French II: Synonyms and Antonyms
French II: Participles
In French, the present participle of a verb (the -ing form) may be used with the preposition en (while, on, upon, by, in, when) to form a gerund (a noun that, in English, ends in -ing). When used without en, the present participle may act as an adjective and is also used to express the - ing form of the verb in English.
The present participle of all French verbs ends in -ant, the English equivalent of -ing.
Forming the Present Participle
The present participle of most French verbs (regular and irregular) is formed by dropping the
-ons ending from the
nous form of the present tense and simply adding
-ant, as shown in Table
1 . The line through the
-ons part of the
nous form indicates that it is removed to form the present participle.
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Note how this affects spelling-change and shoe verbs:
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There are only three irregular present participles in French:
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English uses many more gerunds than French; therefore, the present participle is used much less in French and is often replaced with an infinitive:
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J'adore le cyclisme. (I love cycling.)
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Danser me plaît beaucoup. (Dancing gives me great pleasure.)
Using the Present Participle
The present participle is primarily used:
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With the preposition en to imply simultaneous actions:
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Il parle en mangeant. (He speaks while eating.)
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Elle est arrivée en courant. (She arrived running.)
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Il est tombé en dansant. (He fell [while, when, upon, on, as he was] dancing.)
Tout may be used before en to add emphasis:
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Elle pleure tout en souriant. (She cries even while smiling.)
En + present participle may mean “by.” With the verbs commencer and finir, par + infinitive is used, provided there is no direct object:
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Il gagne beaucoup en travaillant. (He earns a lot by working.)
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Il commence par chanter. (He begins by singing.)
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Il finit par danser. (He ends by dancing.)
BUT:
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Il finit l'histoire en riant. (He finishes the story by laughing.)
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Without the preposition en to show a cause, a reason, a motive, a condition, a result, an incidental circumstance, or an action that took place at the same moment as or immediately before the action of the main verb. When used as a verb, the present participle is invariable—meaning that there is no agreement of the present participle with the subject:
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Étant occupé, je l'ai ignoré. (Being busy, I ignored him.)
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Elle est partie, oubliant ses clefs. (She left, forgetting her keys.)
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Regardant la télé, je me suis endormi. (Watching TV, I fell asleep.)
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Il étudie en écoutant la radio. (He studies while listening to the radio.)
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Il est entré criant. (He arrived screaming.)
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In addition, the present participle can be used as follows:
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Some present participles may be used as adjectives and must, therefore, agree in number and gender with the nouns or pronouns they modify. They generally follow the noun or pronoun:
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Je trouve ces filles charmantes. (I find those girls charming.)
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Ce sont des films amusants. (They are amusing films.)
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The present participle can, but rarely does, replace a relative clause ( qui + verb):
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Je vois des gens qui portent des sacs. (I see some people who are carrying bags.)
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Je vois des gens portant des sacs. (I see some people carrying bags.)
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The present participle CANNOT be used:
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To express “to be” + present participle (the English progressive form). To express that an action is in progress, use the present tense or être en train de + infinitive:
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Il dort. (He is sleeping.)
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Il est en train de dormir. (He is sleeping.)
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To replace an English gerund (a noun ending in -ing). A French present participle can only be used as a verb and not as a noun. The following examples show you some correct ways to replace an English gerund:
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Je préfère la natation. (I prefer swimming.)
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La pâtisserie est un art. (Pastry making is an art.)
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Je le ferai sans qu'il le sache. (I'll do it without his knowing it.)
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