FR: present tense / Je marche - I walk, I am walking, I do walk

[Miguel25]

Hi everybody !!

How could I say " I am studying, I am walking, I am ...ing" in French?

Do I have to use "participe présent" ?

I am starting lo learn French, so any help will be welcome.

Merci en avance.

 

[claude123]

Hi Miguel,
I guess you are trying to learn French via English, even though your native language is Portuguese ? It will be very difficult.
As for your immediate problem, in English, tenses have two forms : the ordinary form and the progressive form. Progressive action (considered in progress at a given moment), is expressed by the progressive form of the verb:
Do not make any noise, he is sleeping.
Not so in French. We would say: ne faites pas de bruit, il dort.
So, no in the cases you mention, you do not use participe présent: j'étudie, je marche, etc..

 

[river]

Je marche - I walk, I am walking, I do walk

Il marche - he walks, he is walking, he does walk

Nous marchons - we walk, we are walking, we do walk

 

[french4beth]

Hi everybody !!

How could I say " I am studying, I am walking, I am ...ing" in French?

Do I have to use "participe présent" ?

I am starting lo learn French, so any help will be welcome.

Merci en avance.

Hi Miguel25,

You can say « J’étudie… Je marche… Je ____ » - in French, you use the 1st person singular, présent de l’indicatif (present indicative).



This tense can also be used in French if you want to say, “I have been waiting for a long time,” (present participle) which in French would be « j’attends depuis longtemps. »


Good luck to you!

 

[Mycall]

As a matter of fact, the only place you could find the "ing" form translated by using a participe présent is in "Astérix the Gaul". (Tongue in cheek...)

 

[Welshie]

I was always taught that the indicative present in French has 3 meanings:

EG. Jouer

Je joue = I play, I am playing OR I do play (for emphasis in English)

All of these 3 are covered by the present indicative in French.

You only use the present participle for a specific set of sayings...particularly "en + present part" = by so doing.

EG

You will learn by playing (I wish!) = Tu apprendras en jouant

It is used for some other things as well, but I believe that is the main one...

 

[Miguel25]

Thanks everybody!! It was really helpful.

I know that learning French via English is more difficult than via Portuguese, but is almost impossible to find online study material in Portuguese.

Mais uma vez,obrigado !! ( Once again, thanks !! )