Gerund

French gerunds, called le gérondif, are equivalent of the English -ing ending. For example:

Usage of the Gerund

Rule 1: The gerund is often used to talk about two events that happen at the same time when the subject of both verbs is the same.

- It can also stand for a conditional sentence.

- It can also stand for a modal sentence to express the manner in which something is done.

Rule 2: The gerund can be used with all tenses and doesn't change its form.

Forming the Gerund

Rule 3: The gerund is made up of the preposition "en" and the present participle of the respective verb. To build the present participle, the ending -ons from the first person plural present has to be replaced by -ant.

For example: Parler (to speak): nous parlons -> en parlant.

Rule 4: There are only three irregular forms in the gerund:

Gerund with Pronouns and Negations

Rule 5: If a reflexive or object pronoun is followed by the verb, the pronoun is placed between "en" and the present participle.

- In a negation sentence, "en" comes first before the negation.