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Table of Content Chapter 15 15.6.3 Differences in conditional clauses

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Chapter 15: Participle, infinitive and gerund

  15.6.2 Differences in conditional clauses
Following now some words about the differences in conditional clauses with participe présent and with participe passé.

  Examples  
  Construction with a present participle  
Working more we could finish sooner.
  Travaillant plus, nous pourrons terminer plus vite.
  Construction with a perfect participle
  Well cared fore it will run for another 100 years.
  Bien soigné, il marchera encore 100 ans.

We see there is a difference, and for those, who are a bit unsure, we have another example:

The cooking man and the cooked man, are not the same, are they?

The perfect participle describes a passive form, something is done to the subject (the cooked man), the present participle describes an active action, the subject is doing something (the cooking man).


Now we find that in conditional clauses with present or perfect participle the condition is not depending on the form of the participle. The only difference is the type of action (active or passive) to or by the subject. This also means that all three types of conditional clauses can be formed with participles: Realis of the present, Irrealis of the present and the Irrealis of the past.
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