The participe présent in french

06 oct. 2017 12:34 - language-swap

Niveau débutant

The present participle is a verbal form which is used in French to talk about an action which is happening right now. It can have a complement but is invariable.
Let's see its' formation:

It is formed on the 1st person plural of a verb to which we replace the termination by -ant
manger → nous mangeons → mangeant
tomber → nous tombons → tombant
finir → nous finissons → finissant
fatiguer → nous fatiguons → fatiguant
peindre → nous peignons → peignant

There are two exceptions:
avoir → nous avons → ayant
être → nous sommes → étant

It is turned into gerundive form by adding “en” before the present participle.
Ex: en ayant, en étant, en mangeant, en tombant, en finissant, en peignant,…

It can also be turned into an adjective which has to agree with the noun that is precises though.
Ex: Je suis face à des personnes très souriantes.