{"id":2642,"date":"2012-11-16T19:30:00","date_gmt":"2012-11-16T19:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=2642"},"modified":"2012-11-16T19:34:41","modified_gmt":"2012-11-16T19:34:41","slug":"il-gerundiopart-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/il-gerundiopart-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Il Gerundio–Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week we looked at the most common uses of Il Gerundio<\/span><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>(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:<\/p>\n

1. After another verb <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

In this case we use the infinitive whereas English uses the gerund:<\/p>\n

ti piace leggere?<\/strong> (Do you like reading?)<\/p>\n

Vicky ama cucinare<\/strong> (Vicky loves cooking)<\/p>\n

vai a camminare?<\/strong> (do you go walking?)<\/p>\n

\u00e8 cominciato a piovere<\/strong> (it started raining)<\/p>\n

finisco di mangiare e poi usciamo<\/strong> (I\u2019ll finish eating and then we\u2019ll go out)<\/p>\n

\n

2. In verbs that describe a position<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

For verbs that describe a position such as \u201cto be lying\u201d, \u201cto be sitting\u201d, \u201cto be standing\u201d, we use the past participle or an alternative construction:<\/p>\n

Giorgio \u00e8 sdraiato sul divano<\/strong> (Giorgio is lying on the sofa)<\/p>\n

ero in piedi vicino alla porta<\/strong> (I was standing near the door)<\/p>\n

il gatto \u00e8 seduto sulla sedia<\/strong> (the cat is sitting on the chair)<\/p>\n

\n

3. Used as a noun<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

In English, the gerund is very often used as a noun, e.g. \u2018the dripping<\/span> of the rain\u2019. The Italian gerund, however, cannot be used as a noun, therefore after l\u2019articolo determinativo<\/strong> (the definite article) il, lo, la<\/strong> (the) we use either an infinitive or a noun:<\/p>\n

sento il gocciolare della pioggia sul tetto<\/strong> (I hear the dripping of the rain on the roof)<\/p>\n

il cinguettio degli uccelli<\/strong> (the chirping of the birds)<\/p>\n

il fruscio del vento tra le foglie<\/strong> (the rustling of the wind amongst the leaves)<\/p>\n

\n

4. Used as an adjective<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

In English the \u2013ing form often precedes a noun to describe its function, e.g. a sailing boat<\/em>. In this case, in Italian, we use either two nouns separated by a preposition, or just one noun:<\/p>\n

la barca a vela<\/strong> (the sailing boat)<\/p>\n

la borsa per la spesa<\/strong> (the shopping bag)<\/p>\n

la macchina da cucire <\/strong>(the sewing machine)<\/p>\n

la piscina<\/strong> (the swimming pool)<\/p>\n

lo sterzo<\/strong> (the steering wheel)<\/p>\n

In some cases we use the present participle instead:<\/p>\n

un oggetto volante<\/strong> (a flying object)<\/p>\n

una rosa rampicante<\/strong> (a climbing rose)<\/p>\n

\n

N.B.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

If we want to say: \u201cI saw<\/span> Maria when<\/span> <\/span>I was crossing<\/span> the road\u201d we use the following construction: ho visto Maria<\/strong> attraversando la strada<\/strong><\/strong>, similarly \u201con entering the house Mario heard some footsteps\u201d entrando in casa Mario ha sentito dei passi<\/strong>. In these cases, both actions are undertaken by the same person, i.e: \u2018I was crossing\u2019<\/span> + \u2018I saw\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

However, if we want to say \u201cI saw Maria crossing the road\u201d (i.e. Maria was crossing the road, not me)<\/em> we use the following construction: ho visto Maria che attraversava<\/span> la strada<\/strong> (literally: I saw Maria who was crossing<\/span> the road) or: \u201cMario heard the footsteps of someone entering the house\u201d Mario ha sentito i passi di qualcuno che entrava<\/span> in casa<\/strong> (Mario heard the footsteps of someone who was entering<\/span> the house). In these cases the actions are undertaken by different persons, i.e: \u2018Maria was crossing\u2019<\/span> + \u2018I saw\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week we looked at the most common uses of Il Gerundio\u00a0(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…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[229193,229192],"class_list":["post-2642","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-grammar","tag-il-gerundio","tag-using-the-gerund-in-italian"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2642"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2642\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2646,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2642\/revisions\/2646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}