132 - How to Use ‘Être en train de...’ in French
In this episode, you'll learn how to use the French expression 'être en train de...' to describe actions happening right now.
After the lesson, head over to the French Made Easy Exercise Library to practice!
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Transcript
Intro: Welcome to the French Made Easy podcast, where I give you all the basics you need to speak French clearly and confidently. I'm your host, Mathilde, and I'm a French teacher, mumpreneur, and bread and cheese lover. Join me as I dive into all things French for beginners, and deliver to you bite-sized and easy-to-follow lessons every Tuesday. Let's get started, "on commence"!
Hello everyone! Bonjour à tous! Welcome back to the French Made Easy podcast! This is episode number 132, numéro 132!
So today, we are talking about the expression “être en train de…” which is an expression that is used to describe actions in French that are currently happening. Roughly translated as ‘to be in the process of doing something…’ so it has nothing to do with trains, right? But I’ll explain more, of course, in a minute.
As always, for every one new on the podcast, make sure you have downloaded your lesson's cheat sheet so you can follow along as you listen. And after listening to the lesson, head over to the French Made Easy exercise library, to download your exercises. It’s all free, and you'll find all the download links in the episode notes on your podcast platform.
Alright, so as I was saying, “être en train de…” is an expression that is used to describe actions in French that are currently happening. It’s sort of similar to the English present continuous tense ("I am eating," “you are talking”, “she is running" etc), but with a lot more emphasis. And I insist on a lot more emphasis on the fact that the action is currently in progress. When you use this expression, you’re really insisting on the fact that this action is actively in progress.
Now there’s no direct translation for the expression “être en train de…” can be roughly translated as ‘to be in the process of doing sth’, ‘to be currently doing something’, ‘to be in middle of doing something’…
So as you can see, or hear, it’s not just ‘to be doing something.’ There’s another layer to it, there’s another layer of emphasis on the fact that you are in the middle of doing something. You’re busy doing something!
So it’s important not to overdo this expression, because the normal usage of the present tense (je mange, je cours, je parle, etc.) often times is enough to express that something that is currently happening. So you’ve got to use this expression sparingly. It’s really reserved for the cases where you want to emphasise that an action is happening right now, currently, at this very minute. That you’re busy doing that right now. So it depends on the context.
Now, this expression: ‘être en train de…’ can be used in the imperfect tense (imparfait) and even in the future tense (futur), but today just to keep things simple, we’re going to focus only on this expression used in the present tense. (present)
Now let’s dive in, let’s see how to actually use this expression.
The sentence structure is:
Subject + the verb "être" (conjugated) + the expression "en train de" + infinitive verb.
/!\ don’t forget that DE becomes D’ before a vowel or mute H. /!\
So it’s always followed by an infinitive verb. The verb in its infinitive form, not conjugated. Only the verb “être” when you use this expression is conjugated.
I’m going to give you some examples in a second, but I also want to add that you really need to know the conjugation of the verb “être” in the present tense to be able to use this expression properly. So if you’re not comfortable with the present tense of the verb “être” yet, it’s completely fine, but head over to episode number 15 first and come back to this episode after.
Alright so, let’s see a few examples now.
Je suis en train de manger. (I’m currently eating) 🍽️
Now technically, you could simply translate this sentence as ‘ I’m eating.’ But I really want you to understand, if I didn’t make that clear enough, that this is used to emphasise the fact that I’m eating right now at this very minute. So a better translation, would be (I am currently eating. / I’m in the middle of eating. / I’m eating right now. / I’m in the process of eating.) All of these translations are valid.
Tu es en train de lire. (You are currently reading.) 📖
Il est en train de courir. (He is currently running.) 🏃
Nous sommes en train de regarder un film. (We are watching a movie right now.) 🎬
Est-ce que vous êtes en train de travailler ? (Are you are currently working?)
Elles sont en train de jouer. (They are playing right now.) 🎮
So all of theses examples insist on the fact that these actions are happening at the very moment of speaking, are currently in progress. So it’s adding another layer from the normal present tense. The normal present tense of these sentences, if you want to compare, would be:
Je mange.
Tu lis.
Il court.
Nous regardons un film.
Est-ce que vous travaillez ?
Elles jouent.
But with the normal present tense, without the use of ‘être en train de’, there’s no emphasis on the fact that these are actions in progress, are currently happening. So that’s the difference between the 2.
I hope that this was helpful to you. Alright so that’s it for today’s episode. Now head over to the French Made Easy Exercise Library and download your exercises to practice what you’ve learned today.
I’ll speak to you next week. À la semaine prochaine! 💖 Bye.