Learn Italian: Pur facendo fatica, ha finito il lavoro. - Although struggling, he finished the job.

Pur facendo fatica, ha finito il lavoro.

Although struggling, he finished the job.

Breakdown of Pur facendo fatica, ha finito il lavoro.

to struggle, to find it hard

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Questions & Answers about Pur facendo fatica, ha finito il lavoro.

What exactly does pur add to the gerund facendo in this sentence?

Adding pur before a present gerund creates an implicit concessive clause. It translates as although or even though. Without pur, the gerund facendo would simply mean struggling or by struggling, but adding pur creates the contrast of despite struggling.

Could I use this pur facendo structure if one person was struggling but a different person finished the job?

No. You can only use this implicit gerund structure when both parts of the sentence share the exact same subject. Here, the same person is both struggling and finishing the job. If the subjects were different, you would have to use a full expression like anche se.

Why is fare fatica translated as struggling?

The phrase fare fatica literally translates as to make fatigue. It is the most common idiomatic way in Italian to express struggling, having a hard time, or finding something difficult to do.

Why use the present gerund facendo if the job was finished in the past (ha finito)?

In Italian, a present gerund does not mean the action has to be happening right now in the present. It simply shows that the action happens at the exact same time as the main verb. Since the struggling happened simultaneously with finishing the job, we use the present gerund facendo alongside the past tense ha finito.