Present Participle Conjugations

Conjugaisons du participe présent

The vast majority of French verbs use the nous form of the present tense as the root of their present participles: just drop –ons and add –ant.

Par exemple…

		nous form		present participle
-er verbs	donner (to give)	donnons		donnant
-ir verbs	choisir (to choose)	choisissons		choisissant
-re verbs	perdre (to lose)	perdons		perdant
stem-changing verbs	appeler (to call)	appelons		appelant
irregular verbs	voir (to see)	voyons		voyant

There are only three exceptions:

verb	present participle
avoir	ayant
être	étant
savoir	sachant

  Some verbs have two different present participles, depending on whether they are used as a verb/gerund or a noun/adjective: learn more.

  The present participle of pronominal verbs includes a reflexive pronoun, which must agree with the grammatical person it refers to:

Par exemple…

se souvenir	(to remember)		s’habiller	(to get dressed)
se souvenant	remembering		s’habillant	getting dressed
en me souvenant	upon remembering		en t’habillant	while you were getting dressed
en nous souvenant			en vous habillant

	Quiz: Present participles

 Related lessons

• Present participle as verb or gerund
• Present participle as adjective or noun
• Past participle
• Introduction to verbs

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