The Present Participle as an Adjective
In English, words ending in "-ing" are often used to describe ongoing qualities, like an appealing product or an engaging campaign. In Italian, these are called present participles (participio presente). You will use them constantly in the world of marketing and advertising!
While they are derived from verbs, in modern Italian they are almost exclusively used as regular adjectives or nouns.
To form the present participle, drop the infinitive ending and add:
- -ante for -are verbs (e.g., mancare → mancante)
- -ente for -ere and -ire verbs (e.g., emergere → emergente)
Because they end in -e, these adjectives behave just like any other Italian adjective ending in -e: they use the exact same form for masculine and feminine nouns, and they change to -i in the plural.
| We need an attractive advertisement for this product. | Abbiamo bisogno di una pubblicità attraente per questo prodotto. |
| They used to promote the product with an engaging advertisement. | Promuovevano il prodotto con una pubblicità coinvolgente. |
| If the customer is demanding, you must be more convincing! | Se il cliente è esigente, devi essere più convincente! |
The Present Participle as a Noun
Present participles are also frequently used as nouns to describe a person or thing performing an action.
For example, the verb rappresentare (to represent) becomes il rappresentante (the representative), and concorrere (to compete) becomes il concorrente (the competitor).
Just like when they are used as adjectives, these nouns end in -e in the singular and change to -i in the plural.
| The competitor wrote a very engaging text. | Il concorrente ha scritto un testo molto coinvolgente. |
| The representative didn't seem convincing enough to sell the item. | Il rappresentante non sembrava abbastanza convincente per vendere l'articolo. |
| Do the representatives often speak with the competitors? | I rappresentanti parlano spesso con i concorrenti? |
