PrepMyFrench
PrepMyFrench
Also known as: French gerund · en + participe présent · gerundive
The gérondif is the French construction en plus the present participle, such as en parlant or en étudiant. It functions like an adverb and expresses simultaneity, manner, cause, condition, or contrast. Its subject must be the same as the subject of the main verb.
En écoutant la radio, j'apprends du vocabulaire means I learn vocabulary while listening to the radio. Without en, parlant is a present participle, not a gérondif.
The gérondif helps advanced candidates vary sentence structure and express cause or manner concisely in writing.
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