The Italian Gerund: Forming and Using -ando and -endo
By Michael McGettrickUpdated 27 September 2026
The Italian gerund is one of the shorter grammar topics on this list, two endings, a handful of irregulars, but it earns its own page because it quietly does the work of an entire English clause. while studying, by studying, since studying, sometimes even because he was studying, can all collapse in Italian into one word: .
This structure sits on the Pearson Edexcel GCSE Italian specification (1IN0) at both Foundation and Higher tier.
Forming the gerund: two endings, no exceptions to the shape
Drop the infinitive ending and add one of two endings, depending on which conjugation the verb belongs to:
| infinitive ending | gerund ending | example |
|---|---|---|
| -are | - | |
| -ere | -endo | |
| -ire | -endo | |
That is the whole rule for regular verbs: -are verbs always take -ando, everything else takes -endo. There is no separate ending for -ire verbs, and no -isc- insertion the way there is in the present tense: gives , not finiscendo.
tv,. - While watching TV, I eat.
,ho. - By reading the newspaper, I found out the news.
,male. - Sleeping little, one feels bad.
The five irregulars
A small, familiar set of verbs build their gerund from an old long stem rather than the infinitive, the same stems that surface in the imperfetto and elsewhere ( and are listed alongside them because they are so common, though is in fact regular):
| infinitive | gerund |
|---|---|
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
i,. - By doing my homework, I learn a lot.
,. - By telling the truth, you feel better.
Learn these five and almost every gerund you meet from here is regular.
Object pronouns attach to the end
When a gerund takes an object pronoun, the pronoun glues onto the end of the gerund as one word, the same habit you already know from infinitives and informal commands:
,ho. - Watching him, I understood everything.
,ho. - While waiting for him, I read a book.
There is no separate rule to memorise here: it is the same attachment pattern covered fully in Italian object pronouns, just landing on a new verb form.
Job one: stare plus the gerund, the progressive
The gerund's best-known role is the second half of the Italian progressive, stare conjugated plus a gerund, used to stress that an action is happening right now:
. - I am talking (right now).
. - It was raining when I went out.
This particular use, and how it compares to the plain present or imperfect, is covered fully in Italian imperfetto. The rest of this page is about what the gerund does on its own, with no stare in sight.
Job two: replacing a whole clause
Used by itself, usually at the start of a sentence, the gerund stands in for a clause introduced by while, by, since or because, provided the subject of that hidden clause is the same person as the subject of the main verb:
,hol'. - By studying hard, I passed the exam.
per,ho. - Walking along the street, I saw a friend.
radio,i. - While listening to the radio, I do my homework.
In each case, English could have written a longer version with a conjunction, while I was walking along the street, I saw a friend, and Italian could too, but the gerund is shorter and extremely common in both speech and writing. The one condition to hold onto: the person walking and the person seeing are the same person. When they are different, Italian generally reaches for a full clause with a conjunction instead of the gerund.
The clause the gerund is standing in for can be almost any of English's short connecting words, and only context tells you which one is meant:
,. - By working more, you earn more. (means)
,. - Not having time, I did not go out. (reason)
,. - While walking, I think better. (time)
Read each one back with while, by and since in turn, and notice that more than one often fits reasonably well; Italian does not force you to pick a single logical relationship the way English sometimes does, which is part of why the gerund is such an efficient shortcut.
Job three: pur plus the gerund, a concession
Adding in front of the gerund turns the clause concessive, meaning even though or despite:
,ho. - Even though tired, I worked.
,ha. - Despite having little time, he finished the project.
does one small job here: without it, on its own would more naturally read as being tired (a reason), so is what flips the reading to even though tired (a concession, against expectation). It is worth comparing directly against Italian conjunctions, where does a similar job with a fully conjugated clause rather than a gerund; , and , say the same thing, and the choice between them is largely a matter of register and how compact you want the sentence to be.
Job four: the compound gerund, having done something
Just as Italian has a compound infinitive ( , covered in Italian perfect infinitive and past subjunctive), it has a compound, or perfect, gerund: or plus a past participle, meaning having done something, with the action clearly completed before the main clause:
,. - Having eaten, I went out.
,ha. - Having arrived late, she missed the train.
The choice between simple and compound gerund is about timing. , would suggest eating and leaving at the same moment, which does not make much sense; , makes clear the eating finished first. With -verbs the participle still agrees with the subject, exactly as it does in every other compound tense: for a woman, for a man.
What the gerund is not: a noun
English uses its -ing form for two entirely different jobs, the gerund covered on this page (while studying) and a noun (studying is hard, as the subject of a sentence). Italian keeps these apart, and the second job never falls to the gerundio. Where English reaches for an -ing noun, Italian uses the plain infinitive instead:
. - Swimming is good for your health.
è. - Smoking is dangerous.
Nuotando fa bene and Fumando è pericoloso are not Italian; the gerund cannot sit as the subject of a sentence the way an English -ing noun can. This is one of the most reliable tests for telling the two Italian constructions apart: if the English -ing word could be replaced by the act of, it is a noun and wants the Italian infinitive; if it could be replaced by while or by, it is the gerund this page has covered.
The same split shows up after another verb, not just as a lone subject: , I like swimming, uses the infinitive because is the thing being liked, a noun in effect, not a clause describing how or when something else happened.
Mistakes English speakers make
Reaching for a separate subject. English can write him having finished, I left, with two different people. Italian's gerund strongly prefers one shared subject; two different subjects in a gerund clause is possible in careful writing but is not the pattern to build first, and it is not tested at GCSE.
Adding -isc- to -ire verbs. Finiscendo for finendo. The -isc- insertion belongs to the present tense only; the gerund is always the bare stem plus -endo.
Confusing simple and compound gerund. Mangiando, sono uscito when the eating clearly happened first. If one action finished before the other, reach for or plus the participle.
Treating stare plus the gerund as the only use. Learners who only ever meet the progressive miss the far more common job of the bare gerund at the head of a sentence, replacing a whole clause.
Using the gerund as a subject. Nuotando fa bene, copying the English -ing noun straight across. Italian wants the infinitive for that job: .
Leaving the pronoun as a separate word. Lo guardando instead of . Object pronouns attach to the end of the gerund, exactly as they do on an infinitive.
What to practise
Build the two endings first, -ando and -endo, on ten verbs you already know, then say the five irregulars, , , , , , until they come without thinking. From there, practise turning an English while or by clause into a single gerund at the front of a sentence, the pattern GCSE reading passages use most. The Italian course drills the gerund alongside the progressive it also builds, and Italian perfect infinitive and past subjunctive covers the compound infinitive that sits right next to the compound gerund in the same part of the specification.