Making cheese is a game of patience and constant transformation. To describe a continuous, progressive evolution—like a cheese slowly aging in a cellar—French uses the verb aller.
Expressing progressive change
To say that something "keeps happening" or happens "more and more," combine a conjugated form of the verb aller (to go) with the gérondif (the preposition en + the present participle ending in -ant).
| During this phase, the fermentation keeps increasing. | Pendant cette phase, la fermentation va en augmentant. |
| During the ripening, the rind keeps hardening. | Pendant l'affinage, la croûte va en durcissant. |
Progressive change with reflexive verbs
Many verbs describing physical transformations are reflexive (like se développer or s'intensifier).
When using a reflexive verb in the gérondif, place its reflexive pronoun directly between en and the present participle.
| However, the mold goes on developing on the rind. | Cependant, la moisissure va en se développant sur la croûte. |
| The smell of the cheese keeps intensifying during the ripening. | L'odeur du fromage va en s'intensifiant pendant l'affinage. |
While the gérondif never changes its form, the verb aller must be conjugated to match the subject.
| The cheesemaker confirms it, the bacteria keep developing. | Le fromager le confirme, les bactéries vont en se développant. |
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