# FR: present simple / present continuous / emphatic do



## Gargouille

(Me corrigez, s'il vous plait.)

Il y a treize ans depuis j'apprenais le francais en lycee et, maintenant, je voudrais me derouiller ma memoire.  J'aurai besoin de beaucoup d'aide.  

Ma premier question est a propros de conjugasion de verbes continu.  Je commprends qu'on traduirait: "he walks," comme, "il marche," mais comment on dit: "he_ is_ walking"?  "Il est marcher"?

Merci d'avance.


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## Qcumber

Il y a treize ans que j'ai appris le francais au lycée et, maintenant, je voudrais me dérouiller ma mémoire. J'aurai besoin de beaucoup d'aide. 
Ma première question est à propros de conjugaison de verbes à l'aspect continu. Je comprends qu'on traduise: "he walks," par "il marche," mais comment dit-on: "he_ is_ walking"?  

PRÉSENT
*Il marche.*
ou
*Il est en train de marcher.*

PASSÉ
*Il marchait.*
ou
*Il était en train de marcher.*


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## Gargouille

Merci.  Ainsi, on peut dire, *"est en train de" + l'infinitif* pour toutes verbes a la forme continue?

I am thinking --> Je suis en train de penser.
He is speaking --> Il est en train de parler.
etc.


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## titi22

yes. je suis en train de te répondre, par exemple...


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## Qcumber

Gargouille said:


> Merci. Ainsi, on peut dire, *"est en train de" + l'infinitif* pour toutes verbes a la forme continue?
> 
> I am thinking --> Je suis en train de penser.
> He is speaking --> Il est en train de parler.
> etc.


Correct.
I am thinking --> Je suis en train de penser.
Better. > Je suis en train de réfléchir. >  Je réfléchis.
Par exemple:Tais-toi, je réfléchis.


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## sun-and-happiness

Mon livre de francais dit que pour traduire, par example, _I run, I'm running, I do run_ on a seulement une forme en francais _je cours_. Est-il vrai? Est-ce qu'il n'y a pas une forme pour exprimer le -ing anglais? Merci beaucoup d'avance.


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## Bamérique

Your book is correct for translating those 3 present forms. 

The -ing in English is not equivalent to ONE thing in French.

You might find "-ing" translated as "-ant"

Il parle en dormant = He talks while sleeping

-ant is a present participle.  It's typically used with "en"  (while, by, upon)

He's sleeping = il dort
He's eating = Il mange
He speaks while eating = Il parle en mangeant

Etc!


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## alantrick

That's true; however, "He's sleeping" isn't exactly the same as "Il dort" though that's how you would normally translate it. In English there are two forms that correspond to this:


He's sleeping (l'aspect progressif en français)
He sleeps (non-progressif peut-être*)
In English, we use the first normally, but will use the second for cases that are not progressive. So


He's sleeping upstairs
"Let's shave his head while he sleeps"
This is in contrast to the "être en train de" in French which is definitley "marked" (I don't know the French for that). From what I gather, it's only used when necessary.

* One might call it 'unmarked' but I think the previous one is less marked. "Unmarked" is funny linguistic speech for which one is "used by defaut' so-to-speak, "marked" being something that you only use in particular circumstances.


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## Kalana

You can translate "-ing" to "en train de".
_He's running_ - _Il est en train de courir._

But it's generally used when someone ask you a question about something/someone. For example :

1. What are you doing ? - _Qu'est-ce que tu fais ?_ 
I'm eating. - _Je suis *en train de* manger._
You can also say :
What are you doing ? - _Qu'est-ce que tu es *en train de* faire ?_
I'm eating. - _Je mange._

2. Why isn't John here yet ? - _Pourquoi John n'est pas encore là ?_
Because he's doing shopping. - _Parce qu'il est *en train de* faire des courses._


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## LILOIA

"être en train de" is used very parsimoniously in French (it's a bit "lourd"), only to emphasize, and it's not compulsory, as in English.

He's eating : "il mange" *or* "il est en train de manger" (comme on veut).


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## sun-and-happiness

Liloia, tous les autres ont dit que l'on peut utiliser "être en train de", pourquoi est-ce que vous dites qu'il n'est pas très utilisée?


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## LILOIA

Il n'est jamais obligatoire et on est très loin de l'utiliser comme en anglais.
La plupart du temps, le présent progressif en anglais est traduit par un présent simple en français.
e.g. _ It's raining_ : "il pleut" et non "il est en train de pleuvoir"


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## alantrick

Je suis d’accord.

En anglais, on a dit "present simple" et "present progressive," mais dans le sens sémantique le "present progressive" est (en réalité) plus 'simple'. Voici un autre example avec aller:


*Ce que tu veux dire* : *anglais* : *français*
*doit être progressif*:  "he's going": "il est en train d'aller"
*est l'un ou l'autre*: "he's going" : "il va"
*ne peut pas être progressif*: "he goes" : "il va"
On dirait normalement "he's going" ou "il va".


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## LILOIA

I would like an example when one would say in French : "Il est en train d'aller."


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## alantrick

I'm not sure this works, I'm not French and I'm half making it up; but it seems right to me.

> Est-il à Paris ?
> Non, mais il est en train d'y aller.

Edit: Grâce à Google, un autre exemple.


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## LILOIA

Well, this dialogue sounds like a translation from the English. I can't figure out a situation when I would say that. I'd probably say : "Il y va en ce moment même" , but that's not the kind of sentence that would come to mind. 
What I am saying is that the progressive tenses in English are not systematically translated by "en train de" (by far).
Take any page of any book and count the occurences of the present continuous in English and do the same with a French book : you will obviously find several in English, probably none in French.

It's different with the simple past continuous (I was going / I was sleeping), as it is translated by our French "imparfait" (j'allais / je dormais).

There MUST be something about these tenses somewhere in the WR.


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## alantrick

Technically, this is aspect, not tense.

Maybe this is more correct than my previous explanation:


In the present tense in English, the progressive must be marked (either by its presence or its absence). You can have progressive or non-progressive, but it has to be one or the other.
In French the present tense is not marked for progressiveness. In the very few cases where progressiveness is important, it might be specified on by an auxillary phrase (en train de, en voie de) or prepositions like "en ce moment même". However, this isn't strictly a grammatical feature and is dependant on the context. Also, in these situations you probably wouldn't simply use the present progresive in English either.
It's similar to the difference between "his/her house" and "sa maison". In English the owner's gender must be marked, in French it is not. If for some odd reason it is important, the French will just change the gramatical structure (something like "la maison de lui" ou "la maison d'elle")


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## RoblinSteel

I'm new here and new to French. 

I'm learning how to conjugate regular verbs in the present tense, but I'm not sure what kind of sentences I'm learning how to make--for example: 

Dictionary form: Parler (to speak)
1. First person: (a) Je parl*e* (singular); (b) Nous parl*ons* (plural)
2. Second person: (a) Tu parl*es *(singular); (b) vous parl*ez* (plural)
3. Third person: (a) il/elle/on parl*e* (singular); (b) ils/elles parl*ent* (plural)​
So, for 1(a), would I be saying I speak? or I'm speaking? How bout 2(a), you speak? or speaking? To use a different verb, for example, is "Je apporte" "I bring" or "I'm bringing." So basically, would the above conjugations be similar to the ~ing form in English? 

Thanks!


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## Maître Capello

Hello RoblinSteel and welcome!

Actually, the present in French can be translated in English either as a present simple or as a present continuous depending on the exact context. Just remember that we don't have any continuous verb forms in French.


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## jann

And indeed, as a side note, there is even a third way that we can translate the French present into English:  the emphatic present.

Thus _je parle_ may be "I speak," "I am speaking" or "I do speak" depending on context... and conversely, all three English present tenses may be translated simply as _je parle_.


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