Present Participle Conjugations

Conjugaisons du participe présent

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

Par exemple…

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