French Present Participle / Gerund
A present participle is a conjugated form of the verb, ending in -ant.
1 - The present participle can be used with the preposition en to emphasise the simultaneity of two actions (i.e. while / as listening).
This is what we call a gerund or un gérondif.
Elle allait au marché en sifflant. (She was whistling on her way to the market.)
Nous faisons le ménage en écoutant de la musique. (We're cleaning while listening to music.)
Je te voyais à l'arrêt de bus, en allant à l'école. (I used to see you at the bus stop, as I was going to school.)
1 bis - The gerund form (with en) can also be used to emphasise a link of cause and effect between the clauses (i.e. by / in doing that, ...).
En te donnant de l'argent, ta mère t'a bien aidé. (By giving you some money, your mother really helped you.)
En déclarant que nous étions ensemble, vous m'avez fourni un alibi. (In saying we were together, you provided me with an alibi.)
2 - The -ant form can also be used on its own (or after être) as an adjective: we can call it the adjectival form of the verb.
It must then agree with the noun it refers to in the sentence:
Cette jeune fille est à la fois fatiguante et fascinante. (This young girl is both tiring and fascinating.)
Tes résultats encourageants ne sont que le début. (Your encouraging results are only the beginning.)
3 - The present participle can also be used on its own as a present participle to create a subordinate clause to the main one.
When used in that context, they never agree with a noun as their function here is verbal.
Sachant qu'il n'avait aucune chance de gagner, il a donné tout ce qu'il avait. (Knowing that there was no chance he would win, he gave everything he had.)
Cette exposition a remporté un immense succès, attirant plus de 100 000 visiteurs. (This exhibition was met with an great success, attracting more than 100 000 visitors.)
ATTENTION: It can be tricky sometimes to distinguish a present participle used as a verb and used as an adjective, especially when they follow a noun.
un article passionnant vs un article critiquant le président
The trick here is to replace it by another adjective and see if it still makes sense!
un article extraordinaire vs un article extraordinaire le président
YES, it works (adjective) NO, it doesn't work (present participle verb)
How do you form present participles in French?
To form the present participle in French, you use the same stem as the nous form in Le Présent:
manger -> (Présent) nous mangeons -> mangeant
commencer -> (Présent) nous commençons -> commençant
finir (regular -ir) -> (Présent) nous finissons -> finissant
vendre (regular -dre) -> (Présent) nous vendons -> vendant
partir (irregular -ir) -> (Présent) nous partons -> partant
prendre -> (Présent) nous prenons -> prenant
faire -> (Présent) nous faisons -> faisant
There are also irregular present participles that you just need to learn:
être = étant
avoir = ayant
etc
You can also find a compound present participle when the auxiliary ayant or étant is followed by a past participle.
ayant mangé, ayant fini, étant allé, étant venu etc
Étant donnée la situation, ils ont de la chance d'être encore là. (Given the situation, they're lucky to still be there.)
