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
venire
to come
usare
to use
la carreggiata
the roadway
il cemento
the concrete
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?
Strada is the general word for 'street' or 'road'. Carreggiata is a more precise term referring specifically to the 'roadway' or 'carriageway'—the paved section of the road meant for vehicles, explicitly excluding sidewalks or bike lanes.
Why is it Molto cemento and not Molto di cemento?
Here, molto acts as an adjective modifying the noun cemento, so it sits directly in front of the noun and agrees with it in gender and number. You never use the preposition di after molto when it directly modifies a noun. You could, however, use the phrase un sacco di cemento to mean the exact same thing.
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