I, too, would like an answer to Nicole's question, please.
To express to keep on/continue doing something in Spanish we use one of these two verbal structures:
Seguir
Conjugate seguir + gerund of second verb
For example:
Continuar
Conjugate continuar + gerund of second verb
For example:
Notice how both seguir and continuar are followed by a gerund, which coincides with the English structure.
However special attention must be paid to the verb seguir which is a stem-changing verb (e>i) as well as a consonant change verb (gu>g). See:
- Conjugate stem-changing (e > i) verbs: seguir, conseguir, perseguir in El Presente (present tense)
- Verbos con cambio ortográfico gu > g (El Presente)
Also remember the absence of a preposition between seguir/continuar and the gerund form, as this is a common mistake.
Here are some other examples:
Mi padre sigue fumando a pesar de las advertencias del médico.My dad keeps on smoking despite the doctor's warnings.
Take one of the examples above:
It is incorrect to use a preposition between the two verb forms or to use the infinitive:
Ellos siguieron a bebiendo hasta el amanecer.
Ellos siguieron a beber hasta el amanecer.
Ellos continuaron a bebiendo hasta el amanecer.
Ellos continuaron a beber hasta el amanecer.
Learn more about these related Spanish grammar topics
Examples and resources
Mi padre sigue fumando a pesar de las advertencias del médico.My dad keeps on smoking despite the doctor's warnings.
Continúa caminando un poco más y verás una farmacia.Keep on walking a bit longer and you will see a chemist.
El bailarín continuó bailando después de su descalificación.The dancer continued dancing after his disqualification.
Sigue caminando un poco más y verás una farmacia.Keep on walking a bit longer and you will see a chemist.
Q&A Forum 4 questions, 4 answers
InmaKwiziq team member
Hola Sherri,
I looked into it when Nicole asked but I told her that in Spanish the order in a sentence is quite flexible and there is no specific rule for a specific order. As a general practise the order in a statement is Subject + predicate, for example: "Ella va al parque con sus amigas cada sábado." "Ella" being the subject and the rest including the verb "va" being the predicate. The verb is generally placed after the subject. But then you can swap things around, for example you can say "Ella va con sus amigas al parque cada sábado." Or if you want to put a bit more emphasis on "when" the action hapens, you could start with "cada sábado": "Cada sábado ella va al parque con sus amigas".
Then as a general rule as well, interrogative sentences start with the verb in first place: "¿Va al parque con sus amigas cada sábado?, but again, it admits flexibility, so you could also say "¿Cada sábado va al parque con sus amigas? The order change normally takes place to put special attention on a specific element in the sentence.
I also directed Nicole to our lessons on "position of direct and indirect object pronouns" where there are indeed rules about where they are placed.
In our exercises, dictations, readers, fill in the blank..., you will see how sometimes the order expected (subject + predicate) sometimes changes. This is the way to see how flexible Spanish is in this respect.
Sorry I can't be of any more help.
Saludos
Inma
Sherri asked:View original
Nicole's question
I, too, would like an answer to Nicole's question, please.
Don't have an account yet? Join today
StuartKwiziq Q&A regular contributor
Exclusion of the personal a
Hola,
The test question 'She kept on talking about Pablo.'
I was expecting there to be a personal a in there... hablando sobre a Pablo.
Just wondering why I shouldn't think that in future !? :)
Is it because a preposition isn't followed by another preposition, or something else?
Gracias,
Asked 2 months ago
Hola Stuart
Yes, you don't need another preposition. "Hablando sobre Pablo" = talking about Pablo.
Saludos,
Inma
Stuart asked:View original
Exclusion of the personal a
Hola,
The test question 'She kept on talking about Pablo.'
I was expecting there to be a personal a in there... hablando sobre a Pablo.
Just wondering why I shouldn't think that in future !? :)
Is it because a preposition isn't followed by another preposition, or something else?
Gracias,
Don't have an account yet? Join today
EmanuelKwiziq Q&A regular contributor
Hasta el amanecen
Is there a lesson that deals with how to pronounce when two words one ending with a vowel and another beginning with a vowel. It seems that in this case it is pronounced hasta-l amanecer... is it correct that the latter vowel is omitted?
Asked 6 months ago
InmaKwiziq team member
Hola Emanuel
We don't have lessons on pronunciation yet. Yes, it is normal to lose the sound of a vowel when this is the case. We tend to blend the last letter of a word with the first letter of the following word, and when they are both vowels, this tends to happen. Here are other example sentences where we may omit some sounds:
Los amigos de Eduardo son muy simpáticos. `
You'd hear just one "e" [deduardo]
Busco un apartamento cómodo.
You may hear something like [buscun apartamento]
It sometimes depends on the accent, the region, the speed, etc.
Inma
Emanuel asked:View original
Hasta el amanecen
Is there a lesson that deals with how to pronounce when two words one ending with a vowel and another beginning with a vowel. It seems that in this case it is pronounced hasta-l amanecer... is it correct that the latter vowel is omitted?
Don't have an account yet? Join today
NicoleKwiziq Q&A regular contributor
Making sentences and word order and syntax
Hi. Studying this lesson reminded me that I searched on your site lessons that would help with sentence building, and how that is done in Spanish (above the usual introduction to making sentence.) I could not find any despite several difference search words. I also looked through the grammar, but saw no heading for that subject.
So could you point me in the right direction:
1- How to make sentences and their correct /various word order, and how interchangeable /or not the word order is, on a more advanced level than : subject, verb, object.
2- And also how the same meaning can be conveyed in different ways.
Thank you. Nicole
Asked 8 months ago
Nicole asked:View original
Making sentences and word order and syntax
Hi. Studying this lesson reminded me that I searched on your site lessons that would help with sentence building, and how that is done in Spanish (above the usual introduction to making sentence.) I could not find any despite several difference search words. I also looked through the grammar, but saw no heading for that subject.
So could you point me in the right direction:
1- How to make sentences and their correct /various word order, and how interchangeable /or not the word order is, on a more advanced level than : subject, verb, object.
2- And also how the same meaning can be conveyed in different ways.
Thank you. Nicole
Don't have an account yet? Join today
