French grammar · Intermediate
French Present Participle Conjugations: The -ant Form and How It Is Built
The French present participle ends in -ant and is built from the nous form of the present tense: nous parlons gives parlant, nous finissons gives finissant. Only three verbs are irregular, and the form is used mainly in the gérondif, en parlant, to say while or by doing something.
Il travaille en écoutant de la musique.
He works while listening to music.
What it is
There is one ending, -ant, and one stem, taken from the nous form of the present tense. Drop the -ons and add -ant. Because the nous form already carries whatever irregularity a verb has, this single rule handles almost the entire language, including verbs that look chaotic elsewhere in their conjugation.
nous prenons → prenant, nous buvons → buvant, nous voyons → voyant.
How to spot it
Any word ending in -ant that comes from a verb is either a present participle, a gérondif after en, or an adjective built from the same form. Which one it is depends on whether it agrees and what it is attached to.
- Elle est partie en courant. — She left running.
- Ne sachant pas quoi faire, il a attendu. — Not knowing what to do, he waited.
- une histoire amusante — an amusing story (adjective, agreeing)
- des enfants obéissant à leurs parents — children obeying their parents (participle, invariable)
As a verb form the -ant word never changes. As an adjective it agrees, which is why amusante has an -e and obéissant does not.
Present Participle Conjugations Quick Reference
Building the present participle
| Verb | Nous form | Participle |
|---|---|---|
| parler | nous parlons | parlant |
| finir | nous finissons | finissant |
| vendre | nous vendons | vendant |
| faire | nous faisons | faisant |
| prendre | nous prenons | prenant |
| boire | nous buvons | buvant |
| être | — (irregular) | étant |
| avoir / savoir | — (irregular) | ayant / sachant |
Common Present Participle Conjugations Examples in French
The -ant form doing each of its jobs:
The Gérondif: While Doing
- Je lis en mangeant.
- I read while eating.
- Elle chante en conduisant.
- She sings while driving.
- Ils discutaient en marchant.
- They were talking as they walked.
- Ne parle pas en mangeant.
- Don't talk while eating.
Two actions, one subject, happening at the same time. This is the most common use by far.
The Gérondif: By Doing
- On apprend en se trompant.
- You learn by making mistakes.
- Il a réussi en travaillant tous les soirs.
- He succeeded by working every evening.
- En insistant un peu, tu obtiendras une réponse.
- By pushing a little, you'll get an answer.
- Elle s'est blessée en tombant.
- She hurt herself falling.
Same form, but here it explains the means or the cause rather than the timing.
Replacing a Relative Clause
- les personnes souhaitant participer
- the people wishing to take part
- un train partant à midi
- a train leaving at noon
- les candidats ayant réussi l'examen
- the candidates who passed the exam
- une loi concernant les locataires
- a law concerning tenants
Without en, the participle is a compact written substitute for qui souhaitent, qui part, qui ont réussi.
Setting Up a Reason
- Étant malade, il est resté chez lui.
- Being ill, he stayed at home.
- Ne sachant pas son adresse, je n'ai rien envoyé.
- Not knowing his address, I sent nothing.
- Ayant tout préparé, elle a pu se reposer.
- Having prepared everything, she could rest.
- Voulant bien faire, il a tout recommencé.
- Wanting to do it well, he started over.
This use is written rather than spoken, and it carries a sense of since or because.
How the Present Participle Is Formed and Used
One formation rule, three exceptions, and a sharp line between the verb form and the adjective it can turn into.
The Stem Comes From Nous
Take the first person plural of the present, remove -ons, and add -ant. This works for regular and irregular verbs alike, because any stem change a verb has already shows up in the nous form.
Nous buvons du thé en lisant.
We drink tea while reading.
nous -ons → -ant.
Three Verbs Do Not Follow the Rule
Être gives étant, avoir gives ayant, and savoir gives sachant. The nous forms sommes, avons and savons would give the wrong result, so these three are simply memorised.
Ayant faim, nous sommes entrés dans un café.
Being hungry, we went into a café.
étant, ayant, sachant.
As a Verb, It Never Agrees
When the -ant word still governs an object or an adverb, it is a verb form and stays invariable, whatever the gender or number of the noun it describes.
J'ai vu des enfants jouant dans la cour.
I saw children playing in the courtyard.
Governs an object → no agreement.
As an Adjective, It Agrees
Many -ant words have hardened into ordinary adjectives, and those behave like any other adjective. Some even change their spelling: fatiguant is the verb, fatigant is the adjective.
Une journée fatigante et des réunions fatigantes.
A tiring day and tiring meetings.
Describes a quality → agrees.
En Requires the Same Subject
The gérondif has no subject of its own and borrows the one from the main clause. If the two actions belong to different people, French uses a full clause instead.
En sortant, j'ai croisé le voisin.
On my way out, I ran into the neighbour.
One subject for both verbs.
Common Mistakes with Present Participle Conjugations
Incorrect: Je suis mangeant. — I'm eating.
Correct: Je mange. — I'm eating.
The -ant form is not a tense and cannot follow être to make a continuous. The present already covers I eat and I am eating, and en train de exists if you need to insist.
Incorrect: J'aime nageant. — I like swimming.
Correct: J'aime nager. — I like swimming.
English -ing does duty as a noun, but French uses the infinitive for that. After a verb, after a preposition other than en, and as the subject of a sentence, you want nager, not nageant.
Incorrect: Des enfants jouants dans la cour. — Children playing in the courtyard.
Correct: Des enfants jouant dans la cour. — Children playing in the courtyard.
Jouant here still governs a place complement, so it is a verb form and stays invariable. Only a participle that has become a true adjective takes a plural -s.
Incorrect: Nous savons le chemin, savant où tourner. — We know the way, knowing where to turn.
Correct: Nous savons le chemin, sachant où tourner. — We know the way, knowing where to turn.
Savoir is one of the three verbs whose participle is not built from the nous form. Savant exists, but it is a noun or adjective meaning learned, not a verb form.
The Present Tenses Behind the Participle
Since the participle is cut from the nous form, the fastest way to get it right is to see the present tense first. Read the nous row, drop the -ons, and you have your answer.
Regular Patterns and Faire
The nous row is the one that matters. Parlons gives parlant, finissons gives finissant, vendons gives vendant, faisons gives faisant.
| Pronoun | parler | finir | vendre | faire |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| je / j' | parle | finis | vends | fais |
| tu | parles | finis | vends | fais |
| il / elle / on | parle | finit | vend | fait |
| nous | parlons | finissons | vendons | faisons |
| vous | parlez | finissez | vendez | faites |
| ils / elles | parlent | finissent | vendent | font |
Faire is irregular in vous faites and ils font, but its nous form is regular, so faisant is predictable.
The Three Irregular Participles
For these verbs the nous form gives the wrong stem. Étant comes from the old imparfait stem, while ayant and sachant come from the subjunctive.
| Pronoun | être (étant) | avoir (ayant) | savoir (sachant) |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j' | suis | ai | sais |
| tu | es | as | sais |
| il / elle / on | est | a | sait |
| nous | sommes | avons | savons |
| vous | êtes | avez | savez |
| ils / elles | sont | ont | savent |
Nous sommes would give sommant and nous savons would give savant, which is a noun meaning a scholar.
The Perfect Participle
Ayant or étant plus a past participle expresses an action already finished. Only the être version agrees, and it agrees with the subject of the main clause.
| Pronoun | ayant + fini | étant + parti |
|---|---|---|
| je / j' | ayant fini | étant parti(e) |
| tu | ayant fini | étant parti(e) |
| il / elle / on | ayant fini | étant parti(e) |
| nous | ayant fini | étant parti(e)s |
| vous | ayant fini | étant parti(e)(s) |
| ils / elles | ayant fini | étant parti(e)s |
There is no gérondif of the perfect participle: en ayant fini is not idiomatic French.
The Gérondif and the Verbal Adjective
Three words can all end in -ant and mean quite different things. Telling them apart is mostly a question of whether the word still behaves like a verb.
En plus the participle: the gérondif
Adding en turns the participle into an adverbial phrase describing how, when, or by what means the main action happens. The subject must be shared with the main verb.
- Il est tombé en descendant l'escalier.
- He fell coming down the stairs.
- Tu progresseras en pratiquant tous les jours.
- You'll improve by practising every day.
- En arrivant, ferme la porte.
- When you get in, shut the door.
- Tout en souriant, elle a refusé.
- While smiling, she refused.
Tout en adds a note of contrast: doing one thing while nonetheless doing another.
The bare participle as a compact clause
Without en, the participle attaches to a noun and replaces a relative clause, or attaches to the sentence and gives a reason. Both uses belong to written French.
- les étudiants habitant à l'étranger
- students living abroad
- Pensant bien faire, il a tout jeté.
- Thinking he was doing the right thing, he threw it all out.
- Une pièce donnant sur la cour.
- A room looking onto the courtyard.
In speech these would become qui habitent, comme il pensait bien faire, and qui donne sur la cour.
The verbal adjective
When the -ant word has become a pure description, it agrees and can be modified by très. A few of them are spelled differently from the participle.
- des couleurs très frappantes
- very striking colours
- une réunion fatigante
- a tiring meeting
- des arguments convaincants
- convincing arguments
- une eau courante
- running water
Participle fatiguant and adjective fatigant, participle convainquant and adjective convaincant: the u disappears in the adjective.
Present Participle Conjugations FAQs
- How do you form the present participle in French?
- Take the nous form of the present tense, drop the -ons and add -ant. Nous mangeons gives mangeant, nous conduisons gives conduisant. Only être, avoir and savoir break the rule, giving étant, ayant and sachant.
- What is the difference between the present participle and the gérondif?
- They are the same word; the gérondif is the participle with en in front of it. En courant means while running or by running, whereas courant on its own attaches to a noun, as in un homme courant vers la sortie.
- Is the French present participle the same as English -ing?
- Only partly. It covers while doing and by doing, but not the continuous tense and not the noun use. I am reading is je lis, and I like reading is j'aime lire, with no -ant anywhere.
- Does the present participle agree with the noun?
- Not when it is working as a verb: des femmes travaillant à l'étranger keeps travaillant flat. It agrees only once it has become an adjective, as in des couleurs éclatantes.
- What is ayant fait and when do I use it?
- That is the perfect participle, ayant or étant plus a past participle, and it means having done something. Ayant terminé, il est sorti places one action clearly before the other and belongs to written French.