French/Grammar/Verbs/Present participle

Formation
Replace the -ons ending of a verb conjugated in the first person plural in the present indicative with -ant. There are three verbs with the present participle forming irregularly: avoir, être, and savoir.

Forms and Usage Summary

 * NOTE: The present progressive tense does not exist in French. The present indicative is used instead.
 * To say I am going., you would say Je vais. You would NOT say Je suis allant.

Simple Present Participle Usage
The present participle is used to express the reason why something has occurred.
 * La table étant trop lourde, ils ne pouvaient pas la soulever. - The table being too heavy, they were not able to lift it.

Formation
To form the composed present participle, conjugate être or avoir in the present participle (étant and ayant) and add the past participle. Note that both avoir and être translate to having in English. This is the same in all composed tenses.
 * ayant parlé - having spoken
 * étant allé(e)(s) - having gone.

The past participle may have an -e or -s added in order to agree with other parts of the sentence. All standard agreement rules that composed tenses follow apply to the composed present participle as well.

Usage
The composed present participle is used to express that one action occurred before the action of the main verb The composed present participle is not used after a preposition. To express a similar idea using a preposition, the past infinitive is used.
 * Ayant fini, je suis parti(e). - Having finished, I left.
 * Je suis parti(e) ayant entendu la fille. - I left having heard the girl.
 * Je suis parti(e) sans avoir entendu la fille. - I left without having heard the girl.
 * Je suis parti(e) après avoir entendu la fille. - I left after having heard the girl.

Formation
en + present participle
 * en chantant - (while) singing
 * en courant - (while) running

Usage
Le gérondif is used to express that one action is occurring at the same time as a second.
 * Ils se sont promenés en chantant. - They walked while singing.
 * Elle est arrivée en courant. - She arrived running.