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The present participle - Easy Learning Grammar French

What is a present participle?
The present participle is a verb form ending in -ing which is used in English to form verb tenses, and which may be used as an adjective and a noun, for example, What are you doing?; the setting sun; Swimming is easy!

1 Using the present participle

  • Present participles are not as common in French as in English, because they are not used to form tenses. The main uses of the present participle in French are:
  • as a verb, on its own, corresponding to the English -ing form. It DOES NOT agree with the subject of the verb when it is used in this way.
Habitant près de Paris, je vais assez souvent en ville.Living close to Paris, I go into town quite often.
les voyageurs descendant à Périgueuxtravellers getting off at Périgueux
  • as a verb, after the preposition en. The present participle DOES NOT agree with the subject of the verb when it is used in this way. The subject of the two parts of the sentence is always the same. en can be translated in a number of different ways.
En attendant sa sœur, Richard s’est endormi.While waiting for his sister, Richard fell asleep.
Appelle-nous en arrivant chez toi.Call us when you get home.
En appuyant sur ce bouton, on peut imprimer ses documents.By pressing this button, you can print your documents.
Il s’est blessé en essayant de sauver un chat.He hurt himself trying to rescue a cat.
  • For more information on the preposition en, see à, de and en.
  • as an adjective, like in English. As with all adjectives in French, the ending DOES change in the feminine and plural forms.
le soleil couchantthe setting sun
l’année suivantethe following year
Ces enfants sont énervants.Those children are annoying.
des chaises pliantesfolding chairs
TipThe French present participle is NEVER used to translate English verb forms like I was walking, we are leaving.
  • For more information on the Imperfect tense and the Present tense, see The imperfect tense and The present tense.
  • English verbs describing movement that are followed by an adverb such as out or down, or a preposition such as across or up are often translated by a verb + en + present participle.
Il est sorti en courant.He ran out. (literally: He came out running.)
J’ai traversé la rue en boîtant.I limped across the street. (literally: I crossed the street limping.)

2 Forming the present participle

  • To form the present participle of regular -er, -ir and -re verbs, you use the nous form of the present tense and replace the -ons ending with -ant.
nous form of present tenseTake off -onsAdd -ant
donnonsdonn-donnant
lançonslanç-lançant
mangeonsmange-mangeant
finissonsfiniss-finissant
partonspart-partant
attendonsattend-attendant
descendonsdescend-descendant

3 Irregular verbs

  • Three verbs have an irregular present participle:
avoir (meaning to have)→ ayant
être (meaning to be)→ étant
savoir (meaning to know)→ sachant
Key points
  • Present participles are never used to form tenses in French, but they can be used as verbs, either on their own or after en.
  • They can also be used as adjectives, in which case they agree with the noun they describe.
  • They are formed by taking the nous form of the present tense and replacing the -ons ending with -ant. The exceptions are avoir, être and savoir.
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Table of contents
  • Nouns
    • Using nouns
    • Gender
    • Forming plurals
  • Articles
    • Different types of article
    • The definite article: le, la, l’ and les
    • The indefinite article: un, une and des
    • The partitive article: du, de la, de l’ and des
  • Adjectives
    • Using adjectives
    • Making adjectives agree
    • Word order with adjectives
    • Comparatives and superlatives of adjectives
    • Demonstrative adjectives: ce, cette, cet and ces
    • Possessive adjectives
    • Indefinite adjectives
  • Pronouns
    • Personal pronouns: subject
    • Personal pronouns: direct object
    • Personal pronouns: indirect object
    • Emphatic pronouns
    • Possessive pronouns
    • en and y
    • Using different types of pronoun together
    • Indefinite pronouns
    • Relative pronouns: qui, que, lequel, auquel, duquel
    • Demonstrative pronouns: ce, cela/ça, ceci, celui
  • Verbs
    • The three conjugations
    • The present tense
    • The present tense: regular -er (first conjugation) verbs
    • The present tense: regular -ir (second conjugation) verbs
    • The present tense: regular -re (third conjugation) verbs
    • The present tense: spelling changes in -er verbs
    • The present tense: irregular verbs
    • The imperative
    • Reflexive verbs
    • The imperfect tense
    • The future tense
    • The conditional
    • The perfect tense
    • The pluperfect tense
    • The passive
    • The present participle
    • Impersonal verbs
    • The subjunctive
    • Verbs followed by an infinitive
    • Other uses of the infinitive
  • Negatives
  • Questions
    • How to ask a question in French
    • Question words
  • Adverbs
    • How adverbs are used
    • How adverbs are formed
    • Comparatives and superlatives of adverbs
    • Some common adverbs
    • Word order with adverbs
  • Prepositions
    • Using prepositions
    • à, de and en
    • Some other common prepositions
    • Prepositions consisting of more than one word
    • Prepositions after verbs
    • Prepositions after adjectives
  • Conjunctions
    • et, mais, ou, parce que and si
    • Some other common conjunctions
    • The conjunction que
  • Numbers
  • Time and Date
  • Some common difficulties
  • The Alphabet
नवीनतम शब्द प्रस्तुतियाँ
hidden disability फ़रवरी १५, २०१९
shotgun (beer) फ़रवरी १५, २०१९
BTW फ़रवरी १५, २०१९
lewk फ़रवरी १३, २०१९
put oneself down फ़रवरी १२, २०१९
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