French language Q&A Forum

Hello, I am a total beginner at French, and I hope someone can please guide me. I am having trouble recognising the different tenses when reading a sentence in French. In English we would say : "He READS a book" as an answer to a question like "what does he do whilst taking the tube?". 

If the question was "what is he doing?", In English we would say "He is READING/ a/ this/that". How do I tell whether the person is DOING something or DOES something in French? Example : 

"Elle lit un livre" She reads a book. 

"Elle lit un livre" she's reading a book. 

Initially, I thought you'd have to read the rest of the sentence to work it out, but I can't imagine this is how it works all the time. In English there is a distinctive difference : "I go to the .../I AM going to the..."

"He has a.../He HAD a..."

"I watch .../ I AM watching". 

Have I missed something in the lessons? 

Apologies for the long winded question and capitalisation. I like to believe I am fluent in English (it's the only language I know) however I find articulating in my own language difficult at the best of times !! 

Thanks 

hello,

I'd like to know whether the past participle agrees with the following pronouns me, te ,nous, vous? what happens in this case? Please give examples.

Thank you.

Trupti.

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Correction: count money