Gerund & Stare per

The Italian gerund ends in -ando for -are verbs and -endo for -ere and -ire verbs: parlare → parlando, leggere → leggendo, uscire → uscendo. A few verbs build it from an older stem: fare → facendo, dire → dicendo, bere → bevendo, tradurre → traducendo.

On its own, the gerund works like an adverb and its ending never changes. It tells you:

• how or by what means: Si impara parlando (You learn by speaking).
• when, often for two actions at the same time: Tornando a casa, ho incontrato Paolo (On my way home, I met Paolo).

The gerund normally has the same subject as the main verb.

Stare per + infinitive means to be about to: Il film sta per cominciare (The film is about to start). Only stare changes; the infinitive stays as it is. For the past, use the imperfect: stavo per uscire (I was about to go out).