The Gerund
The gerund is used to talk about:
- something happening now or at a certain time in the past
- something which happened in the past at the same time as another action
It is formed from the root of the present simple
+
–ando or –endo, depending on the conjugation
It can have two tenses:
PresentExamples:
- Mangiando una mela mi cadde un dente. (Eating an apple, a tooth fell out.)
- Osservando il cielo, vidi una stella cadente. (Looking at the sky, a shooting star fell.)
- Sbagliando si impara. (Making mistakes, you learn.)
- Studiando si capiscono molte cose. (Studying, you understand a lot of things.)
Past (present gerund + past participle)Examples:
- Avendo dormito tutta la notte, il mattino seguente Nadia si sentiva riposata. (Having slept all night, Nadia felt refreshed the next morning.)
- Avendo avuto poco tempo per studiare, Fabio non era pronto per l’interrogazione. (Having had little time to study, Fabio wasn’t ready for the test.)
- Essendo stato già tre volte a Barcellona, l’anno prossimo andrò a Madrid. (Having already been to Barcelona three times, I’m going to Madrid next year.)
- Avendo trascorso tanto tempo in Inghilterra, Valeria conosceva bene l’inglese. (Having spent a long time in England, she had a good knowledge of English.)
The gerund forms of the verbs mangiare, credere and partire.
|
Mangiare (to eat) |
Credere (to believe) |
Partire (to leave) |
|
Gerundio Presente
|
||
|
mangiando |
credendo |
partendo |
|
Gerundio Passato
|
||
|
avendo mangiato
|
avendo creduto
|
essendo partito
|
The gerund forms of the verbs essere and avere.
|
Essere (to be) |
Avere (to have) |
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Gerundio Presente
|
|
|
essendo |
avendo |
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Gerundio Passato
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|
|
essendo stato
|
avendo avuto
|
