le participe présent

use

The present participle is like English verbs that end in -ing. It’s used to show that two actions are taking place at the same time.

While working at Home Depot, she met a friend from high school.

Running through Garfield Park, they found the greenhouse in the center.

Sometimes the preposition en comes before the present participle:

formation

Form it by dropping the -ons ending from the nous form in the present tense and adding -ant. Present participles are invariable.

Tout en + present participle is used to stress that two actions are simultaneous (and sometimes contradictory). Remember to make the liaison between tout and en.

Note that the English -ing forms are usually translated by an infinitive construction in French rather than a present participle. For example: