The aspect of a verb informs us about the progress of the action: it tells us whether it is a momentary or lasting action, whether it is starting, whether it is taking place or whether it has concluded.
In Italian we can express the aspect of an action through:
- Tenses, such as the present il presente, the imperfect l’imperfetto, the past perfect il passato remoto and the present perfect indicative il passato prossimo: the aspect is durative.
- Angela va a casa [Angela goes home].
- Angela andava a casa [Angela went home]: the action is taking place, the aspect is imperfective
- Angela andò a casa [Angela went home]: the action is concluded, the aspect is perfective
- Stare + gerund: the aspect is progressive.
- Angela sta andando a casa [Angela is going home]
- The verbal periphrases essere sul punto di, stare per + infinitive, indicate the imminence of an action:
- Angela sta per andare a casa [Angela is about to go home].
- The addition of a suffix to the root of the verb, such as –icchiare, –ettare, –ottare, –erellare, with which a connotation of repetitiveness can be given:
- Cantare >> canticchiare
- Fischiare >> fischiettare
- Parlare >> parlottare
- Giocare >> giocherellare