I. The Gerund
The gerund in Italian (gerundio) is used to express an action that is in progress in the present or in the past. See the following examples for the English equivalents:| Sto lavorando → I am (in the process of) working. Stavo lavorando → I was (in the process of) working. |
As you can see from the above examples, to form the gerund, you add an ending to the stem of a verb. For -are verbs, it is -ando. For both -ere and -ire verbs, the stem is -endo. The gerund is then used with either the present or imperfect past of the verb stare.
Following is a table that shows the present and the past forms of the gerund with the verb dormire.