Gerund Flashcards
Gerund
Gerund vs infinitive
- Infinitive- (When “ing” in English follows another verb use infinitive)
a. Hai finito di mangiare? Have you finished (for the purpose of) eating?
b. puo essere difficile can be difficult
c. Auitami a friggare le patatine- help me fry the potatoes
d. Sei molto bravo a parlare francese
Ma e meglio non mangiare troppo cibi friggi but it’s better not to eat too much fried food
e. Non mettere troppa pasta nel mio piatto (negative imperative- singular) Don’t put too much pasta
f. non so cucinare; non so neanche riconoscere- I can’t even recognize
g. indovinare guess (indovina chi guess who) come ha fatto a indovinare- how did you guess
h. Si prega di non disturbare.-“Please do not disturb.”
i. Fare la spesa ; Vado a fare la spesa I’m off to buy some groceries
j. Qualcosa da infinitve-qualcosa da usare something to use, something to be used, something which can be used
k. grazie per aver pensato < pensare- thank you for thinking, thank you for having thought - Gerund
a. Ando (are). Endo (ere ire)
b. Sto lavarando I am working
t. Stavo lavando i piatti - I was washing the dishes
u. Sto stai sta stiamo state stanno
v. Stavo stavi stava stavamo stavate stavano
a. Stava facendo- he was doing
b. Avendo having ; Andando going ; Putting away -mettendo via ; Facendo doing
c. Il concerto sta iniziando. (literally) “The concert is starting.”
d. Sta piovendo it is raining
Gerund (if when)
g. Gerund + noun (direct object) may substitute for the subordinate clause in all kinds of hypothetical periods, provided that the subject of both sentences is the same. Since the gerund is an infinitive mode, it is not related to any person; therefore, we infer the subject of both sentences solely from the one expressed in the main clause.
h. We can infer the type of the “if” clause we are dealing with exclusively from the tense of the main clause, since the impersonal gerund mode does not give us any clue about it.
i. Useful when we don’t recall the subjunctive conjugation of the subordinate clause verb. Subject of both sentences has to be the same.
j. Type 1
i. Avendo tempo, potremmo andare da Antonio. If we have (having) time we could go to Antonio’s (Similar to Se ho tempo )
k. Type 2
i. Se ascoltasse il mio consiglio, riparerebbe la macchina.-“If he paid heed/listened to my advice, he’d repair the car.”
ii. Ascoltando il mio consiglio, riparerebbe la macchina- (literally “Paying heed/Listening to my advice, he’d repair the car.”
l. Type 3
i. Se avessero comprato gli strumenti giusti, avrebbero dipinto il muro.-“If they’d bought the right tools, they’d have painted the wall.”
ii. Comprando (or avendo comprato) gli strumenti giusti, avrebbero dipinto il muro. (literally) “Buying (or “having bought”) the right tools, they’d have painted the wall.”
iii. In type III “if” clauses, we may use the past gerund, though both the present and the past gerund are perfectly acceptable (the past gerund is deemed to be slightly more formal).
Screaming for (the purpose of) joy
urlando di gioia
Involving
coinvolgendo
I’m not getting involved
non mi sto facendo coinvolgere
The family is enjoying a holiday meal
La famiglia si sta godendo un pasto in un giorno festivo.
having spoken”
parlare > avendo parlato “
Having gone
andare > essendo andato/a/i/e
I listen to the podcast while (I’m) walking.
Ascolto il podcast, camminando.
(Same subject) or
ascolto il podcast mentre cammino.
If not same subject
Mark ascolta il podcast, mentre Francesca cammina.
Mark is listening to the podcast, while Francesca is walking.
I passed the exam (by) studying day and night.
- To explain how something is done:
Ho superato l’esame, studiando giorno e notte.
If I could, I would do it.
To make hypothesis (as an alternative to se): Potendo, lo farei.
Alternatively, it could be said: se potessi, lo farei “if I could, I would do it”.
If I had been able to, I would have done it.
To make hypotheses in the past (as an alternative to se “if” + pluperfect subjunctive):
Avendo potuto, lo avrei fatto.(having been able to do it, I would have done it)
As before, an alterative to this would be: se avessi potuto, lo avrei fatto.
Having missed the train /since he missed the train, he stayed at ours for the night.
To indicate the cause or the reason for something (as an alternative to poiché, visto che, dato che):
Avendo perso il treno, si è fermato a dormire da noi.
The same idea could have been conveyed in the following way: visto che ha perso/
visto che aveva perso il treno, si è fermato a dormire da noi.
Paolo went out, even though he had a temperature.
To express concession preceded by pure/pur (as an alternative to conjunctions like sebbene and nonostante):
Paolo è uscito, pur avendo la febbre.
People are going about (go) saying that Giovanni doesn’t live here anymore.
To describe actions in progress which started at an unspecified time and are still ongoing using andare + gerund:
You will not come across many examples of this structure but it’s certainly good to be aware of its existence and recognise it in case you hear it or read it somewhere.
La gente va dicendo che Giovanni non abita più qui.
I am putting the sheets (paper) in a container for the purpose of recycling paper
sto mettendo i fogli in un contenitore apposta per il riciclaggio (ri ci claggio) della carta.
