Perífrasis en acción: deporte y hábitos

After an injury, it makes sense to “start again”: volver a + infinitivo → “volvió a entrenar”. Dejar de + inf means “to stop doing something”, and seguir requires the gerund: “seguir entrenando”, not “seguir entrenar”. Meanings: seguir + gerundio = continuation; dejar de + inf = stopping; volver a + inf = repetition.

Here the meaning is “go on singing” → seguir + gerundio: “sigue cantando”. You can paraphrase it as “still keep singing”. See the rule about seguir + gerundio to express the continuation of an action.

With heavy rain, it makes sense that they “stopped competing”: dejar de + infinitivo. The other options mean “continued” or “started again”, which don’t fit the context.

We need “won again”: volver a + infinitivo → “volvió a ganar”. This is the classic periphrasis for the “repetition” of an action.

With “otra vez” we’re talking about resuming something: “he vuelto a ir (tres veces por semana)”. “Sigo yendo” = “I keep going / I still go” (without a break), and “he dejado de ir” has the opposite meaning. Repetition of an action is expressed with volver a + infinitivo.

The correct structure is seguir + gerundio → “sigues yendo”. “Seguir + infinitivo” is incorrect; with “volver a” you need an infinitive: “¿Vuelves a ir...?”, not “a yendo”. Both constructions and their forms are covered in the overview of periphrases.

After a break we say: “he vuelto a jugar”. “Sigo” would require a gerund (“siguiendo”), and “dejé de” expresses stopping, which doesn’t match the context. Compare the meanings of the three periphrases: continuation / stopping / repetition.

“Dejar de + inf” = to stop an action. “Seguir + gerundio” = to continue, and “volver a + inf” = to do something again. These meanings are given in the short reference on periphrases.