Ver or viendo

[hola]

how would you correctly start a sentence by saying WATCHING YOU IS LIKE WATCHING

de verte es como de ver......

because they say you cant use the gerund w/o the use of "estar"

[sosia]

you can use with or without "a ti"
verte es como ver el mar
verte a ti es como ver el sol


Saludos :D

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

@Hola: English -ing verbs, when used as substantives, normally translate into Spanish as infinitives.

Your guess is almost right, but like Sosia corrected, it must be here without "de".

[Rusty]

...
because they say you cant use the gerund w/o the use of "estar"I'll add that your textbook is talking about the Spanish gerundio, not the English gerund. They are not the same thing.
The Spanish gerundio (used with estar) is the English present participle (the verb with the -ing ending). The English gerund looks like a present participle, but a gerund is used as a noun.
The Spanish equivalent to the English gerund (a non-finite verbal that functions as a noun) is the infinitive, as was already mentioned.

[bobjenkins]

Añado que se puede usar el gerundio con seguir, he visto así.

Sigo queriendo ganar la lotería cada semana después de perder:D