Verb + ing is a gerund

Gerund phrases as subjects & Gerund phrases as objects

The –ing form is commonly used to create nouns and verbs. When used
as a noun, it is considered a gerund. In this case, it can be used as
the subject or complement (object) of the sentence.

Gerund phrases as subjects

The gerund is a verb that functions as a noun referring to an action, a
process or a state.

We can use gerund as the subject of the sentence.

When the gerund is a noun, it can be the subject of the action described
by the verb.

It has this structure:

Subject [Gerund] + Verb + Object (complement)

The most commonly used gerunds are: building, buying, living…

When it is used as the subject, the verb form is singular, conjugated as

the third person singular, and it does not accept degree verbs
Examples:
 Building a career as an artist was one of her biggest goals.
 Buying a house is his dream.
 Living in the city center can be stressful.
 Smoking cigarettes is bad for you.
 Writing a poem was harder than he expected.
 Listening to music is very relaxing. 
 Sleeping is hard when your mind is full of thoughts. 

We can use gerunds as a singular noun, so it can be the subject of

the sentence.
 The structure is: We start with the subject, which has the form of a
gerund, followed by a verb.

When it is used as the subject, the verb form is singular, conjugated as

the third person singular, and it does not accept degree verbs.

Working as a teacher is rewarding

Subject verb object
Being a soccer player seems very interesting
Working as an engineer in Colombia is well-paid
Reading books makes you think different
Speaking two languages gives you more chances for a job

Gerund phrases as object

We can also use gerunds as the object of the sentence.

Examples:

 Luke likes playing video games.

 I hate packing suitcases.
 My favourite thing to do is reading horror books.
 He loves telling  the story of him winning the math contest to his
friends.
 I enjoy working as a volunteer during summer.
 We hate cleaning the house. 
 They love listening to pop music.

In these cases we use the gerund as a singular noun, so it can be

the object of the sentence.
I love eating chocolate (I love it) It means eating chocolate (singular
noun).

She enjoys driving her car. (She enjoys it) It means driving her car
(Singular noun).