Last week we looked at the most common uses of Il Gerundio (the gerund) in Italian. Today we are going to look at cases in which the gerund is used in English but not in Italian. In Italian, we do not use the gerund:

1. After another verb

In this case we use the infinitive whereas English uses the gerund:

ti piace leggere? (Do you like reading?)

Vicky ama cucinare (Vicky loves cooking)

vai a camminare? (do you go walking?)

è cominciato a piovere (it started raining)

finisco di mangiare e poi usciamo (I’ll finish eating and then we’ll go out)

2. In verbs that describe a position

For verbs that describe a position such as “to be lying”, “to be sitting”, “to be standing”, we use the past participle or an alternative construction:

Giorgio è sdraiato sul divano (Giorgio is lying on the sofa)

ero in piedi vicino alla porta (I was standing near the door)

il gatto è seduto sulla sedia (the cat is sitting on the chair)

3. Used as a noun

In English, the gerund is very often used as a noun, e.g. ‘the dripping of the rain’. The Italian gerund, however, cannot be used as a noun, therefore after l’articolo determinativo (the definite article) il, lo, la (the) we use either an infinitive or a noun:

sento il gocciolare della pioggia sul tetto (I hear the dripping of the rain on the roof)

il cinguettio degli uccelli (the chirping of the birds)

il fruscio del vento tra le foglie (the rustling of the wind amongst the leaves)

4. Used as an adjective

In English the –ing form often precedes a noun to describe its function, e.g. a sailing boat. In this case, in Italian, we use either two nouns separated by a preposition, or just one noun:

la barca a vela (the sailing boat)

la borsa per la spesa (the shopping bag)

la macchina da cucire (the sewing machine)

la piscina (the swimming pool)

lo sterzo (the steering wheel)

In some cases we use the present participle instead:

un oggetto volante (a flying object)

una rosa rampicante (a climbing rose)

N.B.

If we want to say: “I saw Maria when I was crossing the road” we use the following construction: ho visto Maria attraversando la strada, similarly “on entering the house Mario heard some footsteps” entrando in casa Mario ha sentito dei passi. In these cases, both actions are undertaken by the same person, i.e: ‘I was crossing’ + ‘I saw’

However, if we want to say “I saw Maria crossing the road” (i.e. Maria was crossing the road, not me) we use the following construction: ho visto Maria che attraversava la strada (literally: I saw Maria who was crossing the road) or: “Mario heard the footsteps of someone entering the house” Mario ha sentito i passi di qualcuno che entrava in casa (Mario heard the footsteps of someone who was entering the house). In these cases the actions are undertaken by different persons, i.e: ‘Maria was crossing’ + ‘I saw’