Present participle, gérondif and verbal adjective

Three forms end in -ant and they are not the same. The gérondif takes en and says how or when: en mangeant. The present participle replaces a relative clause: un homme portant un chapeau. The verbal adjective is an adjective and agrees: une histoire fatigante.

The usual slip. Leaving out the en of the gérondif, or using the -ant form where French wants an infinitive: «j'aime cuisinant» instead of «j'aime cuisiner».

Why it catches you out. English gives its -ing form every job at once: subject, object, continuous tense and adverbial. French splits those among the infinitive, the gérondif and a full clause, so one -ing sentence can need three different French answers.