French grammar · Intermediate
The French Present Participle: Forming and Using the -ant Form
The French present participle is the -ant form: parlant, finissant, attendant. You build it from the nous form of the present tense by replacing -ons with -ant. With en in front of it, it becomes the gérondif and means while doing or by doing.
Il travaille en écoutant de la musique.
He works while listening to music.
What it is
The -ant form looks like the English -ing form and behaves almost nothing like it. French uses it for a second action running alongside the main one, for the means by which something is done, and as an adjective. It never builds a progressive tense: I am eating is je mange.
Elle est tombée en descendant l'escalier. — She fell while coming down the stairs.
How to spot it
Find the nous form of the present tense and swap -ons for -ant. That single rule covers every verb in French except three.
- nous finissons → finissant — we finish → finishing
- nous buvons → buvant — we drink → drinking
- nous commençons → commençant — we begin → beginning
- nous savons → sachant — we know → knowing (irregular)
The cedilla and the extra e survive the change: mangeant and commençant keep the spelling that protects their soft consonant.
Present Participle Quick Reference
From the nous form to the participle and the gérondif
| Infinitive | nous form | Participle | Gérondif |
|---|---|---|---|
| parler | nous parlons | parlant | en parlant |
| finir | nous finissons | finissant | en finissant |
| attendre | nous attendons | attendant | en attendant |
| manger | nous mangeons | mangeant | en mangeant |
| faire | nous faisons | faisant | en faisant |
| être | irregular | étant | en étant |
| avoir | irregular | ayant | en ayant |
| savoir | irregular | sachant | en sachant |
Common Present Participle Examples in French
The four things the -ant form is used for:
Two Things at Once
- Je lis en mangeant.
- I read while eating.
- Ne parle pas en marchant.
- Don't talk while walking.
- Elle chantait en faisant la vaisselle.
- She was singing while doing the dishes.
- Il a répondu en souriant.
- He answered with a smile.
Both actions must belong to the same person. If the subjects differ, French needs a full clause with pendant que.
The Means or Method
- On apprend en pratiquant.
- You learn by practising.
- Il a réussi en travaillant beaucoup.
- He succeeded by working hard.
- En partant maintenant, tu éviteras les bouchons.
- By leaving now, you'll avoid the traffic.
- Elle s'est blessée en coupant du pain.
- She hurt herself cutting bread.
This is the sense English carries with by. It answers the question how rather than when.
As an Adjective
- une histoire amusante
- an amusing story
- des enfants souriants
- smiling children
- de l'eau courante
- running water
- un film émouvant
- a moving film
Used as an adjective, the -ant form agrees in gender and number like any other adjective.
In Written Participial Clauses
- Ne sachant pas quoi dire, elle est restée silencieuse.
- Not knowing what to say, she stayed silent.
- Voulant partir tôt, il a sauté le dessert.
- Wanting to leave early, he skipped dessert.
- Étant malade, je suis resté chez moi.
- Being ill, I stayed at home.
- Les personnes souhaitant participer doivent s'inscrire.
- People wishing to take part must register.
Without en, the participle introduces a cause or a relative idea. This belongs to writing; speech uses parce que or a relative clause.
How the -ant Form Behaves
Formation is nearly free of exceptions. The interesting rules are about which of the form's three lives you're using.
The Stem Comes From Nous
Taking the nous form guarantees you get the stem the verb actually uses in the plural, which is why irregular verbs cause so little trouble: prenons gives prenant, écrivons gives écrivant, voyons gives voyant.
En prenant le métro, tu iras plus vite.
By taking the metro, you'll get there faster.
nous form minus -ons, plus -ant.
Only Three Verbs Are Irregular
Être gives étant, avoir gives ayant and savoir gives sachant. None of them follows from the nous form, and all three are frequent enough that they're worth memorising as a set.
Ayant peu de temps, il a mangé debout.
Having little time, he ate standing up.
étant, ayant, sachant.
En Plus Participle Needs a Shared Subject
The gérondif has no subject of its own, so it borrows the subject of the main verb. That's why en regardant la télé, le téléphone a sonné is wrong: a telephone cannot watch television.
En rentrant, j'ai trouvé la porte ouverte.
On getting home, I found the door open.
One subject, two actions.
The Verbal Form Never Agrees
When -ant is doing a verb's job, it is invariable, whatever the gender or number of the noun near it. When it has become a genuine adjective, it agrees. Une femme parlant trois langues has no e; une histoire amusante does.
Les étudiants parlant italien peuvent s'inscrire ici.
Students who speak Italian can register here.
Verb: invariable. Adjective: agrees.
En Is the Only Preposition It Takes
Every other French preposition is followed by an infinitive, not a participle: avant de partir, sans regarder, pour comprendre, après avoir mangé. English -ing after a preposition almost always becomes a French infinitive.
Il est parti sans rien dire.
He left without saying anything.
Only en takes -ant.
Common Mistakes with Present Participle
Incorrect: Je suis mangeant. — I'm eating.
Correct: Je mange. — I'm eating.
French has no progressive tense built on the participle. The present tense covers both I eat and I am eating; if you need to stress that the action is underway, use je suis en train de manger.
Incorrect: Nageant est bon pour le dos. — Swimming is good for your back.
Correct: Nager est bon pour le dos. — Swimming is good for your back.
An -ing form acting as the subject of a sentence corresponds to a French infinitive. The participle cannot be a subject.
Incorrect: Il est parti sans disant au revoir. — He left without saying goodbye.
Correct: Il est parti sans dire au revoir. — He left without saying goodbye.
En is the only French preposition that takes a participle. Sans, pour, avant de and après all take an infinitive instead.
Incorrect: une femme parlante trois langues — a woman who speaks three languages
Correct: une femme parlant trois langues — a woman who speaks three languages
Here parlant still has an object, so it is functioning as a verb and stays invariable. Only participles that have become true adjectives, like amusante or fatigante, take agreement.
When -ant Stops Being a Verb
Many -ant forms have hardened into ordinary adjectives and nouns, and those follow adjective and noun rules instead.
Adjectives that agree
Once the form describes a permanent quality rather than an action in progress, it behaves like any adjective: it agrees and it can be modified by très.
- une soirée très fatigante
- a very tiring evening
- des résultats surprenants
- surprising results
- une remarque blessante
- a hurtful remark
- des couleurs voyantes
- loud colours
A few adjectives drop the u of the verb: fatiguant is the participle, fatigant is the adjective. The same happens with convainquant and convaincant.
Nouns built from participles
A large family of French nouns is simply a participle with an article in front, and they take plural s and a feminine form where it makes sense.
- un gagnant, une gagnante
- a winner
- les participants
- the participants
- un débutant
- a beginner
- les habitants du quartier
- the residents of the neighbourhood
These are dictionary nouns, not verb forms, so nothing about the gérondif applies to them.
Tout en, for contrast
Adding tout in front of en stresses that the two actions are genuinely simultaneous, and often that they sit awkwardly together, like English all the while.
- Il refusait tout en souriant.
- He kept refusing, all the while smiling.
- Elle travaille tout en élevant trois enfants.
- She works while raising three children.
- Tout en comprenant ton point de vue, je ne suis pas d'accord.
- While I understand your point of view, I don't agree.
Tout is invariable in this construction, whoever the subject is.
Present Participle FAQs
- How do you form the present participle in French?
- Take the nous form of the present tense and replace -ons with -ant: nous parlons gives parlant, nous choisissons gives choisissant, nous voyons gives voyant. Only être, avoir and savoir are irregular: étant, ayant, sachant.
- What's the difference between the present participle and the gérondif?
- The gérondif is the participle with en in front of it, and it links a second action to the main verb: il chante en travaillant, he sings while working. Without en, the participle behaves more like an adjective or introduces a written clause: ne sachant pas quoi faire, il a attendu.
- Does the French present participle agree with the noun?
- Only when it has become an adjective. Une histoire amusante agrees because amusant describes a quality; une femme parlant trois langues does not, because parlant is still working as a verb with an object.
- Why can't I say je suis parlant for I am speaking?
- French does not build tenses out of the participle. Je parle already covers I speak and I am speaking. When you need to insist on the action being in progress, the structure is je suis en train de parler.
- How do I translate English -ing after a preposition?
- With an infinitive in almost every case: avant de sortir, before going out; sans réfléchir, without thinking; pour gagner, in order to win. The single exception is en, which takes the participle: en sortant, on going out.