Gerundio with andare, venire, stare (Extended Aspects)

You already know stare + gerundio — the everyday Italian progressive (sto mangiando = "I'm eating right now"). What most learners don't realize is that andare and venire also combine with the gerundio, producing two further aspectual constructions that express gradual change and progressive development. These are the formal, literary cousins of stare + gerundio, and reading Italian newspapers or novels without recognizing them leaves you missing a layer of meaning.

This page covers the three motion-verb-plus-gerundio periphrases. Stare is the colloquial workhorse; andare and venire belong to careful, written, or somewhat literary Italian.

Andare + gerundio: gradual change

Andare + gerundio describes a process that is unfolding gradually over time, often with a sense of steady progression or accumulation. The English equivalent is usually gradually, progressively, increasingly + the verb, or keeps + -ing.

The verb at the heart of these sentences isn't really andare in its motion sense — it's andare as an aspect marker, meaning "to be in the process of, gradually." Italians don't picture the weather literally going anywhere; the construction has been grammaticalized into a pure expression of slow, ongoing change.

Venire + gerundio: process from past to present

Venire + gerundio describes a process whose progression has been leading up to the present moment. The emphasis is on the trajectory from past to now — the present state is the result of a slow accumulation. English typically renders this with has been + -ing or has gradually + past participle.

The contrast with andare + gerundio is subtle but real:

• Andare + gerundio focuses on the process itself, looking forward (where it's heading).
• Venire + gerundio focuses on the path traveled, looking backward (where it came from).

In practice they often overlap, and the difference can be hard to feel even for advanced learners. A useful approximation: andare = is progressively becoming, venire = has progressively become.

The three constructions side by side

These three sentences don't mean the same thing. Italian distinguishes the three perspectives systematically — and once you start hearing the difference, you'll hear it everywhere.

Where you'll meet these constructions

You will encounter andare + gerundio and venire + gerundio mostly in:

• Newspaper editorials and economic reporting — i tassi vanno aumentando, l'inflazione va crescendo, il consenso viene calando.
• Political and academic writing — la teoria va sviluppandosi, il dibattito viene articolandosi.
• Literary prose — la luce andava svanendo, i ricordi venivano affiorando.
• Careful, somewhat formal speech — a TV commentator, a lecturer, an op-ed writer speaking publicly.

You will rarely if ever hear them in casual conversation. A friend won't tell you il mio umore va migliorando — they'll just say mi sento meglio. If you produce andare + gerundio in everyday speech, it will sound oddly formal, like someone speaking in headlines. Recognition is the priority for learners; production should be reserved for writing.

Restrictions and quirks

Andare + gerundio is most natural with verbs of change of state or gradual development: migliorare, peggiorare, crescere, diminuire, aumentare, salire, calare, cambiare, svanire, svilupparsi. It sounds odd with momentary or one-off actions: va aprendo la porta is awkward — use sta aprendo or simply apre.

Venire + gerundio carries an even narrower range — it almost always pairs with verbs of accumulation, growth, or slow emergence: crescere, maturare, formarsi, articolarsi, definirsi, sviluppare. It will sound strange with neutral or short-term actions.

Stare + gerundio: the only fully colloquial member

Of the three, stare + gerundio is the only one you'll hear in everyday speech. It's the standard Italian progressive: sto facendo, stai mangiando, sta dormendo, stiamo lavorando. For its full treatment, see stare + gerundio: the present progressive.

The key thing to keep in mind is that even stare + gerundio is not the default for ongoing actions in Italian — the simple presente covers most "is V-ing" meanings, and stare + gerundio is reserved for cases where you want to emphasize the immediate, this-very-moment quality. Andare and venire + gerundio push in the opposite direction: away from the immediate moment, toward the long arc.

Common mistakes

Key takeaways

Three motion-verb periphrases share the gerundio, and they distribute the aspectual space neatly:

1. Stare + gerundio — the only colloquial one. Used for "right at this moment" actions. Sto leggendo, sta dormendo.

2. Andare + gerundio — formal, expresses gradual ongoing change. The trend, the unfolding. Il tempo va migliorando, i prezzi vanno salendo.

3. Venire + gerundio — formal, expresses slow accumulation from past to present. The trajectory leading to now. Questa idea viene maturando da anni.

For everyday Italian, master stare + gerundio and recognize the other two when you read them. For elevated writing, andare and venire + gerundio give your prose a precision that English struggles to match in a single construction.

For the formation of the gerundio itself, see gerundio overview. For how clitic pronouns interact with all three constructions (sto parlandogli vs gli sto parlando vs vado dicendoti vs ti vado dicendo), see gerundio: clitic attachment.