Stacked Periphrases: stare per dover andare, cominciare a poter parlare | Italian Grammar

Italian has a rich inventory of verbal periphrases — constructions where one verb inflects and the next stays in the infinitive or gerundio — conveying aspect (stare per, cominciare a, finire di) or modality (dovere, potere, volere + infinitive). What surprises learners is that these periphrases stack. Two, three, sometimes four chained periphrases form sentences that are perfectly natural to native speakers but that English-speaking learners systematically under-produce: sta per dover andare, non posso più cominciare a leggere, avrei dovuto smettere di fumare, sto cominciando a poter parlare italiano.

This page maps how the stacking works: which verbs combine, in what order, with what prepositions, where clitics land, and which combinations are idiomatic versus overstacked.

The basic insight: every periphrasis governs the next

Each periphrasis in the chain governs the next infinitive (or gerundio). The construction is recursive — the output of one periphrasis becomes the input of the next.

Comincio a leggere il libro.

I'm starting to read the book. (cominciare a + infinitive)

Comincio a dover leggere molto per il lavoro.

I'm starting to have to read a lot for work. (cominciare a + dover + leggere)

Sto cominciando a dover leggere molto per il lavoro.

I'm starting to have to read a lot for work, lately. (stare + gerundio wraps around the chain)

The stacking is not exotic — it is the everyday way Italian conveys nuanced temporal-modal information.

The major periphrasis families

To stack confidently you need to know what is in the toolbox. Italian's main periphrases divide into three families.

1. Aspect periphrases (the verb encodes a phase of the action)

Periphrasis	Meaning	Example
stare + gerundio	action in progress now	sto leggendo (I'm reading)
stare per + infinitive	action about to happen	sto per uscire (I'm about to leave)
cominciare/iniziare a + infinitive	inception	comincio a capire (I'm starting to understand)
finire di + infinitive	completion of an action in progress	finisco di mangiare (I'm finishing eating)
smettere di + infinitive	cessation	smetto di fumare (I'm quitting smoking)
continuare a + infinitive	continuation	continua a piovere (it keeps raining)
tornare a + infinitive	resumption ("again")	torno a vederlo (I see him again)
essere sul punto di + infinitive	imminence (formal alternative to stare per)	è sul punto di partire (he's on the verge of leaving)
andare + gerundio	gradual / extended action (formal/literary)	va dicendo che... (he keeps saying that...)
venire + gerundio	progressive accumulation (formal)	viene aumentando (it has been increasing)

Periphrasis	Meaning	Example
dovere + infinitive	obligation, necessity, expectation	devo studiare (I must study)
potere + infinitive	permission, ability, possibility	posso entrare (I can come in)
volere + infinitive	desire, will	voglio uscire (I want to go out)
sapere + infinitive	learned ability ("know how to")	so nuotare (I know how to swim)

3. Causative and perceptive periphrases

Periphrasis	Meaning	Example
fare + infinitive	cause/let someone do something	faccio aspettare i clienti (I make the clients wait)
lasciare + infinitive	let/allow	lascio entrare il cane (I let the dog in)
vedere/sentire + infinitive	direct perception	vedo arrivare il treno (I see the train arriving)

The stacking phenomenon is most productive within and across families 1 and 2 — aspect over modal, modal over aspect, aspect over aspect. Family 3 (causatives and perception) generally sits at the outer layer of any stack and accepts the others nested inside it.

Common two-periphrasis stacks

Two-periphrasis stacks are everywhere in spoken and written Italian. Each combination has a typical word order and a typical reading.

Sto per dover prendere una decisione difficile.

I'm about to have to make a tough decision.

Comincio a poter parlare l'italiano senza pensare alla grammatica.

I'm starting to be able to speak Italian without thinking about grammar.

Sta per dover affrontare un periodo difficile.

He's about to have to face a tough period.

Aspect periphrasis inflects; modal stays in the infinitive; lexical verb follows. The aspect verb provides the temporal anchor, the modal contributes obligation/possibility/desire, the lexical verb names the action.

Devo cominciare a studiare per gli esami.

I have to start studying for the exams.

Posso finalmente smettere di lavorare a turni.

I can finally stop working shifts.

Vorrei poter continuare a vivere così per sempre.

I'd like to be able to keep living like this forever.

The modal inflects, the aspect verb stays in the infinitive, the lexical verb follows.

Two modals stack when the speaker wants layered modality — an obligation about a possibility, a desire to be able.

Voglio poter scegliere la mia strada.

I want to be able to choose my own path.

Dovresti poter capire da solo.

You should be able to figure it out on your own.

Bisogna poter dire la verità senza paura.

One needs to be able to speak the truth without fear.

The common pairs are voler poter, dover poter, and (rarer) poter dover.

Aspect over aspect: sta cominciando a..., sta per smettere di...

Sto per cominciare a leggere il romanzo che mi hai consigliato.

I'm about to start reading the novel you recommended.

Sta cominciando a piovere proprio ora.

It's starting to rain right now.

Continuo a dover ripetere le stesse cose.

I keep having to repeat the same things.

The aspect-over-aspect stack is the most frequent combination. Stare + gerundio especially loves to wrap around inner periphrases — sta cominciando a, sta finendo di, sta per smettere di.

Three-periphrasis stacks

Three-deep stacks are common in real Italian — typically aspect + modal + lexical with a temporal anchor.

Sto cominciando a poter parlare italiano in modo fluente.

I'm starting to be able to speak Italian fluently.

Sto per dover smettere di fumare.

I'm about to have to quit smoking.

Comincio a non poter più sopportare questo rumore.

I'm starting to no longer be able to put up with this noise.

Avrei voluto poter continuare a studiare in Italia.

I would have liked to be able to keep studying in Italy. (four-deep with modal-perfect at the head)

The inflected verb (leftmost) carries tense and person; everything else stays in the infinitive (or gerundio after stare). The stacking order corresponds to semantic scope: outer layers modify inner layers.

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Read stacks from left to right. Each verb governs the next, just as each preposition or conjunction in a chain governs what follows it. Sto per dover smettere di fumare parses as sto per [dover [smettere di [fumare]]] — onion layers of aspect, modal, aspect, lexical.

The prepositions between periphrases

Each periphrasis specifies its own preposition (or none) before the next infinitive:

Periphrasis	Preposition
stare per + infinitive	per
cominciare/iniziare a, continuare a, tornare a + infinitive	a
finire di, smettere di, essere sul punto di + infinitive	di
dovere, potere, volere, sapere + infinitive	(bare infinitive)
fare, lasciare, vedere, sentire + infinitive	(bare infinitive)

When you stack, each periphrasis's preposition lands directly before the next infinitive. Sto per dover cominciare a leggere: sto per dover + bare infinitive cominciare + a leggere.

Sto per dover cominciare a fare gli straordinari.

I'm about to have to start doing overtime.

Devo smettere di dover lavorare nel weekend.

I have to stop having to work on weekends.

The prepositions are mandatory — cominciare a never drops the a, stare per never drops the per. Forgetting them is a common error.

The progressive in stacks: stare + gerundio of an aspect verb

The progressive periphrasis stare + gerundio loves to wrap around aspect periphrases.

Sto cominciando a capire.

I'm starting to understand.

Sta finendo di scrivere il libro.

He's finishing writing the book.

Sta smettendo di piovere.

The rain is stopping. (the rain is in its terminating phase)

This is one of the most natural Italian patterns — and one English speakers often miss. Sta smettendo di piovere is unmarked, idiomatic Italian; English would usually say "the rain is stopping" with a single verb.

When a modal is in a compound tense, the auxiliary harmonizes with the deepest lexical verb in the chain (see Modal Auxiliary Selection).

Avrei dovuto cominciare a studiare prima.

I should have started studying earlier. (avere because *cominciare* takes avere)

Sarei dovuto andare a vedere il film.

I should have gone to see the film. (essere because *andare* takes essere)

Avrei voluto poter rimanere ancora un giorno.

I would have liked to be able to stay one more day.

Avrei dovuto cominciare → avere because cominciare takes avere; sarei dovuto andare → essere because andare takes essere.

Negation in stacks

Negation in stacks usually attaches to the inflected verb at the head of the chain. But you can also negate inside the chain to negate a specific layer.

Non sto cominciando a capire.

I'm not starting to understand. (negation of the whole stack)

Sto cominciando a non capire più nulla.

I'm starting to no longer understand anything. (negation inside — what's starting is the no-longer-understanding)

Non posso più cominciare a fumare adesso.

I can no longer start smoking now.

These are not interchangeable. Italian lets you place the negation precisely.

Clitic placement in stacks

Clitics have two natural landing spots: at the head of the chain (proclitic to the inflected verb) or at the deepest infinitive (enclitic). Intermediate spots are usually wrong.

Te lo sto per dover dire.

I'm about to have to tell you about it. (clitic *te lo* climbed to the head)

Sto per dovertelo dire.

I'm about to have to tell you about it. (clitic attached to the deepest infinitive)

Lo devo cominciare a leggere.

I have to start reading it. (climbed)

Devo cominciare a leggerlo.

I have to start reading it. (attached to deepest infinitive)

For the full theory of clitic climbing in complex sentences, see Pronouns in Complex Sentences.

When stacking goes too far

Native speakers stack two or three periphrases freely; four-periphrasis stacks are possible but feel literary or self-consciously elaborate. Five-periphrasis stacks are essentially never produced spontaneously.

Sto per dover cominciare a poter parlare in pubblico.

I'm about to have to start being able to speak in public. (four-periphrasis stack — grammatical but heavy)

Avrei dovuto smettere di voler continuare a fingere.

I should have stopped wanting to keep pretending. (four-periphrasis stack with modal-perfect at the head — literary register)

When stacks get too deep, native speakers reformulate with a finite clause: avrei dovuto smettere di fingere — non avevo più voglia di continuare breaks the four-periphrasis stack into two simpler clauses connected by punctuation. Good Italian writing balances the elegance of stacking with the readability of finite clauses.

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The sweet spot for stacking is two or three periphrases. Four is doable in writing; five is overstacked and starts to sound like a grammar exercise. If you find yourself building a five-deep chain, ask whether two clauses would communicate the same thing more clearly.

Comparison with English

English under-stacks compared to Italian. English modals are defective and cannot stack (might can, should must are ungrammatical), while Italian's modals stack freely (dover poter, voler dover). And English has fewer aspect periphrases — for inception English typically uses start to and rarely chains it with another aspect or modal.

A native Italian says sta per dover smettere di lavorare in one breath; an English-speaking learner often produces he's going to have to stop working — accurate, but with three full English verbs where Italian uses one inflected verb and three infinitives. Italian's compactness comes from the periphrastic stack.

Common mistakes

❌ Sto andare al lavoro.

Wrong — *stare per* requires *per* before the next infinitive; without *per*, you've collapsed the imminence periphrasis.

✅ Sto per andare al lavoro.

Right — *stare per* + infinitive needs the *per*. (Note: *dovere* in stacks is usually truncated to *dover* — *sto per dover andare* — but the unTruncated *sto per dovere andare* is also acceptable, just heavier.)

❌ Comincio dovere lavorare.

Wrong — *cominciare* requires *a* before the infinitive.

✅ Comincio a dover lavorare.

Right — *cominciare a* + *dover* + *lavorare*.

❌ Sto cominciando dovere studiare.

Wrong — *cominciare* takes *a* before its infinitive complement.

✅ Sto cominciando a dover studiare.

Right — preposition *a* between *cominciare* and *dover*.

❌ Voglio essere capace di poter fare.

Overstacked — *essere capace di* and *poter fare* duplicate the modal.

✅ Voglio poter fare.

Right — single modal periphrasis.

❌ Sto per cominciare a stare leggendo.

Wrong — *stare* + gerundio cannot be embedded under another periphrasis like this.

✅ Sto per cominciare a leggere.

Right — drop the redundant inner *stare*.

❌ Avrei dovuto cominciato a studiare.

Wrong — modals govern infinitives, not participles.

✅ Avrei dovuto cominciare a studiare.

Right — *avrei dovuto* + infinitive *cominciare* + *a studiare*.

Key takeaways

Stacked periphrases are how Italian builds nuanced temporal-modal sentences without adding clauses, and four points capture them:

Each periphrasis governs the next. The inflected verb at the head of the chain carries tense and person; everything else stays in the infinitive (or gerundio after stare). Read stacks from left to right as nested layers.
Prepositions are mandatory and verb-specific. Cominciare a, finire di, smettere di, stare per, continuare a, tornare a — the preposition is part of the periphrasis. Modals (dovere, potere, volere, sapere) and causatives (fare, lasciare) take a bare infinitive with no preposition.
Two- and three-deep stacks are everyday Italian; four-deep is doable but heavy; five-deep is overstacked. Native speakers reformulate when a stack gets too long.
Auxiliary harmonization cascades. When the head of the chain is a modal in a compound tense, the auxiliary (avere / essere) is set by the deepest lexical verb in the stack: sarei dovuto andare a vedere, avrei dovuto cominciare a studiare.

For the individual periphrases, see Verbal Periphrases: Complete Reference. For the modal verbs themselves, see Modal Verbs Overview. For stare per + infinitive, see Stare per + Infinitive. For clitic placement across stacks, see Pronouns in Complex Sentences. For modal+tense interactions, see Modal-Tense Matrix.

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