Build French present participle
The present participle is a verbal form that marks an action in progress. It can have a complement and it is always invariable.
The basic rule for constructing the present participle is to take the verb in the first person plural of the present indicative and replace the ending -ons by -ant.
e.g.: fatiguer ==> nous fatiguons ==> fatiguant
Because we need many exceptions, we will note an exception with the verb "savoir": nous savons ==> sachant and another exception with auxiliaries "avoir" and "être": nous avons ==> ayant and nous sommes ==> étant.
The present gerund is then formed simply by adding "en" before the present participle thus formed. Again, it is invariable.
e.g.: En riant, la vie est plus facile.
The present participle can be transformed into a verbal adjective which also ends in -ant but which agrees with the noun or pronoun to which it refers.
e.g.: Le professeur a en face de lui des élèves souriants.
==> See other examples of present participle transformed into a verbal adjective
- The present participle, the present gerund and the verbal adjective all three end with -ant. The first two are invariable and the last one agrees with the noun or pronoun to which it refers.
- To form the present participle, we start from the present indicative with us, we remove the ending -ons and replace it with -ant.