Are there gerunds in Spanish? Also what is the basic criteria regarding reflexive pronoun usage?
In English there is a part of speech called a gerund. It is a verb ending with -ing that functions as a noun. (I.e, The word running in this sentence: "Running is not a sport I like by itself, but I love sports that involve running so long as a ball or some other objective is involved.") Does Spanish have a comparable part of speech or linguistic feature?

Also, are there conditions in which it is appropriate to add the reflexive pronoun to the end of the conjugated reflexive verb? Or is the pronoun supposed to be separate most or all of the time?

Question

Are there gerunds in Spanish?  Also what is the basic criteria regarding reflexive pronoun usage?
In English there is a part of speech called a gerund.  It is a verb ending with -ing that functions as a noun.  (I.e, The word running in this sentence: "Running is not a sport I like by itself, but I love sports that involve running so long as a ball or some other objective is involved.")  Does Spanish have a comparable part of speech or linguistic feature?

Also, are there conditions in which it is appropriate to add the reflexive pronoun to the end of the conjugated reflexive verb?  Or is the pronoun supposed to be separate most or all of the time?

Answer

You may find the following articles interesting.

Gerunds in Spanish:

http://mgvillarroel.wordpress.com/2014/07/19/gerund-versus-present-participle/

Pronominal verbs in Spanish (also called "reflexive verbs"):

http://mgvillarroel.wordpress.com/2014/07/20/pronominal-reflexive-verbs-in-spanish/

I hope you enjoy the reading.

Answer

Hi Jaquie,

Yes, we have gerund in Spanish. The ending is -ndo, ando for verbs of the first conjugation, second and third -iendo: hablando, comiendo... But the usage is not always the same as in English, for example an action like in your example :"Running is not a sport I like by itself,.."
would be in infinitive:"Correr no es un deporte que me guste en sí mismo...

It is mainly used, like in English, in the present continous: Estoy comiendo ( I am eating).

Regardind your second quiestion is a NO, You don´t add a pronoun to the end of a cojugated verb, you just add to impersonals forms of the verb (imperative, inifinitive gerund). Examples.
Vete, Poderme, Decirte, Lavándose...

Answer

Yes, there are gerunds (gerundios) in Spanish. They don't function as nouns in Spanish.

Ex: I am running.
Estoy corriendo.

I like running.
Me gusta correr. (Incorrect: Me gusta corriendo.)

When you want to use a gerund as a noun in English, you should use the infinitive form in Spanish.

Part 2: I hope I've understood your question...I'll just answer with examples.

Present
Irse = to go, to leave
I'm leaving. - Me voy (Incorrect: voyme)
Tomarse = to eat, drink, consume
Me tomo un vaso de agua. (Incorrect: tomome)

In the present continuous you can add the pronoun to the gerund.

I'm leaving.  - Me estoy yendo. Estoy yéndome. 
I'm drinking the water. - Me estoy tomando el agua. Estoy tomándome el agua.
(In these cases you add an accent mark to keep the stress in the same place it was on the conjugated verb before 'me' was added.)

Preterite:
Me fui a las diez. (Incorrect: fuime)

Me tomé una cerveza. (Incorrect: toméme)

Let me know if I can help to make something more clear.

Answer

I'm an spanish speaker, and yes there are gerunds in spanish but it's a litle more complicated, if you want add me I'm Diego and I'm 22