The periphrasis stare per + infinitive is the standard Italian way to say "to be about to" or "on the verge of." It anchors an action right at the edge of happening — close enough that you can almost see it tip over into reality. Sto per uscire is not "I will go out" or "I'm going out" — it's "I'm about to go out, in the next minute or two."
This construction is one of three closely related stare patterns that English speakers tend to confuse. Stare facendo (gerundio) describes what is happening right now; stare per fare describes what is just about to happen; the futuro semplice describes what will happen at some less-immediate future point. Getting the three apart unlocks a layer of precision that English handles only with adverbs.
How to form it
The construction has three parts, in this order: a conjugated form of stare, the preposition per, and the infinitive of the verb describing the action that is about to take place.
| Subject | stare | per | infinitive |
|---|---|---|---|
| io | sto | per | uscire |
| tu | stai | per | partire |
| lui / lei | sta | per | arrivare |
| noi | stiamo | per | cominciare |
| voi | state | per | finire |
| loro | stanno | per | chiudere |
Sto per uscire, ti chiamo dopo.
I'm about to go out, I'll call you later.
Il treno sta per partire.
The train is about to leave.
Stiamo per cominciare la riunione.
We're about to start the meeting.
State per perdere l'autobus se non vi sbrigate.
You guys are about to miss the bus if you don't hurry.
The two tenses where it lives: presente and imperfetto
In practice, stare per + infinitive appears almost exclusively in the presente (about to do something now) and the imperfetto (was about to do something at a past moment). Compound tenses like sono stato per uscire are theoretically possible but vanishingly rare — the construction wants to describe a single brink-of-happening moment, not a completed event.
Presente: about to happen now
Il film sta per iniziare.
The film is about to start.
Sto per addormentarmi, parliamo domani.
I'm about to fall asleep, let's talk tomorrow.
Sbrigati, sta per piovere!
Hurry up, it's about to rain!
Imperfetto: was about to happen (and may or may not have)
The imperfetto stavo per fare is enormously useful in narrative — it describes a verge-of moment in the past, often the setup for an interruption.
Stavo per uscire quando è suonato il campanello.
I was about to go out when the doorbell rang.
Stava per piovere, così abbiamo cambiato programma.
It was about to rain, so we changed plans.
Stavamo per ordinare quando è arrivato Marco.
We were about to order when Marco arrived.
How it differs from stare + gerundio
This is the contrast English speakers most often blur. Stare facendo describes an action happening right now; stare per fare describes an action just about to happen.
| Construction | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| sto facendo | I am doing (ongoing, right now) | Sto cucinando. |
| sto per fare | I am about to do (next moment) | Sto per cucinare. |
| faccio | I do / I am doing (default) | Cucino. |
Sto mangiando, ti richiamo.
I'm eating right now, I'll call you back.
Sto per mangiare, ti richiamo dopo.
I'm about to eat, I'll call you back after.
The first describes an action in progress; the second describes an action that has not yet started but is imminent. Mixing them up is a clean tell of a non-native speaker.
How it differs from the futuro semplice
The futuro semplice (partirò, mangeremo, finiranno) refers to events somewhere in the broader future — minutes from now, hours, days, years. Stare per narrows the window to the very next moment.
Sto per partire.
I'm about to leave. (in the next few minutes)
Partirò domani mattina.
I'll leave tomorrow morning. (futuro — broader future)
Parto fra due ore.
I'm leaving in two hours. (presente as near future)
In casual speech, Italian also uses the presente + a time anchor to express plans (esco fra dieci minuti = "I'll go out in ten minutes"). The presente works when there is a clear time anchor; stare per is what you reach for when you want to stress that the action is right on the brink, with no buffer.
Negative form: with a flavor of refusal
The negative non sto per... literally means "I'm not about to..." — but in context it often carries a flavor of refusal or rejection, exactly like the English idiom "I'm not about to do that."
Non sto per uscire con questo tempo.
I'm not about to go out in this weather. (refusal)
Non sto per arrendermi adesso.
I'm not about to give up now.
Non stavamo per pagare il doppio.
We weren't about to pay double. (we refused)
In purely literal contexts ("I'm not on the verge of doing X"), the negative is grammatical but rare — the periphrasis is naturally affirmative because its job is to point at an imminent event. Negation pushes it toward refusal almost by default.
A note on what stare per is NOT
Stare per is one specific use of the preposition per with stare. It is NOT related to other expressions where stare combines with per:
- Sto per il sì ("I'm in favor of yes") — here per means "in favor of," not "about to."
- Sto per ore davanti al computer ("I sit for hours at the computer") — here per means "for [a duration]."
The construction this page describes always has the structure stare + per + INFINITIVE. If what follows per is a noun or a duration, you're looking at a different per, not the imminent-future periphrasis.
Words that pair naturally with stare per
A few intensifiers and softeners commonly pair with the construction:
Sto proprio per uscire.
I'm really just about to go out.
Sta quasi per finire il film.
The film is almost about to end.
Stavamo già per andarcene.
We were already about to leave.
The adverb proprio ("really, just") is especially common — it underlines the imminence even further. Quasi ("almost") and già ("already") also fit naturally because they reinforce the on-the-edge framing.
Common mistakes
❌ Sto per andando a casa.
Incorrect — stare per is followed by the infinitive, not the gerundio. The gerundio belongs with stare alone.
✅ Sto per andare a casa.
Correct — stare per + infinitive.
❌ Sto a uscire.
Incorrect — the preposition is per, not a. (Stare a + infinitive is a different, marginal construction.)
✅ Sto per uscire.
Correct — the standard periphrasis is stare per + infinitive.
❌ Sto per partire domani mattina.
Misleading — stare per implies the very next moment, not tomorrow morning.
✅ Parto domani mattina.
Correct — for plans hours away, use the presente with a time anchor.
✅ Partirò domani mattina.
Also correct — futuro semplice for the broader future.
❌ Stavo per uscito quando è suonato il campanello.
Incorrect — the construction takes the infinitive, never a past participle.
✅ Stavo per uscire quando è suonato il campanello.
Correct — imperfetto of stare + per + infinitive.
❌ Sono stato per uscire ieri sera.
Awkward — the compound tense of stare per is rare and marked. Use the imperfetto instead.
✅ Stavo per uscire ieri sera, poi ho cambiato idea.
Natural — the imperfetto is the natural past tense for this construction.
Key takeaways
Stare per + infinitive is the Italian way to put an action on the very edge of happening — the next minute, the next moment, the next breath. Three points to lock in:
Form: conjugated stare + per
- infinitive. Don't substitute a for per and don't follow with a gerundio or past participle.
Tense: live in the presente and the imperfetto. Compound forms exist on paper but are vanishingly rare.
Distinguish three constructions:
- Sto facendo = ongoing right now
- Sto per fare = on the verge of happening
- Faccio / farò = present default / broader future
This is one of the clean wins in Italian grammar for English speakers — "to be about to" maps directly onto stare per, with no semantic adjustment required. The only work is keeping it apart from its two close neighbors. Once those three lanes are clear in your head, you can describe the moment-by-moment texture of Italian time as precisely as a native speaker does.
For the related ongoing-action construction, see stare + gerundio. For why andare a + infinitive is NOT the equivalent of English "going to," see andare a + infinitive.
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- Imperfetto for Ongoing Past ActionsA2 — How the Italian imperfetto handles past actions in progress — including the classic 'I was doing X when Y happened' pattern that pairs imperfetto with passato prossimo, plus the explicit progressive 'stavo + gerundio'.