Conjugaisons du participe présent
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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 | present participle | ||
-er verbs | donner | donnons | donnant |
-ir verbs | choisir | choisissons | choisissant |
-re verbs | perdre | perdons | perdant |
stem-changing | appeler | appelons | appelant |
irregular verbs | voir | 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 | s’habiller | |||
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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