A2 (Elementary)Lesson 1: Present Continuous & Gerund
The Portuguese gerund is formed by adding -ando, -endo, or -indo to the verb stem. Paired with estar it makes the present continuous — estou estudando ("I'm studying") — and on its own it can show how something is done.
-AR verbs → -ando: falar → falando, estudar → estudando
-ER verbs → -endo: comer → comendo, beber → bebendo
-IR verbs → -indo: dormir → dormindo, abrir → abrindo
Pair it with estar for the present continuous: estou estudando ("I'm studying")
Only two real irregulars: pôr → pondo, vir → vindo
The gerund never changes for person or number — one form fits everyone
The gerund is how Portuguese says what's happening right now. Learn one little ending and estudo ("I study") becomes estou estudando ("I'm studying"), chove turns into está chovendo, and your Portuguese stops sounding like a textbook and starts sounding alive. Better still, it's one of the easiest things in the language: three endings, almost no exceptions, and the same form for everybody — no agreement, no drama.
verb stem + -ando (AR) / -endo (ER) / -indo (IR) = gerund
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Forming the gerund is one of the tidiest jobs in Portuguese: take the verb, drop the infinitive ending, and add an ending based on the verb group.
| Verb group | Drop | Add | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| -AR | -ar | -ando | falar → falando |
| -ER | -er | -endo | comer → comendo |
| -IR | -ir | -indo | abrir → abrindo |
That's the whole rule — estudar → estudando, beber → bebendo, dormir → dormindo — and the form never changes for person or number.
Estou trabalhando em casa hoje. (I'm working from home today.)
O bebê está dormindo. (The baby is sleeping.)
O que você está fazendo? (What are you doing?)
Eles estão assistindo televisão. (They're watching TV.)
O telefone fica tocando. (The phone keeps ringing.)
O preço continua subindo. (The price keeps going up.)
Ele anda dormindo mal. (He's been sleeping badly lately.)
This is the great Brazil-vs-Portugal split. Brazil uses estou falando ("I'm speaking"); Portugal says estou a falar. In Brazil the gerund wins every time — skip the a + infinitive version.
A few verbs sound odd in the gerund. For knowing and having, Brazilians stay in the simple present:
Eu sei. (I know.) — not estou sabendo
Tenho um carro. (I have a car.) — not estou tendo um carro
For body positions, Portuguese prefers the participle (an adjective-like form) over the gerund:
Estou sentado. (I'm sitting.) — not estou sentando
Ela está deitada. (She's lying down.) — not está deitando
Brazilians have a love–hate thing with the gerund. Lean on it too hard — above all the call-centre classic vou estar transferindo a sua ligação ("I'll be transferring your call") — and you've committed gerundismo, a telemarketing-bred verbal tic that grammarians and weary customers love to mock. The cure is short: just say vou transferir; the plain gerund you're learning here is perfectly correct — it's only the triple-verb vou estar fazendo pile-up that earns the eye-roll.
Sources: Forbes Brasil, COC
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