Present Participle

• To form, drop the -ons ending from the nous present tense and replace with -ant

Aller → allons → all__ant__

Boire → buvons → buv__ant__

Choisir → choississons → choississ__ant__

Être → étant

Avoir → ayant

Savoir → sachant

• When used as verbs, present participles are usually the English equivalent of verbs ending in -ing. They typically precede the preposition en

  • Il lui a indiqué le chemin en regardant le plan du quartier

• Use the present participleto say what caused something or how something occurred

  • Gerald s’est cassé le bras en tombant du toit

• En + [present participle] can also mean that something is done as soon as something else happens

  • Il va téléphoner en arrivant a la gare.

• The expression tout en emphasizes that two actions occur simultaneously

  • Il conduit tout en mangeant un sandwich

• When a present participle is used as an adjective, it must agree in gender and number

  • Ces filles sont charmantes