Le-g233rondif

Le gérondif
Le participe présent

The French present participle can never be used to talk
about what someone is doing.
The construction "je suis mangeant" (the literal translation of "I am eating") simply does
not exist in French - you must use the present tense: Je mange.
Je mange. = I eat.
I do eat.
I am eating.
To emphasize the ongoing nature of an activity, you can use the French expression être
en train de: je suis en train de manger - "I'm eating (right now).

The French present participle cannot be used
after another verb.
"J'aime lisant" does not exist.
To say "I like reading," you must use the infinitive: J'aime lire.

The present participle as a noun indicating an activity:
"Seeing is believing," is another case in which the French translation requires
the infinitive: Voir, c'est croire.
Sometimes you can just use a noun; to translate "Reading is fun," you have two options:
Lire est un plaisir, La lecture est un plaisir.

Formation
The French present participle is formed by dropping -ons from the nous form of the present
tense and adding -ant.
The three exceptions are avoir, être, and savoir*.
*irregular: savoir -- sachant (verb) -- savant (adjective or noun)
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Remember that for pronominal verbs, you must keep the appropriate reflexive pronoun in
front of the present participle:
me coiffant (doing my hair), en nous levant (upon [us] getting up), etc.
French present participles
verb parler finir rendre voir avoir être savoir
nous
form parlons finissons rendons voyons avons sommes savons
present
participle parlant finissant rendant voyant ayant étant sachant*