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J'y vois souvent des passants portant des sacs lourds.

J'y vois souvent des passants portant des sacs lourds.
I often see passersby carrying heavy bags there.
From Lesson 160:Present participles replacing relative clauses (-ant)·French

Questions & Answers about J'y vois souvent des passants portant des sacs lourds.

How does portant replace a relative clause here?
In this sentence, portant (carrying) replaces the relative clause qui portent (who are carrying). Using the present participle ending in -ant makes the sentence more concise. It is a very common way in French to shorten sentences that describe an action someone or something is doing in the moment.
Since des passants is plural, why doesn't portant have an -s at the end?
When the present participle acts as a verb describing an action—like carrying bags—it is invariable. This means its spelling is frozen and it never changes to agree with the noun. It would only take an -s if it were being used purely as an adjective to describe a static quality.
Wait, isn't passants also formed from a present participle?
Yes, good eye! The word passant originally comes from the present participle of passer (to pass). However, it has become a standard noun meaning a passerby. Because it acts as a noun in this sentence, it does take an -s for the plural, completely unlike the active verb portant.
Why is y placed right after Je instead of at the end of the sentence?
In French, the pronoun y (meaning 'there') must go directly before the conjugated verb it belongs to. So, instead of putting it at the end of the sentence like we do in English, it tucks in right before vois, combining with Je to create J'y vois.
Why does souvent come after vois? In English we say 'often see'.
In French, short adverbs like souvent (often) are placed immediately after the conjugated verb. You cannot put an adverb between the subject and the verb in French, which is why saying Je souvent vois would be grammatically incorrect.

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