Il gerundio (the gerund) refers to the use of a verb in its –ing form. For example ‘I am writing’, I was thinking, he is talking, etc. In Italian il gerundio (the gerund) is characterised by the following endings:
Verbs ending in –are = ando e.g. mangiando (eating) from the verb mangiare (to eat)
Verbs ending in –ere and –ire = endo e.g. cuocendo (cooking) from the verb cuocere (to cook), pulendo (cleaning) from the verb pulire (to clean).
Now let’s look at the most common uses of il gerundio in Italian:
1. Presente Continuato (Present Continuous)
The gerund is used with the present tense of verb stare (to be/to stay) to form the present continuous:
stiamo mangiando = we are eating
Giovanni sta riposando = Giovanni is resting
cosa state facendo? = what are you doing? (you plural)
stai lavorando? = are you working? (you singular, informal)
sto pulendo le finestre = I’m cleaning the windows
le patate stanno cuocendo = the potatoes are cooking
N.B. The present continuous is not considered an official Italian tense, and when I was a child we were not allowed to use it in writing, we had to use the simple present instead. Nowadays the present continuous is interchangeable with the simple present to describe what is happening in this exact moment, e.g.:
cosa state facendo or cosa fate? = what are you doing? (literally: what do you do?)
stai lavorando? or lavori? = are you working? (literally: you work?)
sto pulendo le finestre or pulisco le finestre = I’m cleaning the windows (literally: I clean the windows)
2. Passato Continuato (Past Continuous)
To use the gerund in the past we need the imperfect tense of the verb stare (to be/to stay). This form is known as the past continuous:
stavamo mangiando = we were eating
Giovanni stava riposando = Giovanni was resting
cosa stavate facendo? = what were you doing? (you plural)
stavi lavorando? = were you working? (you singular, informal)
stavo pulendo le finestre = I was cleaning the windows
le patate stavano cuocendo = the potatoes were cooking
3. The gerund can be used on its own to express when or how something happens:
ieri, tornando a casa, ho incontrato Maria = yesterday, when I was going back home, I met Maria
entrando in cucina ho sentito odore di bruciato = when I was entering the kitchen I smelt something burning
sbagliando s’impara = one learns by making mistakes
leggendo attentamente mi sono accorta che mancava una parola = reading carefully I realised that a word was missing
volendo, potremmo fermarci a Milano = if we wanted , we could stop in Milan (literally: ‘wanting to, we could stop in Milan’)
ripensandoci, sarebbe meglio partire presto = thinking about it again, it would be better to leave early
Comments:
Muriel:
Seguo con assidiuta’ il vostro sito e molto del materiale pubblicato mi e’ tornato utile per le mie lezioni.
Sto scrivendo perche’ in inglese la desinenza -ing non e’ per forza gerundio.
Nei “continuous tenses” e’ present participle.
Il gerundio e’ il verbo usato come sostantivo.
e.g.
I am eating = present participle
Eating too much is not good = gerund
Serena:
@Muriel Salve Muriel,
grazie per il tuo contributo. Sì, sono d’accordo che il gerundio italiano e quello inglese non corrispondono molto spesso, infatti per la settimana prossima ho già programmato un articolo in cui descrivo le situazioni in cui in inglese si usa la finale -ing ma in italiano non si usa il gerundio. Per quanto riguarda il tuo esempio:
“Nei “continuous tenses” e’ present participle.
Il gerundio e’ il verbo usato come sostantivo.
e.g.
I am eating = present participle
Eating too much is not good = gerund”
nel mio articolo ho cercato di spiegare il gerundio italiano, non il gerundio inglese, per cui nel presente continuato in italiano si usa il gerundio. In italiano il gerundio non è mai preceduto dall’articolo.
Saluti da Serena
gugone:
MA: come si dice in italiano ‘eating too much is not good’?
Serena:
@gugone Salve Gugone,
Question: come si dice in italiano ‘eating too much is not good’?
Answer: ‘mangiare troppo non fa bene’
We’ll be covering this in our next blog on the gerund this coming week.
Saluti da Geoff
Eduardo:
Thank you again, Serena. Your explanation to use de continuos tense in italian with the verb “stare” is very useful.
Robert Rovinsky:
Salve, Serena!
I think you will find that “I was thinking” and “He was talking” are verb forms, rather than pure gerunds, which are verb forms ending in -ing, used as nouns. Thinking is a productive activity. Talking is not. Eating pleases me. Walking does not. And so on, and so on. Of course, this doesn’t detract at all from your excellent discussion of the gerund in Italian, for which I thank you very much.
Serena:
@Robert Rovinsky Salve Robert, grazie per i complimenti.
Yes, I agree with you: “I was thinking” = “stavo pensando” etc, is a verb form built with the gerund, not pure gerunds (passato continuato, to be more precise). However, this particular post was about the different uses of the gerund in Italian, and in section 3 of the article I also explained how to use the gerundio on its own in Italian.
On the other hand, the examples you give, e.g. “Thinking is a productive activity. Talking is not. Eating pleases me” are not applicable to the Italian gerund, because in these particular cases we would use the infinitive and not the gerund. See section 2 of this more recent post: https://blogs.transparent.com/italian/all-about-ing/
Saluti da Serena
Joe:
Thank you all. I have been studying Italian and this verb conjugation has mystified me.
Geoff:
@Joe Non c’è di che!
P.S. I corrected your ‘mystified’ for you 🙂
Saluti da Geoff