A2 · The present tense
In progress: être en train de
There is no continuous form, and it is rarely missed.
At a glance
- Remember
- The plain present does almost all of it.
- When
- Before the past
- The past
- Past linked to the present
- The present
- The future
- Completed in the future
The present — What holds at the moment, what is under way, or what is always the case.
- Form
- je lisI read / I am reading
- Signal words
- maintenant
- juste
- en ce moment
- Trap
- Wrong:Je suis lisant un livre.Right:Je lis un livre.
Your turn
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The form
How the forms are built
Each row gives the meaning first, then the form in French. The colours show what changes from one form to the next.
stem (regular) stem (irregular) tense marker person ending auxiliary verb
| I read / I am reading | je lis |
| you read | tu lis |
| he, she reads | il, elle lit |
| we read | nous lisons |
| you read (plural, polite) | vous lisez |
| they read | ils, elles lisent |
| I am reading right now | je suis en train de lire |
| you are reading right now | tu es en train de lire |
| he, she is reading right now | il, elle est en train de lire |
| we are reading right now | nous sommes en train de lire |
| you are reading right now (plural, polite) | vous êtes en train de lire |
| they are reading right now | ils, elles sont en train de lire |
| I have just read | je viens de lire |
| you have just read | tu viens de lire |
| he, she has just read | il, elle vient de lire |
| we have just read | nous venons de lire |
| you have just read (plural, polite) | vous venez de lire |
| they have just read | ils, elles viennent de lire |
| I am going to read | je vais lire |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is aboutThe word that calls for it
The ordinary present covers the continuous as well.
Qu’est-ce que tu fais ? — Je lis.What are you doing? — I am reading.
être en train de stresses that something is under way.
Ne me dérange pas, je suis en train de travailler.Do not disturb me, I am working.
venir de says that something has just finished.
Il vient de partir.He has just left.
Example sentences
En ce moment, je suis en train de chercher un appartement.At the moment I am looking for a flat.
Elle vient de rentrer.She has just got home.
Nous regardons un film.We are watching a film.
Je viens d’arriver.I have just arrived.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
An English speaker goes looking for a continuous and builds one: Je suis lisant does not exist. And venir de is not movement — Il vient de partir is «he has just left», not «he is coming from leaving». The two mistakes have one cause: assembling a French tense out of English parts instead of using the form that is already there.
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
English splits the present three ways — «I read», «I am reading», «I do read» — and French has one form for all three. Je lis is whichever of them the situation calls for. There is no auxiliary to add and no participle to build; je suis lisant is not a thing.
When the being-in-the-middle really matters, there is être en train de plus the infinitive. It is an emphasis, not an obligation, and using it for every English «am -ing» makes a sentence sound laboured.
The opposite — just finished — is venir de plus the infinitive: Je viens de manger is «I have just eaten». It has nothing to do with coming from anywhere, and it is the ordinary way to say «just», where English uses an adverb inside the perfect.
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The verbs on this page, in every form: venir · être · faire · arriver · travailler · partir · chercher · lire