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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