Stare + Gerundio: The Italian Construction That Tells Your Listener Exactly What You're Doing Right Now

To say what you're doing right now in Italian — I am eating, she is calling, we are watching — you use stare (to be/stay) followed by the gerundio (the -ing form of the verb). This construction is called stare + gerundio and it's the Italian equivalent of the English present continuous. It emphasises that the action is happening at this exact moment — not generally, not usually, but right now, as you speak.

The gerundio is formed from the verb stem with two possible endings: -ando for -are verbs, and -endo for -ere and -ire verbs. It never changes to agree with subject or gender — it always stays the same. You only conjugate stare, which is irregular.

A handful of common verbs have irregular gerundi — they don't follow the -ando / -endo rule. The most important ones are below. Fortunately, there are very few. These irregularities trace back to Latin: fare, dire, and bere all have Latin roots that differ from their modern Italian infinitives.

The past continuous (I was doing) uses the imperfect of stare + gerundio: stavo mangiando (I was eating), stavano dormendo (they were sleeping). This construction is perfect for interrupted actions: Stavo leggendo quando ha suonato il telefono — I was reading when the phone rang. The Italian past continuous and English past continuous work in almost identical ways here.

There is also a near-future sense that uses stare per + infinitive — not quite the same construction, but worth knowing alongside it. Sto per partire means 'I am about to leave' — the action is imminent. This is different from stare + gerundio, which describes an action already in progress. Together, the two constructions cover a wide range of present-moment expressions.