French Language > Verbs

The -Ant Form of the Verb
Le Participe présent et le gérondif

(The presentation here owes much to the that in Léon-Paul Hoffmann, l’Essentiel de la grammaire française, 3rd edition, pages 41-45. Some of the examples are borrowed from there.)

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I. The Present Participle

A participle is a form of the verb that functions to some degree as an adjective. The French -ant present participle is the equivalent of the English “-ing” present participle.

• parlant = “speaking”
• finissant = “finishing”
• répondant = “answering”

To form the present participle:

Observe how this rule plays out with the different kinds of verbs. (♪Always♪ let the nous form of the present be your guide!♬)

• Regular -er verbs with changing spelling
  • acheter, j’achète. nous achet ons > achet + ant > achetant
  • gérer, je gère. nous gér ons > gér + ant > gérant
• Regular -(d)re verbs. rendre: nous rend ons > rend + ant > rendant
• Regular -ir verbs. finir. nous finiss ons > finiss + ant > finissant
• Irregular verbs
  • faire. nous fais ons > fais + ant > faisant  ¹
  • prendre. nous pren ons > pren + ant > prenant
  • boire. nous buv ons > buv + ant > buvant
  • tenir. nous ten ons > ten + ant > tenant
  • naître. nous naiss ons > naiss + ant > naissant

(Always, ♭except♭…) Three verbs use a different base for the present participle:

• avoir, nous avons. ay + ant > ayant
• être, nous sommes. ét + ant > étant
• savoir, nous savons. sach + ant > sachant

The present participle can function in the following ways.

A. As a Predicate Adjective

• Cette femme est fatiguante. (This woman is fatiguing.)
• Ces prix sont exorbitants. (These prices are exorbitant.)
• Ces tâches étaient encombrantes. (These tasks were cumbersome.)

But don’t do what I say not to do in section II below.

B. As an Attributive Adjective (and Nothing Else)

An attributive adjective stands next to the noun it modifies.

• la question suivante (the following question)
• une femme charmante (a charming woman)
• un enfant collant (a clinging child)
• des nouvelles surprenantes (surprising pieces of news)
• des enfants souriants (smiling children)

In such cases, when the participle is functioning as an adjective and nothing else, it agrees with the noun in number and gender.

B. As an Attributive Adjective, with a Trailing Complement

Here also the participle acts as an attributive adjective, but has in a addition a complement following it (any sort of complement that can follow a verb).

• la femme suivant le cortège (the woman following the procession.)
• une personne écrivant à un ami (a person writing to a friend)
• le monsieur parlant au téléphone (the gentleman speaking on the telephone)
• des femmes marchant énergétiquement (women walking along energetically)

In this case the participle does not agree with the noun.

C. As a Noun

• un passant (a passer-by)
• un gagnant (a winner)
• un perdant (a loser)
• un débutant (a beginner)
• un intrigant (a schemer)
• un revenant (a ghost)

Note that each of the above nouns refers to a person doing something.

Some nouns of this kind end with –ent rather than -ant:

• un adhérent (an adherent, a member)
• un confident (a confidant)
• un résident (a resident)

D. In a Participial Phrase

In this construction the participle still modifies a noun or a pronoun – specifically, it modifies the subject of the sentence – but is set apart from it (usually with a comma), and it takes a complement. It does not agree with the noun/pronoun it modifies.

Since it modifies the subject, who then proceeds to perform another action (the main verb of the clause), the participle in this construction can and often does indicate an action or state prior to the action of the main verb. Metaphorically, the participle can thus indicate the cause or explanation of the action of the main verb. Study the following:

• Arrivant dans la rue, il chercha un taxi. (Upon arriving in the street, he looked for a taxi.) ²
• Entrant dans le café, il a reconnu son ami. (Upon entering the cafe, he recognized his friend.)
• Ne soupçonnant rien, j’ai répondu bêtement à leurs questions. (Suspecting nothing, I thoughtlessly answered their questions.)
• N’ayant pas un sou, j’ai été réduit à mendier. (Not having a penny, I was reduced to begging.)
• Ne sachant où étaient mes amis, je les ai cherchés partout. (Not knowing where my friends were, I looked for them everywhere.)

I will put the same into a rule-box:

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II. Don’t Use the Present Participle with the Verb Être To Construct a Progressive Tense!

English can form tenses using the verb “to be” and the present participle; for example, with the present of “to be”:

• “I am thinking of you.”
• “He is counting his blessings.”
• “We are studying irregular verbs.”

This kind of verbal phrase is called a “present progressive” or “present continuous.” There is no such construction in French!!! ³

The equivalent of “He is doing his homework” is not

• Il est faisant ses devoirs.

But:

• Il fait ses devoirs.

Similarly, the French equivalent of the English past progressive is, always and everywhere: the imperfect.

“She was taking a bath when the doorbell rang.”	Elle prenait un bain quand on sonné à la porte.
“I was going to say the same thing.”	J’allais dire la même chose.
“They were wearing elegant dresses.”	Elles portaient des robes élégantes.

III. Le Gérondif

When preceded by the preposition en, the -ant form of the verb is no longer a participle, that is, a verbal adjective, but a verbal noun, corresponding (somewhat) to what in English we call the “gerund.” Just as in English, in French the present participle and the verbal noun are indistinguishable (“-ing…-ing,” –ant…-ant). However, English uses the gerund in more cases than French does. Compare English and French usage in the following:

Subject, Predicate Noun	“Seeing is believing.”	Voir, c’est croire.
After Some Prepositions	“He made the effort of coming.”	Il a fait l’effort de venir.
	“You speak without thinking.”	Tu parles sans réfléchir.
	“Before planting one must clear the earth.”	Avant de planter, il faut défricher la terre.
	“After eating he washed the dishes.”	Après avoir mangé il a fait la vaisselle.
After “In/By/While”	“He discovered the truth in/by/while conducting research at the National Archives.”	Il a découvert la vérité en faisant des recherches aux Archives nationales.

As the table above shows, French uses the verbal noun form only after en. This en …-ant construction is called the gérondif. It corresponds to our English “in/by/while” followed by the gerund.

Whereas the French present participial phrase is connected as an adjective to the subject, the gérondif is connected adverbially to the verb of the main clause. It can indicate: an action taking place at the same time as the main verb, or, metaphorically, the means or manner by which the action of the main verb takes place.

Study the following examples:

• En allant à la bibliothèque, j’ai rencontré mon professeur. (While going to the library, I met my teacher.)
• Il aime chanter en travaillant. (He likes to sing while working.)
• Je me suis coupé en me rasant. (I cut myself [while] shaving.)
• « On apprend à faire quelque chose en faisant la chose qu’on apprend à faire. » (“One learns to do something by doing the thing one is learning to do.”) – Aristotle
• On devient rich en travaillant dur. (One becomes rich by working hard.)
• On devient érudit en étudiant beaucoup. (One becomes learned by studying a lot.)

Sometimes the difference between the participial phrase and the gérondif is slight indeed. Compare:

Participle	Lisant beaucoup, Pierre est devenu cultivé.	“Reading a lot, Pierre became cultivated.”
Gérondif	En lisant beaucoup, Pierre est devenu cultivé.	“By reading a lot, Pierre became cultivated.”

Le Gérondif concessif

Stick a tout in front of the gérondif, and it becomes “concessive” or adversative. It corresponds to English “all the while, even while.”

• Tout en nous parlant, il comptait ses deniers. (Even while speaking to us, he was counting his coppers.)

1. The form faisons has an irregular pronunciation [fəzõ]; the {fais-} taken over into the present participle has the same pronunciation: {faisant} = [fəzɑ̃].[↩]
2. The French can also use a “present perfect participle” just as English does: Ayant gagné la rue principale, il chercha un taxi. (Having reached the main street, he looked for a taxi.) [↩]
3. As far as you are concerned. There was once a progressive construction in French, of which vestiges occasionally show up.[↩]

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