present particle or gerund?

Question

Hello, i am confused by this paragraph below: it states that this rule is relevant when there are direct or indirect pronouns in a sentence with a conjugated verb that is followed by an infinitive or a present participle but then provides an example that has a gerund after the conjugated verb and no example with a present participle. Is this an error?

When there are direct and indirect object pronouns in a sentence with a conjugated verb that is followed by an infinitive or a present participle,

¿Estás cantando tu canción favorita? Sí, la estoy cantando.Are you singing your favourite song? Yes, I am singing it.

Silvia Piriz · Accepted Answer

Hola Pirani S.
In this lesson, “present participle” is being used to refer to the Spanish gerundio (e.g. cantando). In other words, they are the same form, just described using English grammatical terminology.
So in the example:

¿Estás cantando tu canción favorita? Sí, la estoy cantando.

cantando is the gerundio in Spanish and it corresponds to the present participle (singing) in English.

There is no separate “present participle” form in Spanish beyond the gerundio, so the example is correct — it’s just a terminology issue that can understandably cause confusion.
We’ll review the wording in the lesson to make this clearer and avoid mixing terms unnecessarily.
Saludos
Silvia

Clara Melchor Bowman · Answer

Hi Pirani, 
The sentence you mention: 
Are you singing your favourite song? The present participle is used here and not the gerund. 
I'll let Silvia or Inma explain it for you.