ITALIANO III
Per il
18 di febbraio 2014
Block III and Block IV
META
Stare and the present participles
1. I gruppi
9 e 10 hanno fatto le presentazioni oggi e finiscono domani
The GERUNDIO
Present Participles
This is equivalent to the English present participle — i.e. the part
of the verb ending in -ing, like thinking, running, talking, going
etc.
The Adverbial Present Participle or gerund ("gerundio") is formed
by adding a suffix to the verb stem:



ARE verbs add "-ando". Example: parl-ando (speaking)
ERE verbs add "-endo". Example: vend-endo (selling)
IRE verbs add "-endo". Example: dorm-endo (sleeping)
Adverbial participles answer questions about the action expressed
by the main verb. Examples:
o
Sbagliando si impara » One learns by making mistakes
(answering the question, "How does one learn?").
They are used like English present participles to form progressive
tenses with the verb "stare":
o
o
Sto parlando » I am talking
(Present progressive, answering the question, "What am I
engaged in doing?");
Stava dormendo » He was sleeping
(Past progressive, answering the question, "What was he
engaged in doing?")
Because they function as adverbs, defining an action, these
participles are invariable in form, and do not agree in gender or
number with the subject of the verb.
The Adverbial Present Participle (Gerundio perfetto) is formed
with the adverbial present participle of the auxiliary verb and the
past participle of the main verb: "avendo parlato" (having
spoken)
The Italian name "gerundio" has led to the use of the English
word "gerund" to denote adverbial participles. This is misleading,
since the English gerund is a verbal noun ("Walking is good
exercise"). It is best for English--speaking students to avoid
using the term "gerund" when studying the Romance languages
like Spanish and Italian. Examples:
o
Cosa stai facendo? » What are you doing?
o
Sto legendo il giornale. » I am reading the newspaper.
o
o
o
Stanno preparando l'insalata. » They are preparing the
salad.
Stavo ascoltando la radio quando il telefono ha
squillato. » I was listening to the radio when the telephone
rang.
I ragazzi stavano vestendosi. » the boys were gettin
dressed.
The present continuous tenseor The
Present Progressive!
There is a present continuous or
progressive
form, equivalent to English “I am ….ing”:
To form this tense you use:
the present tense of stare [not essere]
sto
stai
sta
stiamo
state
stanno
plus
the present participle, sometimes called the gerund.
Grammaticians argue about the term “gerund” so we will call it
the present participle. You form it like this:
- are verbs
camminare –-> camminando
- ere verbs
vendere –-> vendendo
- ire verbs
finire –-> finendo
There are some irregular forms:
fare [to do / make] - facendo
dire [to say] – dicendo
bere [to drink] – bevendo
The present participle does not agree [ie., there are no
feminine or plural forms].
We use this tense to express what someone is in the process of
doing at this moment:
Cosa stai facendo? - What are you doing?
Sto lavorando – I'm workin
Sta dormendo – He is sleeping
Stiamo finendo ora ! - We're finishing now!
Note that we cannot use this tense to express the future in the
way that we use the present continuous in English. [“ I'm
holidaying in France next year.”]
This tense is used less than the present continuous in English
and if you are in doubt, we advise you to use the present simple
tense. But you will hear people use this form.
Now you try: Put the verbs in brackets into the present
participle form:
Maria sta [scrivere] ____________ una lettera.
Stiamo [guardare] ____________ il telegiornale.
Sto [aspettare] ____________ il treno.
Cosa stai [leggere] ____________?
I ragazzi stanno [partire] ____________ ora.
Now put the correct form of the present tense of stare in the
gaps:
Giovanni ______ mangiando.
Io ____ finendo il lavoro.
I bambini ______ dormendo.
Cosa _______ facendo, ragazzi?
Dove _____ andando, Maria? [tu form]
In English
The present progressive tense is used to
talk about



current activities: “I'm fixing the stove right now.”
events that will not last: “Julie is staying at our house
for the summer.”
future plans: “They are arriving at six o'clock
tomorrow.”
To form the present progressive tense, use the
appropriate present form of the verb “to be” in front of
the present participle (the “-ing” form of the verb). “I am
waiting for a friend.”“So, you are thinking about
quitting.”“The elephant is disappearing from the wilds of
Africa.”“We are usingless paper in our office than we use
to.”“The firemen are putting out the fire.”
The GERUND – the ‘-ing’ tense
The gerund (il gerundio) is equivalent to the “-ing” verb form in
English, e.g ‘talking’.
Creating the gerund
When to use it: To indicate a predecing action taking
place, relating to the principal action.
If a sentence consists of a main clause
and a dependent/ subordinate clause
and the verbs in both clauses have the
same subject, the verb in the dependent
clause can typically be replaced with a
gerund.
How to create take off the –are, -ire or -ere ending
it:
ARE VERBS
+ ‘-
IRE/ERE
VERBS+ ‘
ANDO’ to the end of the verb
ENDO’ to the end of the verb
Irregular verbs: As ever, there are irregular verb
conjugations for fare, essere, andare
etc. See the table below.
NOTICE the gerund does not change forms to reflect
different subjects or tenses.
Examples
Andando a scuola, ho visto (While I was) going to
Enzo
school, I saw Enzo
Leggendo un libro, la
telefonata ha suonata
While he was reading a
book, the telephone rang
Sbagliando, imparo
By making mistakes, I learn
***
Present tense: progressive action – STARE + gerund
This is likely to be the more common form of the gerund that
you use.
When to use it: to describe action that is currently being
done, e.g. I am reading.
How to create 1. take off the –are, -ire or -ere ending
it:
2. add STARE (sto, stai, sta, state,
stanno) before the verb
ARE VERBS+ ‘-ANDO’ to the end of the verb
IRE/ERE+ ‘ENDO’ to the end of the verb
VERBS
Irregular verbs: As ever, there are irregular verb
conjugations for fare, essere, andare
etc. See the table below.
***
Examples
LEGGERE
Stai leggendo
you (inf.) are
reading
MANGIARE
Sta mangiando
s/he is eating
DORMIRE
Stanno dormendo They are sleeping
FARE (irreg)
Sto facendo
I am doing
Simple so far? No? With the past tense it gets a little bit more
complicated.
Irregular verbs
The imperfect (past tense) stem is used for irregular verbs in the
gerund. Many of these routes come from the original latin
words from which Italian developed.
Essere
to be
essendo
Avere
to have
avendo
Bere
to drink
bevendo
Dire
to say
dicendo
also applies to ‘dire’ words
with a prefix, e.g.
contraddire (contradict)
Fare
to
facendo
do/make
also applies to ‘fare’ words
with a prefix, e.g. rifare (to
redo, disfare (undo)
Soddisfareto satisfy soddisfacendo
Porre
to
ponendo
put/place
Tradurre to
traducendo
translate
Trarre
to
traendo
draw/pull/
obtain
Venire
to come
venendo
***
Reflexive verbs
General
the pronoun hooks onto the end of
the word, e.g lavandosi.
Continuous tense (e.g. sto parlando): the pronoun either
comes before stare or hooked on the
gerund, e.g. ti sto parlando/sto
parlandoti.
Examples
Lavandersi
to wash onself
lavandosi,
Sedirsi
to sit down
sedendosi
Divertirsi
to enjoy onself
divertendosi
When not to use the gerund (-ing tense that doesn’t translate
directly into Italian)
IMPORTANT: Italian (unlike English) never makes the gerund
the subject or direct object.
Instead, Italian uses the infinitive.
Fine del gerundio
Ripasso Review below-
L´IMPERFETTO IN ITALIANO
The imperfect Tense in Italian
Conjugating regular Italian verbs in the imperfect tense
The imperfect tense can actually be used in a few different ways. The
examples below illustrate how it is used to show what was happening in the
past. Example, I was reading a book when... .We will cover other uses of the
imperfect tense in class. The imperfect tense is also relatively easy to learn.
In essence all three conjugations have very similar endings. The only
difference between the endings for each conjugation (ARE, ERE and IRE) is
the first letter the endings start with. For instance all of the endings for ARE
verbs start with "a", endings for ERE verbs start with "e" and the endings for
the IRE verbs start with "i". This is illustrated below.
To illustrate how to conjugate these verbs, I like to use math equations as
an example but first here are the conjugated endings for all regular verbs;
Subject Pronoun
Io
Tu
Lui/Lei
Noi
Voi
Loro
Verbs ending in
ARE
Verbs ending in
ERE
Verbs ending in
IRE
avo
avi
ava
avamo
avate
avano
evo
evi
eva
evamo
evate
evano
ivo
ivi
iva
ivamo
ivate
ivano
To conjugate the regular ARE verbs
in the imperfect tense = infinitive verb – infinitive
ending = verb stem + conjugated ending = conjugated verb. Example;
Parlare (To Speak) - are = Parl + avamo (ending for we) =
Parlavamo (We were speaking)
Regular
-ARE
-ERE
-IRE
Verbs
Parlare conjugated in the imperfect tense
Io
Tu
Lui/Lei
Noi
Voi
Loro
Parlavo
Parlavi
Parlava
Parlavamo
Parlavate
Parlavano
I was speaking
You were speaking
He/She/It was speaking
We were speaking
You all were speaking
They were speaking - ALL OF you were speaking
To conjugate the regular ERE verbs in the imperfect tense = infinitive verb –
infinitive ending = verb stem + conjugated ending = conjugated verb.
Example;
Leggere (To Read) - ere = Legg + evamo (ending for we) =
Leggevamo (We were reading)
Leggere conjugated in the imperfect tense
Io
Tu
Lui/Lei
Noi
Voi
Loro
Leggevo
Leggevi
Leggeva
Leggevamo
Leggevate
Leggevano
I was reading
You were reading
He/She/It was reading
We were reading
Y'all were reading
They were reading
To conjugate the regular IRE verbs in the imperfect tense = infinitive verb –
infinitive ending = verb stem + conjugated ending = conjugated verb.
Example;
Vestire (To Dress) - ire = Vest + ivamo (ending for we) = Vestivamo
(We were dressing)
Vestire conjugated in the imperfect tense
Io
Tu
Lui/Lei
Noi
Voi
Loro
Vestivo
Vestivi
Vestiva
Vestivamo
Vestivate
Vestivano
I was dressing
You were dressing
He/She/It was dressing
We were dressing
Y'all were dressing
They were dressing
More on the Imperfect tense in Italian
Learn the second form of past tense in Italian, the imperfect form, which is used for
events that happened more than once. Includes how to conjugate regular verbs,
irregular verbs, essere and avere in the Italian imperfect form.

The imperfect form in Italian, imperfetto, is an important tense, as it is used to describe
events that happened in the past. The imperfect tense is used for three different
occasions:
1. An on-going action in the past that is interrupted by another event
Example: Mentre finivo il libro, è arrivata la mia amica. (While I was finishing the book,
my friend arrived)
2. A repeated action in the past
Example: Quando ero piccolo, andavo spesso al mare. (When I was young, I went to
the sea often)
3. Two or more events that happened simultaneously in the past
Example: Mentre lavoravo, Matteo dormiva. (While I was working, Matthew was
sleeping)
Regular Verbs
Just like the present indicative form and passato prossimo, regular verbs follow the
same conjugation based on the ending. Let's go over each of the conjugations:
-are verbs: cantare (to sing)
Ads by Google
(io) cantavo
(tu) cantavi
(lui,lei) cantava
(noi) cantavamo
(voi) cantavate
(loro) cantavano
-ere verbs:
vedere (to see)
(io) vedevo
(tu) vedevi
(lui, lei) vedeva
(noi) vedevamo
(voi) vedevate
(loro) vedevano
-ire verbs: sentire (to hear)
(io) sentivo
(tu) sentivi
(lui, lei) sentiva
(noi) sentivamo
(voi) sentivate
(loro) sentivano
Recall from previous lessons that Italian has two -ire verbs. However, in the imperfect
tense, the formation and endings are exactly the same.
Essere and Avere
In the imperfect, avere follows regular conjugation
with the stem er-.
Essere
(io) ero
(tu) eri
(lui, lei) era
(noi) eravamo
(voi) eravate
(loro) erano
Avere
(io) avevo
(tu) avevi
(lui, lei) aveva
(noi) avevamo
Essere is irregular
(voi) avevate
(loro) avevano
More Irregular Verbs
There are other verbs in Italian that have irregular verb formations in the imperfect
tense. While the endings are similar to other imperfect endings, the stem used is not as
easy to form (compared to regular verbs, where the stem is formed by removing -are, ere, or -ire.) Let's go over some of the most common irregular verbs in the imperfect
form:
Bere (to drink)
(io) bevevo
(tu) bevevi
(lui, lei) beveva
(noi) bevevamo
(voi) bevevate
(loro) bevevano
Dire (to say)
(io) dicevo
(tu) dicevi
(lui, lei) diceva
(noi) dicevamo
(voi) dicevate
(loro) dicevano
+
Fare (to do, to make)
(io) facevo
(tu) facevi
(lui, lei) faceva
(noi) facevamo
(voi) facevate
(loro) facevano
Porre (to put, to place)
(io) ponevo
(tu) ponevi
(lui, lei) poneva
(noi) ponevamo
(voi) ponevate
(loro) ponevano
Tradurre (to translate)
(io) traducevo
(tu) traducevi
(lui, lei) tranduceva
(noi) tranducevamo
(voi) tranducevate
(loro) tranducevano
Trarre (to pull, to draw)
(io) traevo
(tu) traevi
(lui, lei) traeva
(noi) traevamo
(voi) traevate
(loro) traevano
The Imperfect Tense in Italian
It’s the tense you use to describe how you and your friends used to go to
the mall every Saturday morning dressed di tutto punto (to the nines) to
impress every person who might see you.
The tense you use when you say, “Well, when I was 8, we used to…”
Or in a more practical tense, you can l’imperfetto (the imperfect) to
describe:




Weather in the past (Windy, rainy, etc.)
A specific time in the past (7 AM)
How someone was feeling or thinking (Worried, happy, sad, etc.)
An action that someone was doing while another action had been
completed or was still happening (Eating while she left)
all of the endings for -are, -ere, and -ire verbs ARE THE SAME
Endings for -ARE, -ERE, and -IRE verbs:
-VO
-VI
-VA (makes me think of va-va-voom ;])
-VAMO
-VATE
-VANO
Gli esempi (examples)
Cantare (to sing)
Cantavano
Avere (to have)
Cantavo, Cantavi, Cantava, Cantavamo, Cantavate,
Avevo, Avevi, Aveva, Avevamo, Avevate, Avevano
Divertire (to amuse, entertain) Divertivo, Divertivi, Divertiva,
Divertivamo, Divertivate, Divertivano
Gli esempi
1.) Ci abitavamo da sette anni. (chee ah/bee/ta/vah/mo da set/tay ah/knee)
– We have been living there for 7 years.
2.) Da bambina, leggevo tutti i giorni. (da bam/bee/na ledge/eh/vo two/tee
ee jor/knee) – When I was a kid, I read everyday.
3.) Ero stanca. (air/oh stahn/co) – I was tired.
4.) Mentre mangiava, Justin Bieber cantava. (men/tray mahn/ja/va Justin
Bieber can/tah/va) – While she was eating, Justin Bieber was singing.
But what about the irregular verbs!?
Essere – to be
Ero – I was
Eri – You were
Era – He/she/it was
Eravamo – We were
Eravate – You all were
Erano – They were
Fare – to do/make
Facevo – I did
Facevi – You did
Faceva – He/she/it did
Facevamo – We did
Facevate – You all did
Facevano – They did
Dire – to say/tell
Dicevo – I said
Dicevi – You said
Diceva – He/she/it said
Dicevamo – We said
Dicevate – You all said
Dicevano – They said
Bere – to drink
Bevevo – I drank
Bevevi – You drank
Beveva – He/she/it drank
Bevevamo – We drank
Bevevate – You all drank
Bevevano – They drank
5.) Il cane aveva sete. (eel ka/nay ah/vay/vah set/tay) - The dog was
thirsty.
6.) Erano le nove di mattina. (air/ah/no lay no/vay dee mah/teen/ah) - It
was nine in the morning.
7.) Iera sera, nevicava! (ee/air/ee sare/ah nev/ee/ka/va) - Last night, it
snowed!
Some phrases you’ll hear with this tense
There are some phrases that you’ll hear always preceding the imperfect. In
order to get used to using and hearing the imperfect,
Ogni tanto (own/yee tah/n/toe) – Once in a while




Sempre (sem/pray) – Always
Tutti i giorni (two/tee ee jor/knee) – Every day
Continuamente (cone/teen/you/ah/men/tay) – Continuously
Mentre (men/tray) – While
Repaso
clima
CHE TEMPO FA?
air
l'aria
barometer
il barometro
blizzard
la tormenta
climate
il clima
cloud
la nuvola
cloudburst
il temporale
cloudy
nuvoloso
dew
la rugiada
dusk
il crepuscolo
fog
la nebbia
frost
il gelo
hail
la grandine
ice
il ghiaccio
lightning
il lampo
mist
la foschia
moon
la luna
northeast wind
la tramontana
precipitation
la precipitazione
rain (noun)
la pioggia
rain (verb)
piovere
snow
la neve
southwest wind
il vento australe
storm
la tempesta
sun
il sole
weather report il bollettino meteorologico

Months in Italian
January - Gennaio
February - Febbraio
March - Marzo
April - Aprile
May - Maggio
June - Giugno
July - Luglio
August - Agosto
September Settembre
October - Ottobre
November - Novembre
December – Dicembre
Weather Phrases in Italian
What's the weather like today? - Che tempo fa oggi?
It's nice - Fa bello / Fa bel tempo
It's bad - Fa brutto tempo
It's sunny - C'è sole / Fa sole
It's cold - Fa freddo
It's hot - Fa caldo
It's cool - Fa fresco
It's snowy - Nevica
It's windy - C'è il vento
It's raining - Piove
It's foggy - C'è la nebbia
It's frosty - È gelido
It's freezing Fa un freddo gelido
It's hailing - Grandina
It's cloudy - È nuvoloso
It's stormy - È burrascoso
It's lightning - Il lampo
It's humid - È umido
It's muggy - È afoso
It's thundering - Tuona
Storm - Il temporale
Changable - Variabile
Learn these Italian words and phrases and enjoy being
able to understand a weather report or a discussion about
the seasons and weather in Italian...and perhaps even
participating in the conversation yourself!
Some simple ways to talk about weather in
ITALIANO
There are a lot of possible answers to that question. Here are the most common ones…
Fa caldo.
It's warm.
Fa freddo.
It's cold.
È ventoso.
It's windy
È burrascoso.
It's stormy.
Fa caldo.
It's hot.
È soleggiato.
It's sunny.
È sereno.
It's clear.
È nuvoloso.
It's cloudy.
È piacevole.
It's nice.
È freddissimo.
It's icy.
E' umido.
It's humid.
You can use the word “molto” (very) for all of the above
phrases to emphasize that it's not just cold or warm, but very
cold or very warm.
For example:
Fa molto freddo.
It's very cold.
Fa molto caldo.
It's very warm.
Fa caldissimo.
It's very hot.
Fa freddissimo.
It's very icy.

Le Regione Climatiche in Italia
La zona alpina comprende la catena montuosa delle Alpi dove gli
inverni sono molto freddi e le estati brevi e fresche.
Vi sono abbondanti nevicate di inverno e piogge nel periodo estivo.
Questo clima è detto clima montano freddo.
Nella Pianura Padana e sugli Appenini il clima è freddo di inverno e
caldo in estate, perchè non si sente l'effetto benefico del mare; le
precipitazioni sono abbastanza frequenti.
Si tratta di un clima temperato - continentale.
La zona costiera comprende le coste dell'Italia centrale,
meridionale e delle isole.
Le estati sono calde ma ventilate e gli inverni sono miti per effetto
del mare.
Le precipitazioni sono scarse: questo è il clima meditteraneo.
Come abbiamo visto il clima può variare anche all' interno di una
stessa regione.
Ad esempio intorno a un grande lago il clima è mite perchè il lago
ha un effetto simile ha quello del mare.
In montagna invece il versante rivolto a sud è riscaldato dal sole
per molte ore al giorno, mentre quello rivolto a nord è più freddo
perchè quasi sempre in ombra.
Oltre alle tre grandi zone climatiche, esistono perciò in Italia tanti
micro climi cioè climi di piccole zone.
TABELLA RIASSUNTIVA DELLE REGIONI CLIMATICHE
See grammatica below
Il Futuro
First-Conjugation Verbs
The future tense (futuro semplice) of first-conjugation
regular (-are) verbs is formed first by changing the
infinitive ending -are into -er to obtain the root for the
future tense. The following future endings are then added
to the root: -ò, -ai, -à, -emo, -ete, -anno. (The following
table includes a sample conjugation of the verb cantare.)
FUTURE TENSE CONJUGATION OF CANTARE
PERSON
SINGULAR
PLURAL
I
(io) canterò
(noi) canteremo
II
tu canterai
(voi) canterete
III
(lui, lei, Lei) canterà
(loro, Loro) canteranno
Second- and Third-Conjugation Verbs
The future tense of regular second- and third-conjugation
(-ere and -ire) verbs is formed by simply dropping the
final -e of the infinitive to obtain the stem and adding to
the stem the following future endings: -ò, -ai, -à, -emo, ete, -anno (the same endings, in fact, as those added to
the first-conjugation group). For a sample conjugation,
see the table below, which conjugates the verbs credere
and partire.
FUTURE TENSE CONJUGATIONS OF CREDERE AND
PARTIRE
PERSON
SINGULAR
PLURAL
I
(io) crederò, partirò
(noi) crederemo,
partiremo
II
(tu) crederai, partirai (voi) crederete, partirete
III
(lui, lei, Lei) crederà, (loro, Loro) crederanno,
partirà
partiranno
Future Tense of Irregular Verbs
In the future tense, the verbs dare, stare, and fare
simply drop the final -e of their infinitives and form the
stems dar-, star- and far-, respectively; the stem of
essere is sar-. These stems are then combined with the
regular future-tense endings.
The verbs listed below also have an irregularly shortened
stem in the future tense (usually, because the vowel a or
e is dropped from the infinitive).
IRREGULAR FUTURE TENSE STEMS
INFINITIVE
FUTURE STEM
andare
andr-
avere
avr-
cadere
cadr-
dovere
dovr-
potere
potr-
sapere
sapr-
vedere
vedr-
vivere
vivr-
Also be aware of the spelling of verbs with infinitives
ending in -ciare and -giare. These verbs drop the i before
adding the future endings to the root: tu comincerai, noi
viaggeremo. Also, verbs with infinitives ending in -care
and -gare add an h to the root for the future to preserve
the hard sound of the c or g of the infinitive: io cercherò,
loro pagheranno.
Though we can use the present tense to express an action that will take
place in the future — I am going to Italy next summer — the future tense is
more precise.
The Future Tense of Irregular Verbs
In the future tense, the verbs dare, stare, and fare simply drop the final -e
of their infinitives and form the stems dar-, star-, and far-, respectively;
the stem of essere is sar-. These stems are then combined with the regular
future tense endings.
There are two other irregular constructions you should be aware of: verbs
with infinitives that end in -ciare and -giare and those that end in -care
and -gare. Verbs with infinitives ending in -ciare and -giare drop the i
before adding the future endings to the root: tu comincerai, noi
viaggeremo. Verbs with infinitives ending in -care and -gare add an h to
the root for the future to preserve the hard sound of the c or g of the
infinitive: io cercherò, loro pagheranno.
The following table shows some irregular verbs in the future tense.
Table 13-2
Future Tense of Irregular Verbs Dare, Stare, Fare, and Essere
Table 13-3
Future Tense of Irregular Verbs Ending in - care, -gare, and -ciare
When the verb ends in -ciare or -giare, the -iare is dropped and the future
ending is added. When the verb ends in -iare without the -c or -g
(svegliare, for example), the i is not dropped.
L'estate prossima io andrò in Italia e vedrò i miei cugini.
Next summer I will go to Italy and I will see my cousins.
Table 13-4
Other Irregular Verbs in the Future Tense