Vedendo

Vedendo is the present participle (gerundio presente) of the Italian verb vedere, meaning “seeing.” It derives from Latin vidēre and the present participle vidēns, and is used to express an action occurring simultaneously with or as a circumstance related to the main verb in a sentence.

In Italian, vedendo functions as a gerund that can introduce an adverbial clause. It often denotes time, manner, or reason, and its subject is typically the same as that of the main clause. For example: Vedendo la neve, capimmo che era arrivato l’inverno (Seeing the snow, we understood that winter had arrived). Another example: Vedendo il fuoco, capì che era in pericolo (Seeing the fire, he understood he was in danger). When a different subject is intended, the sentence can become ambiguous, and it is usually better to use a different construction, such as avendo visto or a finite clause with mentre or che.

A closely related form is the gerundio passato, avendo visto, which expresses an action completed prior to the action of the main verb (having seen). For instance: Avendo visto tutto, decisero di tornare (Having seen everything, they decided to return).

Usage notes: the gerund can be considered formal or literary in some contexts and may be avoided in everyday speech in favor of explicit conjunctions like mentre, poiché, o perché. It is common in narrative prose, journalism, and descriptive writing to concisely connect related actions without subordinating with a full clause.

See also: vedere, gerundio, avendo visto.