the present progressive (i am walking)

To emphasize that an action is in progress as you speak, you use the present tense of the irregular verb stare + a verb form called “the gerund”.

stare

sto
stai
sta
stiamo
state
stanno

To form the gerund, you drop the verb ending (-are, -ere, -ire) and add -ando, -endo and
-endo (parlando, leggendo, uscendo). This is the equivalent of adding -ing to a verb in English.

The two together look like this:

Mario, cosa stai facendo? (Mario, what are you doing?)

Sto leggendo il giornale. (I’m reading the paper.)

Whether to use the present progressive or the simple present indicative we’ve seen so far is largely a matter of intent and style, not grammar. It depends on what you’re trying to emphasize or draw attention to and how. Usually you use the present progressive to convey urgency and immediacy. Leggo il giornale could mean, “I read the paper,” meaning, “in general.” But Sto leggendo il giornale means it’s happening in real time, as you speak.

A good rule of thumb is, only use the present progressive if you’re describing an action that’s unfolding while you speak.

Note that you can also use the gerund on its own. We do this a lot in English with the prepositions by, while and in.

Sbagliando, si impara.

One learns by making mistakes.

Camminando per la strada, Marco vede molti amici.

Walking down the street (or while walking), Marco sees many friends.

And that's it. See? You're learning - stai imparando!

Comments

[Noel Patrick Hth]

Clean, clear precise, well presented with just enough information and usful examples. excellent!

[David]

Thank for posting this. the stare verb and essere are easy to get mixed up for me but this article helps :-)

Grazie mille Tutorino!

[Kyra]

how do you do essere? thank you!