French/Grammar/Verbs/Present participle
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Formation
[edit | edit source]Replace the -ons ending of a verb conjugated in the first person plural in the present indicative with -ant. There are three verbs with the present participle forming irregularly: avoir, être, and savoir.
Grammar Present Participle Formation · Formation De Participe Présent | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regular Formation | ||||
| infinitive | Nous form of the present indicative |
Stem | Ending | Present Participle |
| parler | nous parlons | parl | ant | parlant |
| finir | nous finissons | finiss | finissant | |
| attendre | nous attendons | attend | attendant | |
| prendre | nous prenons | pren | prenant | |
| Irregular Formation | ||||
| avoir | ayant | |||
| être | étant | |||
| savoir | sachant | |||
Forms and Usage Summary
[edit | edit source]Grammar Present Participle Usage · Utilisation De Participe Présent | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Form | Formation | Formation Example | Usage | Usage Detail |
| Simple Present Participle | [present participle] | étant - being disant - saying |
cause reason |
expresses the reason why something has occurred |
| Composed Present Participle | [étant or ayant] + [past participle] | ayant fini - having finished étant allé(e)(s) - having gone |
anteriority | expresses that one action occurred before the action of the main verb |
| Le gérondif | en + [present participle] | en chantant - while singing en courant - while running |
simultinaity | expresses that one action is occurring at the same time as a second |
- NOTE: The present progressive tense does not exist in French. The present indicative is used instead.
- To say I am going., you would say Je vais. You would NOT say Je suis allant.
Simple Present Participle Usage
[edit | edit source]The present participle is used to express the reason why something has occurred.
- La table étant trop lourde, ils ne pouvaient pas la soulever. - The table being too heavy, they were not able to lift it.
Composed Present Participle
[edit | edit source]Formation
[edit | edit source]To form the composed present participle, conjugate être or avoir in the present participle (étant and ayant) and add the past participle.
- ayant parlé - having spoken
- étant allé(e)(s) - having gone.
Note that both avoir and être translate to having in English. This is the same in all composed tenses.
The past participle may have an -e or -s added in order to agree with other parts of the sentence. All standard agreement rules that composed tenses follow apply to the composed present participle as well.
Usage
[edit | edit source]The composed present participle is used to express that one action occurred before the action of the main verb
- Ayant fini, je suis parti(e). - Having finished, I left.
- Je suis parti(e) ayant entendu la fille. - I left having heard the girl.
The composed present participle is not used after a preposition. To express a similar idea using a preposition, the past infinitive is used.
- Je suis parti(e) sans avoir entendu la fille. - I left without having heard the girl.
- Je suis parti(e) après avoir entendu la fille. - I left after having heard the girl.
Le gérondif
[edit | edit source]Formation
[edit | edit source]en + present participle
- en chantant - (while) singing
- en courant - (while) running
Usage
[edit | edit source]Le gérondif is used to express that one action is occurring at the same time as a second.
- Ils se sont promenés en chantant. - They walked while singing.
- Elle est arrivée en courant. - She arrived running.
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