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

You can also say faire du shopping.

-- Chris (not a native speaker).

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. 

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

Bonjour Daniel,
Pose ce téléphone! Se faire les yeux doux par écran interposé, si ça marchait, ça se saurait! --->
Put down that phone! Making doe eyes with a screen in-between, if that worked, we would know!
I must admit that I am in agreement with you. Even the English translation seems stilted and awkward. I am wondering if this is a UK expression of a sort.
Perhaps someone from the Kwiziq team will be able to give us a good explanation, and then again, perhaps if the full context of the phrase was known then it would make more sense.
Bonne chance !

I was just going to ask that very same question!! I read it a few times and it just doesn’t make sense.

Can someone advise?

Bonjour Michael,
I admit that I had to look this one up. In a word, yes, poser un lapin is a french locution that means «to stand someone up».
From the online Collins-Robert Dictionary we have this listing:
poser un lapin à qn
to stand sb up

J'espère que ma réponse vous aiderait.
Bonne chance et bonne continuation dans vos études en français, la langue de Molière et qui a été utilisé par le monde français depuis l’époque d’Hugues Capet

Merci Ron.

Bonjour John !

First, Basile is a masculine name :)
But more to the point, "tard" is not an adjective here, but an adverb (late), therefore it never changes nor agrees :
Il se couche tard.
Elle se couche tard.
Ils se couchent tard.
Elles se couchent tard.

I hope that's helpful!
À bientôt !

Thank you for your quick response!

-ant is seen in the present participle. You can use it to form things that look like -ing but they aren't serving as infinitives.

Je fais l'exercice en nageant. == I exercise by swimming.

When you work with the infitive you just use the -er, -ir, -re form of the verb and not the present participle.

Here's some more information - https://www.laits.utexas.edu/tex/gr/vpp1.html

Thank you.