Why in the sentences after getting home and i,ll go biking the words getting and biking ends in ing?
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Answers · 6
2
Swimming is fun. / Do you want to go swimming with me at the beach?
Studying languages is important. / Do you like studying English?
Everyone likes eating delicious food. / Eating delicious food is everyone's #1 hobby. (That's why so many people are fat!)
It's getting dark, so I have to be getting home now.
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Sebastián,
Las dos personas que te respondieron antes están parcialmente en lo correcto, pero que la siguiente explicación te aclarará las dudas. Si ves la frase:
Ella quiere bailar (Tienes el sujeto + verbo conjugado + verbo en infinitivo)
She wants to dance (tienes lo mismo sujeto + verbo conjugado + verbo en infinitivo)
En español lo que nos indica un infinitivo es la terminación (que puede ser "ar", "er" o "ir". En inglés lo que indica el infinitivo es la partícula "to". Es por eso que cuando buscas un verbo en el diccionario, siempre aparece con "to", to dance, to work, to see. Si quitas la partícula "to" automaticamente conjugas el verbo. "to see" (ver), I see (yo veo).
Teniendo la frase de arriba en mente, mira la siguiente frase.
Bailar es divertido
Pareciera que el verbo es "bailar", pero no lo es, "bailar" en esta frase es substantivo. El verbo de esta oración es "es". "Bailar" ejecuta la acción de "ser". Cuando usas un verbo en posición de substantivo en español, el verbo no cambia, sólo se usa en la forma infinitiva. Sin embargo, en inglés, cuando un verbo se usa en forma substantiva, el verbo tiene que llevar "ing". Esta forma se llama "gerundio" (muchas personas creen que el gerundio es cuando haces una frase continua "estoy cantnado", "I am singing". En realidad eso se llama participio presente, es igual al gerundio, pero son dos formas diferentes).
Entonces la frase de arriba en inglés sería
Dancing is fun.
Puedes comparar
I like coffee (sujeto nominativo + verbo + sujeto acusativo)
Me gusta el café
I like dancing (exactamente lo mismo... sujeto nominativo + verbo + sujeto acusativo)
Me gusta bailar
Un verbo en substantivo también puede estar en nominativo.
Talking makes me tired (sujeto nominativo + verbo + sujeto acusativo)
(Hablar me cansa)
Espero que esto te ayude.
1
First thing: "i,ll" is absolutely wrong. Always write "I'll".
GuideDogSaint has got it half right. In "after getting home", "getting" is a gerund. Gerunds usually follow prepositions. If you add a subject, then it changes: "after I get home". You can't just throw in a basic verb, because that will confuse the reader.
In "I'll go biking", "biking" is a present participle. It can't be a gerund because it doesn't function as a noun here. When you put a verb in present participle form, you can use it more flexibly because it's no longer tied to grammatical tense. However, it cannot have a meaning by itself and needs another part of the sentence ("I'll go") to function.
The confusion is that gerunds and present participles look exactly the same, but that's a result of how English developed. You can tell the difference by how they work in a sentence.
1
After getting home I'll go biking. I assume this is the original sentence?
Biking is a gerund. Similar to swimming, jogging, running, exercising etc. These are like nouns.
Getting is used like arriving or returning. You could use "I get"
After I get home I'll go biking means the same as the first sentence.
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