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		s’habillant
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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