Breakdown of Molto cemento sta venendo usato per la nuova carreggiata.
nuovo
new
molto
a lot of / much
per
for / in order to / because of
stare
to stay, to feel, to be
Questions & Answers about Molto cemento sta venendo usato per la nuova carreggiata.
I want to translate 'is being used' literally as sta essendo usato. Why does this sentence use venendo instead?
In Italian, you cannot use the gerund of essere (essendo) to form the progressive passive. To express that something is being done right now, you must use stare plus the gerund of venire (venendo) plus the past participle. Therefore, 'is being used' translates correctly to sta venendo usato.
Could I just say viene usato instead of sta venendo usato? What is the difference?
Yes, you could say viene usato, but it changes the nuance. Viene usato is the standard passive ('is used') and often describes a general fact or a repeated routine. Sta venendo usato explicitly emphasizes that the action is currently in progress, exactly matching the 'is being used' structure in English.
Since the sentence uses the progressive passive, does the past participle usato still change to agree with the subject?
Yes. In any passive voice construction, the past participle must agree with the subject in gender and number. Because cemento is masculine singular, it takes usato. If the subject were feminine, like la pietra (the stone), it would become sta venendo usata.
Why use the word carreggiata here instead of just strada?