What is a gerund in Italian? Use of Gerundio in Italian. Italian dialects - will we understand each other?

Gerundio presente used to express an action simultaneous with the main one (in the past, present or future tense):

In Italian, all verbs can form Gerundio presente. In the Russian language, some verbs (eat, drink, run, sleep, write, sing, beat) do not have corresponding forms of imperfective participles. Gerundio presente in such cases is usually translated into Russian by personal forms of the verb:

Scrivendo la lettera, lui ripensava al giorno della partenza. — He wrote a letter and remembered the day of departure (When he wrote the letter, he remembered the day of departure).

Cantando, lei dimenticava tutte le sue disgrazie. — When she sang, she forgot all her sorrows.

Gerundio passato serves to express an action preceding the main one in the present, past or future tense:

Gerundio does not express absolute time, but only a temporal correlation (simultaneity or precedence) with the temporal plan of the main action.

In addition to temporal correlation, Gerundio can convey the meaning of assignment, condition, reason, course of action:

— reason (causa):

Rispondendo in quel modo avevo torto. — I was wrong in answering this way.(=Siccome rispondevo in quel modo...);

— condition:

Partendo subito, arrivi giusto in tempo. — By leaving immediately, you will arrive just in time.(=Se partì subito...)

— mode of action (modo):

Ci si istruisce molto viaggiande. — While traveling, a person learns a lot of new things.

— concession:

Essendo stanco continua a lavorare lo stesso. — Being tired (even though he is tired), he still continues to work.(=Sebbene sia stanco...).

In a concession construction, the gerund is often accompanied by a conjunction pur:

pur avendo capito ( although he understood);

pur sapendo ( although he knows /knew/).

The Russian gerundial participle in the negative form in Italian corresponds to two constructions:

1) non + Gerundio

2) senza + Infinito.

without answering - 1) non rispondendo, 2) senza rispondere;

without answering - 1) non avendo risposto, 2) senza aver risposto.

Design non+ Gerundio is usually used in cases where Gerundio, in addition to the temporal correlation of actions, conveys some other logical relationship (reason, assignment, condition, etc.):

Non rispondendo alle domande (=se non rispondi alle domande) rischi di essere frainteso. — By not answering questions (if you don't answer questions), you risk being misunderstood.

Non avendo reagito in tempo (=Siccome non aveva reagito in tempo), complicò notevolmente la situazione. — By not reacting in time (Because he did not react in time), he made the situation much more difficult.

Infinitive phrase senza+ infinito usually expresses only the temporal correlation of a secondary, accompanying action:

Uscì senza dire una parola. — He left without saying a word.

Uscì senza aver detto una parola. — He left without saying a word.

However, in some cases there may be interchangeability of forms.

Gerundio in design star+ Gerundio (star facendo, star scrivendo) denotes a continued action:

Mario sta facendo i compiti di casa. — Mario does his homework.

Whereas the design andar+ Gerundio denotes the gradualness of an action, the flow of a process:

La temperatura va scendendo. — The temperature is decreasing (falling) all the time.

Absolute gerund(gerundio assoluto) can form an independent phrase that has its own subject that does not coincide with the subject of the main sentence. The subject of the gerundial phrase is usually in postposition in relation to Gerundio, but can also occupy a position between the complex forms of Gerundio (passato), or between it and its nominal part:

Non riuscì a vedere lo spettacolo, essendo esauriti i biglietti (essendo i biglietti esauriti). — He was unable to see the performance because all the tickets were sold out.

Avendo lui parlato per filo e per segno, nessuno avrebbe fatto delle domande. — If he had told everything in detail, no one would have asked questions.

As can be seen from the examples, Gerundio assoluto, in addition to temporal correlation, often conveys various logical meanings (condition, reason, concession); it is translated into Russian by appropriate subordinate clauses. The use of Gerundio assoluto is very limited and is found mainly in written speech.

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What is called a gerund in Russian is called Gerundio, i.e. gerund. Like a gerund, a gerund can be present or past tense. GerundioPresente corresponds to imperfective participles (“doing something”), and GerundioPassato– perfect participles (“having done something”).

With education GerundioPresente the verb does not create any complications. It is enough to remember the difference in conjugations:

I (-ando)	II (-endo)	III (-endo)
lavorare – lavorando	crescendo - crescendo	dormire – dormendo

The only thing that requires special attention when forming a gerund is reflexive verbs. In this case – si we need to put at the very end: alzarsi – alzandosi.

In addition, you should be careful with some irregular verbs: for example, fare – facendo.

The gerund can be used not only as an analogue of the Russian gerund. It can be interpreted as a cause, manner of action, condition, and can also be combined with verbs stare, andare to give an additional semantic nuance:

Facendo i tuoi compiti, non devi distrarti– Don’t be distracted when doing homework

Legge un giornale, bevendo il caffè– He reads the newspaper while drinking coffee

Alzandomi alle sei mi sento male– Getting up at six, I feel bad

Ma che stai facendo qui?- What are you doing here?

Gerundio Passato, in turn, will remind us a little of the already studied construction PassatoProssimo. To form a past tense gerund we need an auxiliary verb essere/avere in the shape of GerundioPresente, i.e. essendo/avendo. The choice between them is carried out according to the same principle as in the past tense.

From the main verb you need to form the past participle ( ParticipioPassato).

I	II	III
av e ndo parlato (parlare)	avendo bevuto (bere)	avendo capito (capire)
ess e ndo arrivato (arrivare)	essendo cresciuto (crescere)	Essendo partito (partire)

If the verb is reflexive, then - si needs to be moved to the end essendo. It turns out the following: ess e ndosilavato(from lavarsi).

As in PassatoProssimo, in the past tense gerund with essere need to watch the ending. Depending on what we are talking about, you need to choose the ending that corresponds to gender and number: essendoarrivato/arrivata/arrivate/arrivati.

In sentences GerundioPassato as follows:

Essendo arrivati ​​in ritardo, non possiamo entrare nell'aula- Since we are late, we cannot enter the classroom

Avendo capito bene le spiegazioni, ora posso fare i compiti– Having understood the explanations well, I can now start my homework

Essendosi lavata dopo una lunga giornata, mi seno molto fresca– After washing my face after a hard day, I feel refreshed

Being an impersonal verbal form, Gerundio (gerund) in Italian does not have the traditional categories of mood, person and number that have already become traditional for us, and does not independently perform the function of a predicate, which is typical for most Italian basic personal or inflected forms (Mantengo(said, in the present time, singular, first person) tutta la famiglia. (I commend the whole family)) .

At the same time, the gerund in Italian can be used within two main tense forms, such as presente (scrivere (una domanda) - write (statement) - scrivendo (una domanda) — Gerundio Presente) and and passato (scrivere (una domanda) - write (statement) - avendo scritto (una domanda) — Gerundio Passato). However, like other impersonal forms of the Italian verb (participle and infinitive), Gerundio does not denote the direct fact of the implementation of a certain action in the present, past or future (absolute time), but only shows the temporal correlation of the designated secondary action in relation to its main correspondence (relative time).

See also materials on Italian grammar, verbs:

AVendo Dato Yes mangiare agli animali, ha alimentato il fuoco. (After feeding the cattle, he added more wood to the fire.) — avendo dato- a gerundial form of the past tense that is invariable neither in numbers, nor in persons, nor in names, fixes the antecedent of the secondary action to the main one.

Attraversando la strada, bisogna avere il cervello a bottega. (When crossing the road, you need to be careful.) - attraversando- a gerundial form of the present tense that is invariable neither in numbers, nor in persons, nor in names, fixes the simultaneity of secondary and main actions.

First gerund form ( Presente /sometimes called semplice/) is synthetic (simple, non-compound) in the type or nature of its form change and is created according to a single-verb model by adding grammatical inflections-indicators to the verbal basis:

Type of Italian verbs	Formation model	Example
Units of the first distribution	Basis willow (with discarding of the final inf. ending) + - ando	Inizi+ando (un’inchiesta)
Units of the second and third sp. scriver (una sinfonia) 2 With . — write ( symphony )	The base willow (with the discarding of the final inf. ending) + - endo	Scriv+endo (una sinfonia)
partire (in treno) 3 s. - leave (by train)		Part+endo (in treno)
	According to the general model, characteristic for the verbs of the second and third verbs is the stem willow (with the discarding of the final inf ending) + - endo	Ess+endo (fuori)
		Av+endo (successo)
Exception verbs tradurre (in carcere) - transport (to prison)	Full (Latin) stem + – endo	Traduc+endo (in carcere)
Returnable verb units	According to general models + ascending hour -si	Avvi+ando+si (in tempo)

Absolutely the entire set of Italian verbal units has the ability to form Gerundio presente forms, which distinguishes them from a number of Russian verbs that do not have corresponding participial equivalents of the imperfect form. In such cases (in translation), the semantics of the Gerundio presente is usually communicated through personal verbal forms ( Bevendo a collo, cercava di fare presto. (He drank (bevendo) from the bottle and tried to finish quickly)).

Second gerund form ( Passato) will already be analytical (composite or complex) in the type or nature of its form change and will be structured according to a two-component model through a combination of an auxiliary verb (stands in Gerundio presente) and a basic verbal unit (stands in Participio passato).

Type of Italian verbs	Formation model	Example
Units of the first, second or third reference iniziare (un’inchiesta) - begin (investigation)	Rec. (essere, avere in Ger-dio pre-te - the basis of the verb (with the discarding of the final inf ending) + - endo) + the meaning of the verb (in Part-io passato)	Av+endo + iniziato (un’inchiesta)
Auxiliary willow units Essere (fuori) – to be (outside the house)	According to the general model - aux. (essere - for essere, avere - for avere in Ger-dio pre-te - stem verb (with discarding the final inf ending) + - endo) + meaning verb (in Part-io passato)	Ess+endo + stato (fuori)
Avere (successo) - to have (success)		Av+endo + avuto (successo)
Returnable verb units Avviarsi (in tempo) – set off (on time)	Rec. (essere, avere in Ger-dio pre-te - stem verb (with discarding the final inf ending) + - endo) + ascending hour -si + meaning verb (in Part-io passato – without -si))	Ess+endo+si + avviato (in tempo)

In speech communication, Gerundio presente, translated into Russian by the imperfective participle, is primarily used to record secondary actions carried out (in the present, future or past time period) simultaneously with the main actions. —

Essendo malinconico(Being in a melancholy mood) +

non esco da una settimana. (I haven’t left (the house) for a week) - one thing, Presente

non escivo da una settimana. (I haven’t left (the house) for a week) - one thing, Imperfetto

non escirò da una settimana. (I won’t leave (the house) for a week) - one thing, Futuro

In turn, Gerundio Passato, translated into Russian also by a gerund, but in a perfect form, conveys secondary actions implemented (in the present, future or past time period) in relation to precedence to the main actions. —

Avendo realizzato grossi utilityi (having made a big profit) +

decidono di vendere parte delle azioni (they decide to sell part of the shares) - previous, presente

decideranno di vendere parte delle azioni (they will decide to sell part of the shares) - previous Futuro

hanno deciso di vendere parte delle azioni (they decided to sell part of the shares) - previous Passato prossimo

In addition, the Italian gerund is capable of recording the semantics of the assignment, conditions, reasons, etc. -

Aumentando Lo stipendio, hai fatto bene. (By increasing your salary, you did the right thing) - reason

Essendouscito in bicicletta, non verrai tardi a pranzo. — (By riding your bike, you won’t be late for lunch.) — condition

Quite often the gerund is used as part of the following constructions:

1.negation non + Gerundio— time correlation + transfer of modal values ​​of conditions, assignments, etc. —

Non avendo rescisso Un contratto, aggravammo la situazione. (By not terminating the contract (since we did not do this), we aggravated the situation) - previous + reason

2.stare+Gerundio- conveying the continuing nature of the action -

Stanno risolvendo un'intricata situazione familiare. (They are now resolving (finding a solution to) a confusing family situation.)

3. andare+Gerundio- the gradual nature of an action or process

La temperatura va aumentando. (The temperature is constantly rising.)

Features of the speech use of gerunds in Italian can be given in the table:

Table. Non-finite forms of the Italian verb - gerund (speech use)

Gerundio form	Use Cases	Examples of using
Gerundio presente	Second actions, real (in the present, future or past time period) with observance at the same time as the chapters. action.	Rcompendo con il passato, ha scoppiato in lacrime. (Breaking with the past, he cried)
		Essendo irascibile, ci andrò lo stesso. (Being hot-tempered, I will still go there) - concession
Gerundio passato	Secondary actions, real (in the present, future or past time period) with respect to the precedence to the chapters. action.	Avendo rotto con il passato, decido di cambiare casa. (Having broken with the past, I decide to move to a new apartment).
	Assignment, condition and other modal meanings	Avendo rotto con il passato, tradirò gli ideali. (By breaking with the past, I will betray my ideals). - condition
Designs with Gerundio
non + Gerundio	Correlation in time + concession, condition, etc. mode of meaning	Non cambiando opinione, rischia di essere frainteso. (Without changing his opinion, he risks being misunderstood) – one + condition
stare + Gerundio	Continuous type action	Rodrigo sta eseseguendo abbozzi. (Rodrigo (now) doing sketches.)
andare + Gerundio	Actions or processes of gradual type	I prezzi vanno aumentando. (Prices are constantly increasing).

In Italian there is also Gerundio assoluto(the so-called absolute gerund, used, as a rule, in book speech), which is an independent phrase that provides for the presence of its own subject (usually prepositional to Gerundio), which does not coincide with the analogue of the main sentence.-

Ha ottenuto di poter lavorare a casa, Essendo volitivo il suo carattere . (hem absolute gerund) - (He obtained permission to work at home, since his character was strong-willed.

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Interesting about the Italian language.
History, facts, modernity.
Let's start with a few words about the modern status of the language; it is obvious that Italian is the official language in Italy, the Vatican (simultaneously with Latin), in San Marino, but also in Switzerland (in its Italian part, the canton of Ticino) and in Several districts in Croatia and Slovenia, where a large Italian-speaking population lives, Italian is also spoken by some of the residents on the island of Malta.

Italian dialects - will we understand each other?

In Italy itself, even today you can hear many dialects, sometimes it is enough to travel only a few tens of kilometers to encounter another of them.
Moreover, dialects are often so different from each other that they can seem completely different languages. If people from, for example, the northern and central Italian “outback” meet, they may not even be able to understand each other.
What is especially interesting is that some dialects, in addition to the oral form, also have a written form, such as the Neopolitan, Venetian, Milanese and Sicilian dialects.
The latter exists, accordingly, on the island of Sicily and is so different from other dialects that some researchers distinguish it as a separate Sardinian language.
However, in everyday communication and, especially in large cities, you are unlikely to experience any inconvenience, because... Today, dialects are spoken mainly by older people in rural areas, while young people use the correct dialect that unites all Italians. literary language, the language of radio and, of course, television.
It may be mentioned here that until the end of the Second World War, modern Italian was only a written language, used by the ruling class, scientists and in administrative institutions, and it was television that played a big role in the spread of the common Italian language among all inhabitants.

How it all began, origins

The history of the formation of modern Italian, as we all know it, is closely connected with the history of Italy and, of course, no less fascinating.
Origins - in Ancient Rome, everything was in the Roman language, commonly known as Latin, which at that time was the official state language of the Roman Empire. Later, from Latin, in fact, the Italian language and many other European languages ​​arose.
Therefore, knowing Latin, you can understand what a Spaniard is saying, plus or minus a Portuguese, and you can even understand part of the speech of an Englishman or a Frenchman.
In 476, the last Roman emperor, Romulus Augustulus, abdicated the throne after the capture of Rome by the German leader Odocar, this date is considered the end of the Great Roman Empire.
Some also call it the end of the “Roman language”, but even today disputes still rage about why exactly Latin language lost its relevance, due to the capture of the Roman Empire by barbarians or was it a natural process and what language was actually spoken by the end of the Roman Empire.
According to one version, in ancient rome by this time, along with Latin, the spoken language was already widespread, and it is from this popular language of Rome that the Italian that we know as Italian of the 16th century comes from, according to the second version, due to the invasion of barbarians, Latin mixed with various barbarian languages ​​and dialects and it is from this synthesis that the Italian language originates.

Birthday - first mention

The year 960 is considered the birthday of the Italian language. This date is associated with the first document where this “proto-folk language” is present - vulgare, these are court papers related to the land litigation of the Benedictine Abbey, witnesses used this particular version of the language so that the testimony was as clear as possible more people, until this moment in all official papers we can only see Latin.
And then there was a gradual spread in the ubiquitous life of the language vulgare, which translates as the people's language, which became the prototype of the modern Italian language.
However, the story does not end there, but only becomes more interesting and the next stage is associated with the Renaissance and such, everything famous names, like Dante Alighiere, F. Petrarch, G. Boccaccio and others.
to be continued...

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Gerund in Italian is a special (non-finite) form of the verb. In Italian there are 2 forms of gerund: present gerund (gerundio presente) and past gerund (gerundio passato). In the Russian language, the gerund corresponds to the gerund, which combines the characteristics of a verb and an adverb. Accordingly, the gerund of the present tense corresponds to the imperfective participle, and the gerund of the past tense corresponds to the perfect participle.

Present gerund in Italian (gerundio presente)

The present gerund in Italian is formed as follows:

In the infinitive of verbs of group I, the ending –are is discarded and the ending –ando is added: lavorare – lavorando

For infinitives of verbs of groups II and III, the endings –ere and –ire are replaced by the ending –endo.

Some Irregular Verbs in Italian they form a gerund according to the same rule, taking the full Latin form as a basis):

dire – dicendo, bere – bevendo, fare – facendo

The present gerund in Italian denotes an action that occurs simultaneously with the action in the main clause. In this case, the gerund can denote the following meanings of subordinate clauses:

1. State the reason:

Lavorando molto, Mario ha poco tempo libero– since Mario worked a lot, he had little free time

1. Expresses a method or manner of action:

Maria si rilassa ascoltando musica– listening to music, Maria relaxes

1. Indicate the condition:

Lavorando meno, saresti sempre cos ì stanco– working less, you weren’t always so tired

1. When used with the verb stare, the gerund in Italian denotes an action that is taking place at the moment of speech:

Che stai facendo a Kiev? – What are you doing in Kyiv now?

1. When used with the verb andare, the gerund expresses the course of a process in time:

La pressione atmosferica va scendendo– atmospheric pressure drops (over some time)

Past tense gerund in Italian (gerundio passato)

This form of the gerund in Italian is formed by using the present gerund of the auxiliary verb avere or essere and the past participle of the conjugated verb. Moreover, if the auxiliary verb essere is used to form gerundio passato, then the participle agrees in gender and number with the subject.

The past tense gerund in Italian expresses an action that precedes in time the action described in the main clause. Like the present tense gerund, gerundio passato can replace subordinate clauses, having different meanings:

1. Subordinate reasons:

Essendo arrivato in ritardo, si è perso l’inizio del film– since he arrived late, he missed the beginning of the film

1. In combination with the conjunction pure (in the abbreviated form - pur), the gerund has the meaning of concession or restriction:

Pur essendo malato, va a lavorare- even though he is sick, he goes to work

Note:

Reflexive particles and unstressed personal pronouns are written together with the gerund in Italian: essendosi lavato - washing, svegliandosi - waking up, vestendosi - getting dressed

Absolute gerund in Italian (gerundio assoluto)

A gerund in the Italian language can form an independent structure - an absolute gerund (a similar structure is formed by the participle in Italian). The absolute gerundial phrase has its own subject, which does not coincide with the subject of the main sentence:

essendo il treno arrivato alla stazione centrale di Kiev, noi abbiamo visto tutti i nostri– when the train arrived at the main station in Kyiv, we saw all our relatives

Note:

The subject of an absolute gerund is usually placed after the gerund, but can also be placed between the two parts of a compound gerund (as in the example above).

In the next article we will continue to study the Italian language and consider the passive form (