Translating the -ing form of verbs with L'Infinitif (not -ant)

Hi Walter,

Very interesting comments...

answered

Hi Walter,

I don't think there's any vulgarity attached to, 'ça craint' in French it is just slang .

I have heard it used by young people to mean a fashion faux-pas like a comment adressed to the wrong people wearing leggings ...

The other expression I have never heard personally but I am old-fashioned too!!

Many thanks, Cecile.

Best regards from one old-fashioned person to another, ;-)

Walter B.

Hi Dernier,

It means simply you can't conduct a successful loving relationship if you are always staring at your phone ....

Hello, Cecile,

YOUR translation is quite clear, but I agree with Dernier that the "doe-eyes at the screen in-between" is a bit obscure.  To me it resembles a Google-translation or perhaps an obscure Imagist poem ... you have to kind of guess at the meaning.

Walter B.

Hi Solveigh,

I think the sentence should be:

Ils détestent jouer au foot. The infinitive of jouer, not the 3rd person plural. So you are correct.

-- Chris.

Hi Solveigh,

As Chris says the answer should be, Ils détestent jouer au foot.

But if this relates to a specific quiz, you should use the 'Report it' button in your Correction Board, as it links directly to it and makes it easier for us to answer you...

The Q& A is for more general language questions.

Bonne continuation!

Je déteste les voyages. -- I hate the travels (= I hate traveling).
Je déteste voyager. -- I hate to travel.

I can't really detect any significant difference between them.

-- Chris (not a native speaker).

Hi Jonathan,

It is just two ways of saying the same thing:

Je déteste les voyages = I hate travel

Je déteste voyager = I hate travelling

Hope this helps!

You can also say faire du shopping.

-- Chris (not a native speaker).

My French teacher (born and brought up in Paris) said that 'faire des courses' refers specifically to shopping for food while the other expressions are used for the general shopping one often does in city centre stores. Any comments?

Hello John,

That was my point regarding the context. In the tutorial there are only two references to shopping: `Faire du Courses` for groceries and `Faire les Magasins` for doing the malls etc.There is no mention at all of `Faire du Shopping`. The latter seems very anglicized, but if it is colloquial, then I have learnt something.

Hi Nim,

the many uses of the English continuous form (-ing form) can lead to confusion when translating to/from French.

In the lesson you refer to, the continuous form really stands in for the infinitive. A good hint is that the infinitive even works in English, even though it isn't quite as natural as the -ing form:

Dieting is useful. -- To diet is useful. -- Faire un régime ist util.

I guess with the "-ant" form you mean the gerund. It serves a different purpose and cannot replace the inifinitive in the above examples.

En faisant un régime j'ai faim souvent. -- While dieting I am often hungry.
Here the gerund expresses a simultaneity. Note that in English you could also omit "while" and still have the sentence work.

En prenant le train il a réussi à y arriver à l'heure. -- By taking the train he succeeded in arriving there in time. The gerund can also express causality, as in this example. Again, dropping "by" would also work in English.

The upshot is that the English infinitive is indistinguishable from the English gerund which is why a lot of English speaker don't know how to differentiate between them. In French they are distincly different concepts and not to be mixed.

-- Chris (not a native speaker).

...sorry, in my last paragraph I referred to the "English infinitive" but I really meant the English continuous form.

-- Chris.

Hi Nim,

Just to add to what Chris has just said, many verbs expressing likes and dislikes, (i.e. to love, to like, to prefer, to hate etc ), will be followed by a verb ending in  'ing' in English. 

In French, however,  as you have two verbs following each other ( two separate actions) the second verb will be in the infinitive. e.g.

I hate peeling potatoes = Je déteste éplucher les pommes de terre

I prefer walking to running= Je préfère marcher à courir

I enjoy cycling = J'aime faire du vélo

The 'ant' of the gerund (gérondif in French) conveys two concurrent actions, e.g.

Il travaille en sifflant (He wistles while working/he works)

Il marche en boitant (He walks with a limp)

Je l'ai aperçu en arrivant (I noticed him on arrival /when I arrived) 

Hope this helps!

Can you provide an example?

Isn't "parce qu'on voit les gens souffrir" the example?

Isn't "parce qu'on voit les gens souffrir" the example?

Oh, silly me, I must have missed themsecomd line. Sorry. 

The point of this lesson is to demonstrate the use of the infinitive for some continuous form constructions in English. In the example you cite, "voit" is the verb and "souffrir" is the infinitive (sufferING). 

Parce qu'on voit les gens souffrir. -- Because one sees the people suffering. 

-- Chris (not a native speaker). 

That is what I thought. So instead of "La fille qui joue du piano est mon amie" Could I use "La fille jouer du piano est mon amie"

No, that would be incorrect. It isn't that the French infinitive simply corresponds to the English present continuous form. Rather, the French present tense can often times also be translated as present continuous in English.

The girl who plays the piano is my friend. -- La fille qui joue du piano est mon amie.
The girl playing the piano is my friend. -- La fille en jouant du piano est mon amie. (you'd need a gerundive in French)

But to demonstrate it in a simpler sentence:

La fille joue du piano -- The girl plays piano. And also: The girl is playing the piano.

The problem is that in English the gerundive of a verb is identical with the "-ing" form.

The girl playing the piano. -- Here "playing" is the gerundive.
The girl is playing the piano. -- Here "playing" is present continuous tense.

I don't know if that makes it any clearer, though....

-- Chris (not a native speaker).

Yes, it does make it a little clearer. Thanks! Can I ask another question? Is "jouant" ever used by itself without "en"?

Without the "en", you have yourself a present participle. It is less frequently used than its counterpart in English but it is being used.

Elle est partie, oubliant ses clefs. -- She left, forgetting her keys.
Elle est partie en oubliant ses clefs. -- (sounds silly) She left by/while forgetting her keys.

Most often, the present participle is used as an adjective: charmant, intéressant, courant, stressant, etc.

In this context, it is useful to note the change in meaning between the following pairs of adjectives:

stressant -- stressé: stressing (stressful) -- stressing
intéressant -- intéressé: interesting -- interested

Greetings, -- Chris (not a native speaker).

Thanks your your help, the two sentences about keys illustrates the differences. Thanks again! Cheers!

" La fille en jouant du piano est mon amie" sounds odd to me. Are you sure it's possible to say this?

It sounds pretty stilted to my ears but it would be grammatically correct. You'd never hear it said, though, I believe. 

-- Chris. 

If I may just add :

You cannot say, "la fille en jouant du piano..." only, "la fille qui joue du piano s'appelle Sylvie".

To answer Lynne's original question , the verb 'souffrir' is in the infinitive because of the rule:

When 2 verbs follow each other the second one is in the infinitive.

e.g.

Je vais la voir jouer du piano demain = I am going to see her play the piano tomorrow

J'ai vu la maison brûler = I saw the house burn/on fire

Hope this helps!

Hi Lynn, what would be your question? -- Chris.