Question
Updated on
18 Feb 2021
- English (UK)
-
French (France)
Question about French (France)
Can someone please explain to me how “être en train de” is used in normal, everyday circumstances?
When I was first taught French, I was told it is only used to emphasise the ongoing nature of an action, and not as a substitute for the English present progressive. I think the example was something like “tidy your room”/“I’m doing it now!” However, I’ve since encountered it in situations where the ongoing nature of the action doesn’t seem to be that important, and I would probably have used le présent instead.
Any examples would be great!
Can someone please explain to me how “être en train de” is used in normal, everyday circumstances?
When I was first taught French, I was told it is only used to emphasise the ongoing nature of an action, and not as a substitute for the English present progressive. I think the example was something like “tidy your room”/“I’m doing it now!” However, I’ve since encountered it in situations where the ongoing nature of the action doesn’t seem to be that important, and I would probably have used le présent instead.
Any examples would be great!
When I was first taught French, I was told it is only used to emphasise the ongoing nature of an action, and not as a substitute for the English present progressive. I think the example was something like “tidy your room”/“I’m doing it now!” However, I’ve since encountered it in situations where the ongoing nature of the action doesn’t seem to be that important, and I would probably have used le présent instead.
Any examples would be great!
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- French (France)
- English (US) Near fluent
@Mark_Griffiths so “être en train de” is like be+ verb + ing
Ex : Je suis en train de faire mes devoirs / i m doing my homework
But you can just put the verb conjugate without “être en train de”
Ex je fais mes devoirs / i m doing my homework
You are not obligated to use it
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- French (France)
@Mark_Griffiths well it's true that "être en train de" should be used only for actions that are ongoing
ex:
"je suis en train de faire mes devoirs" (I'm doing my homework)
"je suis en train de lui parler" : I'm talking to her/him (like right now)
I think it's actually the main use of "être en train de" BUT sometimes we use it as a substitute for the English present progressive, just like you said
ex:
"je suis en train de travailler sur un autre projet" (I'm currently working on another project)
however this can easily be replaced by présent simple : "je travaille sur un autre projet"
to put it in a nutshell, yes you can encounter "être en train de" to talk about something that is not necessarily happening at the moment , but in that case both present simple and "être en train de " Can be used, so if you stick to what you've learnt so far I don't see any problem !
hope this made sense !
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- French (France)
- Japanese Near fluent
- English (UK)
@-Elizabeth- Merci beaucoup! I think I’ll just stick to the present tense, and ‘être en train de’ only on special occasions 😃 Thank you!
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