Il gerundio and the ING form
We mainly use il gerundio (the "-ing" form equivalent, or a progressive form) to talk about something that's ongoing. For regular, verbs, they are formed as follows:
- For verbs ending in -are such as amare (to love), camminare (to walk) or parlare (to speak), remove the -are and add -ando (amando, camminando, parlando):
Anna e Toni stanno parlando.
Anna and Toni are talking.
Ruggero sta cantando.
Ruggero is singing.
- For verbs ending in -ere and -ire, such as correre (to run), tenere (to hold) or uscire (to go out), remove the -ere or -ire and add -endo (correndo, tenendo, uscendo):
Loro stanno correndo.
They are running.
Sto scrivendo un libro.
I am writing a book.
We use il gerundio:
- With the verb stare “to be” (in any tense) to talk about something which is ongoing:
Sto parlando al telefono.
I'm talking on the phone.
Stavo lavorando da stamattina.
I was working from this morning onward.
- To talk about two things that happened at the same time:
Sono caduto uscendo dalla vasca.
I fell getting out of the bath.
Linda arrivò correndo all’aeroporto.
Linda arrived at the airport running.
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