Breakdown of Después de la lesión, el atleta continúa corriendo.
de
from / of
correr
to run
continuar
to continue
el atleta
athlete
Questions & Answers about Después de la lesión, el atleta continúa corriendo.
Why do we use a gerund (corriendo) here instead of the infinitive (correr)?
To say that someone 'keeps doing' or 'continues doing' an action, Spanish uses continuar or seguir followed by a gerund (the form ending in -ando or -iendo). Therefore, 'continues running' is continúa corriendo. Unlike English, where you might say 'continues to run', using the infinitive here (continúa correr) is grammatically incorrect.
Why does the word continúa have an accent mark on the u?
The written accent breaks a natural diphthong (when two vowels blend into one syllable). Without the accent, the stress would blend the u and a together. Placing the accent on the weak vowel (u) separates them into two distinct syllables (con-ti-nú-a), which is exactly how the present tense of continuar must be pronounced.
Atleta ends in -a, so why does it use the masculine article el?
Why is it después de la lesión and not just después la lesión?