Right now: sto lavorando

Making the gerund

Drop the infinitive ending and add -ando for -are verbs, -endo for -ere and -ire verbs: guardare → guardando, scrivere → scrivendo, partire → partendo. Verbs with -isc- in the present drop it: finire → finendo.

The gerund never changes: the same form for io, lei or loro, masculine or feminine. A few verbs build it on an older stem, the one you know from the imperfetto (facevo, dicevo, bevevo).

Verbs in -porre and -durre follow the same pattern: proporre → proponendo, produrre → producendo.

Stare + gerund: in progress right now

Put stare in the present before the gerund: sto, stai, sta, stiamo, state, stanno. Stare changes for the person; the gerund doesn’t.

It’s always stare, never essere. Sono lavorando is a word-for-word copy of I am working, and it doesn’t work in Italian.

Less often than English

The simple present already covers now: Che cosa fai? and Lavoro are perfectly natural. Use stare + gerund to stress that something is happening at this very moment.

Two places it never goes. Plans: English says I’m leaving tomorrow, Italian says Domani parto (or partirò). States: wanting, knowing, having, and positions like sitting or standing. Say voglio, so, sono seduto, not sto volendo or sto sedendo.

Ask yourself: is it an action going on right now? If not, use the plain verb.

Stavo + gerund: what was going on

For an action in progress in the past, put stare in the imperfetto: stavo, stavi, stava, stavamo, stavate, stavano. It often sets the scene for something that interrupts it, in the passato prossimo.

Uscivo quando hai chiamato means much the same; stavo uscendo zooms in on the moment. Never use the passato prossimo of stare here: sono stato uscendo doesn’t exist.

Pronouns and non

Object and reflexive pronouns go before stare or on the end of the gerund, as one word: lo sto leggendo or sto leggendolo, mi sto preparando or sto preparandomi. Never in between: sto lo leggendo is wrong.

Before stare is more common in everyday speech. Non goes at the very front: non lo sto guardando.

Stare per: about to

Stare per + infinitive means be about to: Sto per uscire. In the imperfetto it’s something you were just about to do: Stavo per chiamarti!

After per comes the infinitive, not the gerund. Compare il treno sta partendo (it’s pulling out now) with il treno sta per partire (it hasn’t left yet).

The gerund alone, and the -ing that isn’t

On its own, the gerund says how or when: Ho imparato leggendo (by reading), Tornando a casa, ho incontrato Luca (on my way home). The person doing it is usually the subject of the main verb.

But many English -ing words aren’t gerunds in Italian. When -ing works as a noun (Swimming is good for you) or follows like, before or without, Italian uses the infinitive: Nuotare fa bene, Mi piace leggere, prima di uscire, senza dire niente.

Common mistakes

• Sono lavorando.Sto lavorando.The gerund goes with stare, never essere.
• Domani sto partendo per Londra.Domani parto per Londra.For plans, Italian uses the present (or the future), not stare + gerund.
• Sto volendo un gelato.Voglio un gelato.Wanting is a state, not an action in progress.
• Luca sta finiscendo.Luca sta finendo.The gerund has no -isc-: finendo.
• Sto lo leggendo.Lo sto leggendo.Pronouns go before stare or on the end of the gerund: lo sto leggendo, sto leggendolo.
• Mi piace nuotando.Mi piace nuotare.After mi piace, Italian uses the infinitive.
• Sono stato uscendo quando hai chiamato.Stavo uscendo quando hai chiamato.In the past, stare goes into the imperfetto.

The full pattern

Stare changes for the person; the gerund never changes.

Pronouns go before stare or on the gerund: lo sto leggendo, sto leggendolo.

Not for plans or states: domani parto, voglio, sono seduto.

English -ing as a noun is an infinitive: nuotare fa bene, mi piace leggere.