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Le gel arrivant, les fruits du verger ne peuvent plus mûrir.

Le gel arrivant, les fruits du verger ne peuvent plus mûrir.
The frost arriving, the fruits of the orchard can no longer ripen.
From Lesson 303:Absolute participle clauses·French

Questions & Answers about Le gel arrivant, les fruits du verger ne peuvent plus mûrir.

What is the grammatical role of Le gel before arrivant in this sentence?
Le gel is the subject of the present participle arrivant. Normally, a participle clause shares the same subject as the main sentence (which is les fruits here). However, this is an 'absolute participle construction' where the participle has its own distinct subject. It is used to elegantly express a cause (Because the frost is arriving) or a timeframe (As the frost arrives).
Why don't we use en here, as in Le gel en arrivant?
You use en + present participle (the gerund) only when the action is being performed by the subject of the main clause. If we wrote en arrivant, les fruits..., it would literally mean the fruits themselves are arriving! Because the frost (le gel) is doing the arriving, we drop en and put the new subject right next to the participle.
'The frost arriving' sounds a bit literal in English. How is this absolute clause best understood?
While 'The frost arriving' is the literal translation, this French construction often translates more naturally into English using words like 'As', 'Since', or 'With'. A very natural English equivalent would be 'With the frost arriving' or 'Since the frost is setting in'.
The verb mûrir (to ripen) looks related to another word. What is the connection?
It comes directly from the adjective mûr, which means 'ripe' or 'mature'. Adding the -ir suffix is a common way to turn an adjective into a verb that means 'to become [adjective]'. You can see the same pattern with words like grand (tall/big) becoming grandir (to grow).
Why use ne peuvent plus instead of just ne peuvent pas?
Using ne ... pas would simply mean the fruits 'cannot ripen' as a general fact. By using ne ... plus, which means 'no longer' or 'not anymore', the sentence emphasizes a change in state: the fruits were previously in the process of ripening, but the arriving frost has now put a stop to it.

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