French · Chapter 21 · Lesson 15 · Grammar primer
The present participle and the gerund
The -ant form (parlant, finissant, with irregulars etant, ayant, sachant) and the gerund en + participle for simultaneity (en mangeant), means (en travaillant) and condition, under the same-subject rule, plus why French has no -ing continuous tense.
The short version
French has no continuous tense
Je suis mangeant does not exist, and producing it is the clearest signal of an English speaker. Je mange covers both I eat and I am eating; je mangeais covers I was eating. If you genuinely need to stress that something is in progress, French says être en train de.
Je suis en train de manger.
The gérondif belongs to the main subject
En plus the -ant form only works when both actions share a subject. En entrant dans la pièce, j'ai vu Marie means I came in and I saw. It cannot mean you saw Marie coming in; that needs a relative clause, j'ai vu Marie qui entrait. English ignores the rule, which is why learners break it.
En entrant dans la pièce, j'ai vu Marie.
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