The gerund indicates the way in which the action takes place, in reference to another finite action, which has the same subject as the gerund. The present gerund indicates the simultaneity of two actions whether they occur in the present, past or future tense.
- Mi fissa, guardandomi negli occhi (contemporaneità al presente)
- He stares at me, looking into my eyes (contemporaneity in the present)
- Giovanni scoppiò a ridere, guardando Ninetta (contemporaneità al passato).
- Giovanni burst out laughing, looking at Ninetta (contemporaneity in the past)
- Viaggiando, imparerai tante cose (contemporaneità al futuro).
- By travelling, you will learn many things (contemporaneity in the future).
The gerund has two tenses: simple (or present) and compound (or past).
1. The form of the simple (or present) gerund.
A). Regular verbs in the present gerund.
The present gerund or regular verbs is formed by putting the suffix -ano (instead of -are) and the suffix -endo (instead of -ere and -ire).
| Verb | Simple (or present) gerund |
| Parlare (to speak) Leggere (to read) Partire (to leave) | Parlando (speaking) Leggendo (reading) Partendo (leaving) |
B). Irregular verbs in the present gerund.
| Bere(to drink) Dire(to say) Fare(to do) Muovere(to move) Riempire(to fill) Condurre(to drive/lead) Porre(to put) Trarre(to draw) | Bevendo(drinking) Dicendo(saying) Facendo(doing) Muovendo(moving) Riempiendo(filling) Conducendo(driving/leading) Ponendo(placing) Traendo(drawing) |
When we use the present tense, remember that the subject of the two sentences is the same.
- Osservo (io) le persone, passeggiando (io) per la strada.
- (I) observe the people, walking on the street.
If we want to indicate different subjects, for example, we want to say that I observe and people are walking, then we must use the conjunction (che) + the indicative, or the simple infinitive.
- Osservo le persone che passeggiano per la strada. = Osservo le persone passeggiare per la strada.
- I watch people walking down the street.