Present Participle and Gerundive
The present participle (le participe présent) is typically formed from the first-person plural of the present indicative by replacing -ons with -ant. There are exceptions to this, as with avoir, être, and savoir (whose present participles are ayant, étant, and sachant, respectively), but in all cases the present participle ends in -ant.
The gerundive (le gérondif) consists of the preposition en together with the present participle; for example, the present participle of faire is faisant, so its gerundive is en faisant.
The present participle and the gerundive are both invariable; that is, they do not change form to agree with any other part of a sentence.
Read more about this topic: French Verb Morphology, Formation of Simple Tenses Active
Famous quotes containing the word present:
“To complain of the age we live in, to murmur at the present possessors of power, to lament the past, to conceive extravagant hopes of the future, are the common dispositions of the greatest part of mankind.”
—Edmund Burke (1729–1797)