French Present Participles

Quick Answer

A participe présent(present participle) is a French verb form ending in -ant, which is the equivalent of the English ending -ing. Present participles can be combined with the preposition en(while, by) to form le gérondif(gerund). Present participles can also be used as adjectives and nouns in French.

examples
Les produits venant d’un autre pays sont un peu plus chers. Products coming from another country are a little more expensive.
Fais attention en traversant la rue. Be careful while crossing the street.

examples

Les produits venant d’un autre pays sont un peu plus chers.

Products coming from another country are a little more expensive.

Fais attention en traversant la rue.

Be careful while crossing the street.

In this article, you'll learn how and when to use present participles.

Questions This Article Answers

What is a present participle in French?

What is le gérondif in French?

When do you use present participles in French?

How do you form present participles in French?

When do present participles undergo agreement in French?

Present Participles in French

A participe présent(present participle) is a French verb form ending in -ant, which is the equivalent of the English ending -ing. a French verb form ending in -ant, which is the equivalent of the English ending -ing. Present participles can be negated and can take direct and indirect objects, but they cannot be conjugated. Let's look at some examples.

examples
Je vais demander l’heure à l’homme lisant le journal. I'm going to ask the man reading the newspaper what time it is.
Les enfants jouant dans le parc sont bruyants. The kids playing in the park are loud.
Voulant améliorer mon français, j'étudie la grammaire tous les jours. Because I want to improve my French, I study grammar every day.
N'ayant pas mon portefeuille, je ne peux rien acheter au marché aux puces. Since I don't have my wallet, I can't buy anything at the flea market.

The Function of Present Participles

When the present participle follows a noun in French, it can often be replaced by a clause starting with qui(that, who). This is the case for the first two sentences above, which can be restated in the following way:

examples
Je vais demander l’heure à l’homme qui lit le journal. I’m going to ask the man who’s reading the newspaper what time it is.
Les enfants qui jouent dans le parc sont bruyants. The kids who are playing in the park are loud.

examples

Je vais demander l’heure à l’homme qui lit le journal.

I’m going to ask the man who’s reading the newspaper what time it is.

Les enfants qui jouent dans le parc sont bruyants.

The kids who are playing in the park are loud.

When the present participle starts a sentence in French, it can often be replaced by parce que(because) or comme(since, as). (In fact, this is often the more natural translation in English.) The last two sentences above can be restated like this:

examples
Parce que je veux améliorer mon français, j'étudie la grammaire tous les jours. Because I want to improve my French, I study grammar every day.
Comme je n'ai pas mon portefeuille, je ne peux rien acheter au marché aux puces. Since I don't have my wallet, I can't buy anything at the flea market.

examples

Parce que je veux améliorer mon français, j'étudie la grammaire tous les jours.

Because I want to improve my French, I study grammar every day.

Comme je n'ai pas mon portefeuille, je ne peux rien acheter au marché aux puces.

Since I don't have my wallet, I can't buy anything at the flea market.

Present participles are invariable. This means that they do not agree in gender or number. Take a look at the French title of the famous fairy tale Sleeping Beauty, which contains a present participle.

Correct	Incorrect	English
La Belle au bois dormant	La Belle au bois dormante	Sleeping Beauty (literally) the beautiful girl in the woods sleeping

Notice how the present participle dormant(sleeping) doesn't agree with the noun la belle(the beautiful girl).

Ongoing Actions in French and English

Attention !(Be careful!) Not all verbs ending in -ing in English are translated with a present participle in French! For example, the present progressive in English must be replaced by some other tense in French. Here are just a few examples:

English Progressive Tense	Incorrect	Correct	French Tense
I'm reading.	Je suis lisant.	Je lis.	présent (present)
I was reading.	J'étais lisant.	Je lisais.	imparfait (imperfect)
I will be reading.	Je serai lisant.	Je lirai.	futur (future)

Le Gérondif

The present participle can be combined with the preposition en(while, by) to form le gérondif(gerund). Le gérondif is used to talk about two simultaneous actions or how something happened.

examples
Ma mère aime cuisiner en écoutant de la musique jazz. My mom likes to cook while listening to jazz music.
En attendant le bus, mon frère aime dessiner les passants. While waiting for the bus, my brother likes to draw passersby.
Je me suis cassé le bras en tombant de vélo. I broke my arm by falling off my bike.
Soudain, le chat est parti en courant. Suddenly, the cat took off running.

Adding tout(all) in front of le gérondif can highlight an unexpected or contradictory action.

examples
Elle s'est maquillée tout en conduisant sur l'autoroute ! She put makeup on while driving on the highway!
Tu as sali mon nom tout en faisant semblant d'être mon ami ! You tarnished my name all while pretending to be my friend!

Gerunds in French vs. Gerunds in English

Gerunds in French and in English are different concepts. In French, gerunds are a specific construction formed with en and a present participle, used to talk about two simultaneous actions or how something happened. In English, gerunds are verb forms ending in -ing that act as nouns. They're often translated as an infinitive or a noun in French.

English	Correct	Incorrect
*Traveling* can be expensive.	Voyager peut être cher.	Voyageant peut être cher.
I don't like skiing.	Je n'aime pas faire du ski.	Je n'aime pas faisant du ski.
I need to focus on studying.	Il faut que je me concentre sur mes études.	Il faut que je me concentre sur étudiant.

Present Participles as Adjectives

Just like in English, French present participles can be used as adjectives to modify a noun or pronoun. Unlike the cases above, these verbal adjectives agree in gender and number with the noun or pronoun they modify. Let's look at some examples!

examples
L'actrice a donné une performance très convaincante. The actress gave a very convincing performance.
Les thèmes du livre étaient intéressants. The themes of the book were interesting.
Tu trouves sa réponse surprenante ? Do you find his answer surprising?

Learn more about adjectives and agreement in French!

Basic French Adjectives

Feminine Adjectives in French

Plural Adjectives in French

Present Participles as Nouns

Some nouns in French are formed from present participles! Here are just a few common ones:

Noun	English	Corresponding Verb
l'assistant	the assistant	assister(to assist)
le commerçant	the shopkeeper	commercer(to trade)
l'enseignant	the teacher	enseigner(to teach)
l'étudiant	the student	étudier(to study)
le gagnant	the winner	gagner(to win)
le participant	the participant	participer(to participate)

examples
On annoncera le gagnant du tirage au sort demain. We'll announce the winner of the drawing tomorrow.
Les étudiants sont déjà en vacances de Noël. The students are already on Christmas break.

Forming Present Participles in French

To turn any infinitive into a present participle, follow these steps:

Conjugate the verb in the nous form of the present tense.
Remove the final -ons to get the present participle stem.
Add -ant to the end of the stem.

To be able to form present participles, you'll want to be confident in conjugating verbs in the present tense of the indicative! Review the present tense here:

The Present in French

Here's how you form present participles using the infinitives aller(to go), finir(to finish), and comprendre(to understand):

aller → (nous) allons → allant(going)
finir → (nous) finissons → finissant(finishing)
comprendre → (nous) comprenons → comprenant(understanding)

Irregular Present Participles

There are three exceptions to the rules above: the verbs avoir(to have), être(to be), and savoir(to know). Here are their present participles: