Forming the present participle
To form the present participle of regular -er, -ir and -re verbs, you use the nous form of the present tense and replace the -ons ending with -ant.
| nous form of present tense | Take off -ons | Add -ant |
| donnons | donn- | donnant |
| lançons | lanç- | lançant |
| mangeons | mange- | mangeant |
| finissons | finiss- | finissant |
| partons | part- | partant |
| attendons | attend- | attendant |
| descendons | descend- | descendant |
Il s’est fait mal en lançant la balle. He hurt himself throwing the ball.
J’ai décidé de lire en attendant. I decided to read while I was waiting.
Nous chantions en finissant de ranger. We sang while we finished tidying up.
Irregular verbs
Three verbs have an irregular present participle:
| avoir (meaning to have) | > ayant |
Ayant cinq ans de plus que nous, elle avait plus d’expérience.
Being five years older than we were, she had more experience.
| être (meaning to be) | > étant |
Il gagne sa vie en étant musicien. He makes a living being a musician.
| savoir (meaning to know) | > sachant |
Ne sachant pas quoi faire, il décida de demander conseil.
Not knowing what to do, he decided to ask for advice.