Two Forms, One Ending

French has one verb form ending in -ant that plays two different grammatical roles: the present participle (participe présent) and the gerund (gérondif). They look identical but are used differently. Understanding the distinction will clean up a lot of intermediate-level writing and speaking.

How to Form the -ant Ending

Take the nous form of the present tense, drop the -ons ending, and add -ant. This works for almost every verb in French, including irregular ones.

parler → nous parlons → parlant (speaking)
finir → nous finissons → finissant (finishing)
prendre → nous prenons → prenant (taking)
faire → nous faisons → faisant (doing/making)

Only three verbs are truly irregular: être → étant, avoir → ayant, and savoir → sachant.

The Gérondif: "En" + -ant

By far the most useful version for everyday French is the gérondif: the word en placed directly before the -ant form. It describes an action happening at the same time as the main verb, and almost always has the same subject as the main clause.

Elle écoute de la musique en conduisant. (She listens to music while driving.)
Il a appris le français en regardant des films. (He learned French by watching movies.)
Ne parle pas en mangeant. (Don't talk while eating.)

Notice the two possible meanings of "en + -ant": simultaneity ("while doing") and means/method ("by doing"). Context tells you which one applies — both examples above are common and natural.

Adding "Tout" for Emphasis or Contrast

Adding tout before "en + -ant" emphasizes that two actions happen at the exact same time, or highlights a contrast between them:

Il continue à fumer tout en sachant que c'est mauvais pour la santé. (He keeps smoking even though he knows it's bad for his health.)
Elle travaille tout en écoutant le podcast. (She works while listening to the podcast, at the same time.)

The Present Participle (Without "En")

Without en, the -ant form acts more like an adjective or a way to explain the cause or circumstance behind the main action. It's more common in formal writing than in everyday speech.

Sachant qu'il allait pleuvoir, elle a pris un parapluie. (Knowing it was going to rain, she took an umbrella.)
C'est une histoire touchante. (It's a touching story — here -ant is a pure adjective and agrees like one: touchant/touchante.)

Here lies an important rule: when the -ant form is used as a verb (participe présent or gérondif), it never agrees with anything — it stays exactly as it is. When it's used as an adjective, it agrees in gender and number like any other adjective (intéressant/intéressante/intéressants/intéressantes).

Common Mistake: Don't Confuse It With English "-ing"

English learners often try to translate every "-ing" word directly into an -ant form. This fails constantly, because French usually prefers an infinitive where English uses a gerund as a subject or after most verbs and prepositions.

✗ Fumant est mauvais pour la santé.
✓ Fumer est mauvais pour la santé. (Smoking is bad for your health.)
✗ J'aime nageant.
✓ J'aime nager. (I like swimming.)

A simple rule of thumb: the -ant form only follows en, or stands on its own describing a simultaneous cause. In every other position where English uses "-ing," reach for the French infinitive instead.

The Past Participle: En Ayant / En Étant

For actions that happened before the main action rather than at the same time, French has a past gérondif built with en ayant/étant + participe passé. It's less common in everyday conversation but appears often in formal writing and news articles.

En ayant terminé son travail, elle est rentrée chez elle. (Having finished her work, she went home.)
En étant arrivé en retard, il a raté le début du film. (Having arrived late, he missed the start of the movie.)

Set Expressions Built on "En + -ant"

A few gérondif phrases are so common they function almost like fixed vocabulary. Learning them as chunks will make your spoken French sound noticeably more fluid.

En passant (by the way, in passing): En passant, tu as vu le nouvel épisode ? (By the way, did you see the new episode?)
En attendant (in the meantime, while waiting): En attendant le bus, elle lisait un livre. (While waiting for the bus, she was reading a book.)
En arrivant (upon arriving): En arrivant à Paris, il a cherché un hôtel. (Upon arriving in Paris, he looked for a hotel.)
En commençant (starting with, by beginning): En commençant par le plus facile, tu gagneras du temps. (By starting with the easiest one, you'll save time.)

Bottom Line

Master three things: form the -ant by dropping -ons from the nous form and adding -ant; use "en + -ant" to describe two simultaneous actions or a method; and never use -ant to translate an English "-ing" that isn't paired with "en." Practice a few "en + -ant" sentences about your own daily routine and this structure will quickly become second nature.

Ready to put this into practice with a real speaking partner? Explore our French learning parcours to build fluency step by step.

The French Present Participle: Mastering the '-ant' Form and 'En + -ant'