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English has “-ing” tenses: I am walking, she was working. Italian has the same thing, and it’s built the same way: the verb “to be in the middle of something” (STARE) plus a special -ing form of the main verb, called the gerund.
The gerund: the Italian -ing form
For -ARE verbs, change the ending to -ANDO:
giocare – to play, giocando – playing
trovare – to find, trovando – finding
chiamare – to call, chiamando – calling
For -ERE and -IRE verbs, change the ending to -ENDO:
prendere – to take, prendendo – taking
venire – to come, venendo – coming
dormire – to sleep, dormendo – sleeping
Three common verbs form the gerund from their old, longer stems, the same fac-, dic-, bev- you met in the Imperfetto lesson:
fare – to do, facendo – doing
dire – to say, dicendo – saying
bere – to drink, bevendo – drinking
The verb STARE
You already know STARE from the question “Come stai?”. Here is its present tense once more:
| Io sto | I am |
| Tu stai | You are |
| Lui, Lei sta | He, she is |
| Noi stiamo | We are |
| Voi state | You are |
| Loro stanno | They are |
Present progressive: STARE + gerund
Sto mangiando – I am eating (right now)
Lui sta aspettando – He is waiting
Chi stai chiamando adesso? – Who are you calling now?
Che cosa state facendo? – What are you doing?
I miei fratelli stanno andando a casa – My brothers are going home
One difference from English: Italians use this form only for actions happening right now, at this very moment. For everything else the simple present is enough. “I’m working tomorrow” is “Domani lavoro”, not “sto lavorando”.
Past progressive: was doing
To say “I was doing”, put STARE in the Imperfetto, the past tense you already know. Here are its forms once more:
| Io stavo | I was |
| Tu stavi | You were |
| Lui, Lei stava | He, she was |
| Noi stavamo | We were |
| Voi stavate | You were |
| Loro stavano | They were |
Stavo dormendo quando hai chiamato – I was sleeping when you called
Che cosa stava dicendo? – What was she saying?
Stavamo facendo colazione – We were having breakfast
Stavano guardando la TV – They were watching TV
Examples
Sto bevendo un caffè – I am drinking a coffee
Non posso parlare, sto guidando – I can’t talk, I’m driving
Il bambino sta piangendo – The baby is crying
Sta piovendo – It’s raining
Stavo uscendo quando è arrivato Marco – I was going out when Marco arrived
State ascoltando? – Are you listening?
Vocabulary
| aspettare – to wait
chiamare – to call guardare – to watch ascoltare – to listen guidare – to drive |
piangere – to cry
piovere – to rain leggere – to read scrivere – to write cenare – to have dinner |
Exercises
Put the verb into the progressive form (stare + gerund)
- Io ______________ un libro (LEGGERE, present) – I am reading a book
- Che cosa tu ______________? (FARE, present) – What are you doing?
- Noi ______________ la lezione (ASCOLTARE, present) – We are listening to the lesson
- Loro ______________ a casa (ANDARE, present) – They are going home
- Maria ______________ una mail (SCRIVERE, present) – Maria is writing an email
- Io ______________ quando hai chiamato (CENARE, past) – I was having dinner when you called
- I bambini ______________ in giardino (GIOCARE, past) – The children were playing in the garden
- Voi ______________ troppo velocemente (GUIDARE, past) – You were driving too fast
Answers:
1: sto leggendo; 2: stai facendo; 3: stiamo ascoltando; 4: stanno andando; 5: sta scrivendo; 6: stavo cenando; 7: stavano giocando; 8: stavate guidando