Breakdown of Pur piovendo, la carreggiata sta venendo asfaltata.
stare
to stay, to feel, to be
venire
to come
piovere
to rain
pur
even while / despite
asfaltare
to pave
la carreggiata
the roadway
Questions & Answers about Pur piovendo, la carreggiata sta venendo asfaltata.
How is the passive progressive formed in sta venendo asfaltata?
Why do we use venendo here instead of essendo to mean 'being'?
In Italian, the standard passive voice is formed with essere, but when making a continuous or progressive passive (an action that 'is being done' right now), Italian strictly uses venire as the helper verb. Saying sta essendo sounds very unnatural, so you must always use sta venendo.
What does adding Pur before the gerund piovendo do?
Placing pur (or pure) directly in front of a verb in the gerund form creates a concessive meaning, translating to 'even though' or 'despite'. Therefore, pur piovendo translates smoothly to 'even though it is raining'.
Normally, a gerund clause must share the same subject as the main clause. Why is it okay that piovendo and la carreggiata have different subjects?
You remembered the rule correctly! However, weather verbs like piovere (to rain) are impersonal, meaning they do not take a subject at all. Impersonal verbs are a standard exception to the shared-subject rule for gerunds, making this sentence perfectly grammatical.
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