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The present participles and past participles
of verbs are often used as adjectives. So they agree in number and gender with the noun they modify, just like regular adjectives.
The distinction between adjectives derived from present and past participles is similar to that between -ing and -ed adjectives in English:
fatigant (tiring) / fatigué (tired).
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| Oh, la, la, Tex est fatigué après ses cours. |
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Oh, la, la, Tex is tired after his classes. |
| Pff... quand il parle de philosophie, Tex est parfois fatigant. |
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Pff... when he talks about philosophy, Tex is sometimes tiring. |
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present participles used as adjectives
The present participle is formed by dropping the -ons ending from the nous form in the present tense
and adding -ant.
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| Tex est un tatou intéressant. (intéresser) |
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Tex is an interesting armadillo. |
| Tammy est une fille charmante. (charmer) |
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Tammy is a charming girl. |
| Edouard et Corey sont des animaux amusants. (amuser) |
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Edouard and Corey are amusing animals. |
| Bette et Fiona sont des créatures surprenantes. (surprendre) |
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Bette and Fiona are surprising creatures. |
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past participles used as adjectives
Past participle formation depends on the verb class (-er,
-ir, -re, or irregular).
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| Tex et Tammy forment un couple uni. (unir) |
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Tex and Tammy form a united couple. |
| Pauvre Joe-Bob! Il est perdu. . . comme d'habitude. (perdre) |
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Poor Joe-Bob! He's lost ... as usual. |
| Edouard et Tex sont des Français peu américanisés. (américaniser) |
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Edouard and Tex are not very Americanized French people. |
| Bette est trop gâtée. (gâter) |
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Bette is too spoiled. |
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Note that past participles used as adjectives may have a passive meaning,
and thus be followed by an agent introduced by par (by) or de (with):
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| Bette est une chatte entourée d'admirateurs. |
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Bette is a cat surrounded by admirers. |
| Bette est très gâtée par ses admirateurs. |
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Bette is very spoiled by her admirers. |
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| Joe-Bob: Corey, tu as vu? Il y a un article absolument choquant dans le Daily Texan. Il s'agit d'un prof qui a des personnalités multiples! |
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Joe-Bob: Corey, did you see? There's an absolutely shocking article in the Daily Texan. It's about a prof who has multiple personalities. |
| Corey: Ah oui, je l'ai eu le semestre passé. Bien sûr, j'ai raté mon examen, mais au moins ses conférences étaient plus amusantes que celles des autres profs. |
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Corey: Ah, yes. I had him last semester. Of course, I failed my exam, but at least his lectures were more amusing than the other profs'. |
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