Breakdown of Le piéton traversant la rue est mon frère.
être
to be
le frère
the brother
la rue
the street
mon
my (mon, ma, mes)
traverser
to cross
le piéton
the pedestrian
Questions & Answers about Le piéton traversant la rue est mon frère.
How is traversant working here instead of a normal verb?
Traversant is the present participle of traverser (to cross). In this sentence, it replaces a relative clause. Instead of saying Le piéton qui traverse la rue (The pedestrian who is crossing the street), we use the participle traversant to make the sentence more concise.
If the sentence was about multiple pedestrians, would traversant need an -s at the end?
Why isn't there an en before traversant?
You only use en before a present participle (forming what is called the gerund, like en traversant) when you mean 'while crossing' or 'by crossing' to describe how or when the main action happens. Here, we are just identifying the pedestrian, so we use the participle alone without en.
Is it more common to use traversant or qui traverse in everyday French?
In casual, everyday spoken French, you will hear qui traverse much more often. Using the present participle traversant to replace a relative clause is completely correct, but it is mostly found in formal writing, news reports, or literature.
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