that accompanies another action — often translating as "while doing X" or "doing X" in a manner sense. In EP, this use is somewhat literary or elevated; in casual speech, speakers often rewrite it with a + infinitive or a full clause.

These sentences are grammatical and natural in written EP. In spoken EP, many speakers would say saiu a cantar, atravessou a sala a sorrir, falou aos gritos — paraphrases that avoid the gerund entirely. The gerund-as-manner construction is stylistically marked.

2. Cause or reflection

The gerund can open a clause that expresses the cause of, or a reflection leading to, what the main clause asserts. English uses similar constructions with "-ing" (thinking about it, I realize...), and EP keeps this use productively.

These are common in both speech and writing. The gerund introduces a reflective or justifying frame for the main assertion.

3. Temporal and conditional absolutes

The gerund can stand as an absolute clause meaning "when X happens" or "if X happens." Often the subject is stated explicitly after the gerund — a feature sometimes called the "absolute gerund" construction.

This is the closest the Portuguese gerund comes to a "personal" gerund: the subject is named (ele), but the gerund form itself does not conjugate. Portuguese does not have a morphologically personal gerund like it has a personal infinitive — the gerund is always chegando, not chegandes/chegandes. What makes this construction feel "personal" is simply the explicit subject pronoun following the gerund.

These are slightly literary and appear in careful writing. In speech, the same meanings are usually carried by se + future subjunctive (se ele chegar, começamos; se tivermos problemas, avisas).

4. Adverbial modification — manner of a main verb

The gerund can modify a main verb to describe the manner in which it is carried out.

These use the gerund to specify how the main action is performed. This use is productive and everyday in EP.

EP replacements for the BP-style gerund

Since EP does not use estar + gerund for the progressive, what does it use? The answer is a family of a + infinitive constructions that cover almost all the jobs Brazilian Portuguese gives to its gerund.

estar a + infinitive — ongoing action

This is the EP progressive. Any time English uses "to be doing X," EP uses estar a + infinitive. The BP alternative estar + gerund is understood but not produced by EP speakers.

andar a + infinitive — habitual / recurring action

The periphrasis andar a + infinitive expresses a habitual or recurring recent action, roughly English "have been doing X." BP uses andar + gerund for the same meaning.

continuar a + infinitive — continuing action

BP uses continuar + gerund (continuo pensando). EP uses continuar a + infinitive.

ir + gerund — this DOES exist in EP but means something specific

One gerund construction does survive in EP: ir + gerund. But it means not "to be doing" but "to gradually do" or "to progressively do" — a slow, incremental action.

This is the one everyday EP use of verb + gerund. It expresses a progressive change that unfolds slowly over time, not a momentary ongoing action. It coexists happily with a + infinitive in EP: vou aprendendo is gradual learning; estou a aprender is "I am learning right now."

The tricky case: vir + gerund

Another periphrasis that survives in EP is vir + gerund, meaning "to have been gradually doing X (leading up to now)."

Vir + gerund implies a gradual process that has built up to the present. Like ir + gerund, it survives in EP because it carries a meaning a + infinitive cannot.

Why the gerund is rare in modern EP speech

Historically, EP used the gerund much more. In 18th- and 19th-century Portuguese literature, you will find estava falando as a regular progressive. The shift to estar a + infinitive as the dominant progressive is a relatively modern EP development — roughly the 19th and 20th centuries. Brazilian Portuguese preserved the older estar + gerund pattern, while EP innovated the a + infinitive structure.

The result is that modern EP speakers hear the gerund in fewer and narrower contexts. Children growing up in Portugal today use a + infinitive almost exclusively for ongoing action and reach for the gerund mostly in writing or slightly literary speech. This is why learners who learn Portuguese from Brazilian textbooks or BR-dubbed TV often sound oddly "bookish" or "Brazilian" to EP ears: they are using gerund forms where EP speakers would use a + infinitive.

The "personal gerund" that doesn't exist

Portuguese learners sometimes ask: if there is a personal infinitive, is there a personal gerund? The answer is no. Modern standard Portuguese does not have a morphologically personal gerund. The gerund has one invariable form regardless of subject.

What you will see in some older texts is an attempt to mark subject by adding a pronoun:

This is not an inflected gerund — it is an invariable gerund (chegando) plus a subject pronoun (nós) positioned after it. The pronoun does the work of identifying the subject; the gerund form itself never changes.

Compare to the personal infinitive:

Chegarmos is the 1pl personal infinitive, formed by adding -mos to the infinitive chegar. Chegando is just the gerund — unchanged regardless of who is chegando-ing. The two constructions are semantically close but morphologically very different.

Side-by-side: EP gerund use vs BP gerund use

The two systems overlap on the non-progressive uses (reflection, manner, temporal absolutes) and diverge sharply on the aspectual uses (progressive, habitual, continuing).

A worked example

Imagine you want to say: "I've been studying Portuguese for three years and right now I'm reviewing the subjunctive." Here is the EP version:

And the BP equivalent:

The same information. Completely different verbal morphology. An EP speaker would never produce the second version; a BP speaker would never produce the first.

Common Mistakes

This is by far the most common error for EP learners exposed to BP materials. The fix: replace estar + gerund with estar a + infinitive everywhere.

Past progressive follows the same rule: estar a + infinitive across all tenses of estar.

Continuar patterns like estar in EP: it takes a + infinitive, not the gerund.

The phrase vim correndo exists in EP but tends to mean adverbial manner. For clarity, EP speakers usually prefer vim a correr or vim correndo as a slightly literary variant. In BP, vim correndo is more plainly progressive or manner.

The gerund is fine for the reflective frame (pensando bem) — that's one of the real EP gerund uses. But the main clause should use estar a + infinitive for the progressive.

Key takeaways

• EP gerund has a narrower range than BP gerund. The biggest gap: EP does not use estar + gerund for the progressive. EP uses estar a + infinitive.
• EP gerund uses: simultaneity/manner (literary), cause/reflection, temporal/conditional absolutes, adverbial modification.
• EP replacements for BP's aspectual gerund constructions: estar a + inf, andar a + inf, continuar a + inf.
• Two periphrases that do use the gerund in EP: ir + gerund (gradual action) and vir + gerund (building-up action).
• There is no morphologically personal gerund in modern EP. The form chegando is invariable regardless of subject; an explicit pronoun (chegando nós) does the subject-marking work.
• Learners exposed to BP sources tend to over-use the gerund in EP. The single biggest re-training: replace estar + gerund with estar a + infinitive.

For the detailed mechanics of forming the gerund, see Forming the Gerund. For the full treatment of the EP progressive, see Estar a + Infinitive. For the direct EP vs BP comparison, see European vs Brazilian Progressive.