Present Progressive Tense

Question 1

The present tense describes an action someone does or is doing. What do you use to emphasize that an action is in progress?

Answer 1

Use the present tense of “stare” and the gerundio. This is called the forma progressiva, to describe an action in progress.

Question 2

Conjugate the present tense of “stare”?

Answer 2

Stare

sto
stai
sta

stiamo
state
stanno

Question 3

How do you form the gerundio?

Answer 3

Replace the “are” ending with “ando”, and the “ere” and “ire” endings with “endo”.

Question 4

What is the English equivalent of the Italian progressive tense?

Answer 4

The form is equivalent to the English ending “ing”.

Question 5

A few verbs that have an irregular stems in the imperfetto, such as bere, dire, fare, and tradurre (to translate) use the same irregular stem to form the gerundio.

Answer 5

Bere=bevevo=bevendo (drinking)
dire=dicevo=dicendo (saying)
fare=facevo=facendo (doing)
tradurre=traducevo=traducendo (translating)