The present progressive tense in Italian, similar to its use in English, describes an event that continues to take place in the present, e.g., “Io sto parlando” (I am speaking).
Conjugation
In Italian, the present progressive tense uses the auxiliary verb “stare” in the present indicative tense, followed by the present participle, also known as the gerund. We form the gerund by attaching “-ando” to the stem of “-are” ending verbs and “-endo” to the stem of “-ere” and “-ire” ending verbs.
| “-are” verbs | subject pronoun + “stare” in present tense + (verb stem+ ando) |
| “-ere” verbs | subject pronoun + “stare” in present tense + (verb stem+ endo) |
| “-ire” verbs | subject pronoun + “stare” in present tense + (verb stem+ endo) |
Let us look at some examples:
| -ar ending e.g., parlare | -er ending e.g., vivere | -ir ending e.g., finire | ||
| io | sto | parlando | vivendo | finendo |
| tu | stai | |||
| lui/lei | sta | |||
| noi | stiamo | |||
| voi | state | |||
| loro | stanno |
Unlike in English, it is possible to use the present simple tense to describe something happening continuously at the moment to convey the same meaning as the present progressive tense. For example, “Cosa fai adesso?” and “Cosa stai facendo adesso?” can both mean “What are you doing now?” Similarly, “Parlo con il mio amico” and “Sto parlando con il mio amico” both can mean “I am talking to my friend.”
The present progressive can also be in the subjunctive. In this case, “stare” must be conjugated in the subjunctive and followed by the gerund, e.g., “Penso che lui stia parlando con il suo amico” (I think that he is talking to his friend).
Irregular Gerunds
There are only a few irregular gerunds. The most common ones are: “bere” (to drink), “dare” (to give), “dire” (to say), “fare” (to do or to make), and “stare” (to stay or to be). Notice that, with these irregular verbs, we often form the gerund from the stem of the first-person “io” form in the present indicative.
| bere | dare | dire | fare | stare | |
| “io” Form | bevo | do | dico | faccio | sto |
| Gerund | bevendo | dando | dicendo | facendo | stando |
Other lessons in Level IV:
