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French Conjugation

Introduction to the Present Participle Formula

Creating verbal modifiers to express simultaneous actions or the means by which something is achieved.

Level A2 Category Conjugation

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Lesson Summary

Creating verbal modifiers to express simultaneous actions or the means by which something is achieved.

Conjugation

The ‑ant Form

The stem used to form the present participle is identical to that of the imparfait: it is obtained from the first‑person plural (nous) of the present indicative by removing the ending -ons. To this stem the invariable suffix -ant is added. The present participle does not agree in gender or number. For the derivation of the imparfait stem, see imparfait stem formations.

Forming the Present Participle

Infinitive	Nous Form	Stem	Present Participle
parler	nous parlons	parl-	parlant
finir	nous finissons	finiss-	finissant
vendre	nous vendons	vend-	vendant
prendre	nous prenons	pren-	prenant
faire	nous faisons	fais-	faisant

The Gerund (en + present participle)

The gerund is formed by placing the preposition en before the present participle. It expresses that two actions occur simultaneously or that one action is the means by which another is accomplished.

- Il écoute de la musique en travaillant. (He listens to music while working.)
- J’ai appris le français en regardant des films. (I learned French by watching films.)

The preposition en used here is distinct from the adverbial pronoun en (see adverbial pronoun en). It is always placed directly before the present participle and never varies.

Uses of the Gerund

The gerund may express:
- Simultaneity: Je chante en prenant ma douche.
- Manner or means: On apprend en faisant des exercices.

To emphasise that two actions are performed concurrently, the expression tout en + present participle can be used: Il lit tout en mangeant.

Examples

Je me suis endormi en écoutant de la musique.
The gerund en écoutant indicates simultaneity with the main verb.
En marchant dans la forêt, nous avons vu un cerf.
The gerund phrase en marchant sets the scene for the completed action.

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These are the main phrases this lesson covers:

Introduction to the Present Participle FormulaCreating verbal modifiers to express simultaneous actions or the means by which something is achieved.Form the present participle from the nous stem and employ the gerund (en + present participle) to express simultaneous or instrumental actions.ConjugationA2conjugationLearn French ConjugationFrench ConjugationThe ‑ant FormThe stem used to form the present participle is identical to that of the imparfait: it is obtained from the first‑person plural (nous) of the present indicative by removing the ending -ons. To this stem the invariable suffix -ant is added. The present participle does not agree in gender or number. For the derivation of the imparfait stem, see imparfait stem formations.