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PARTICIPLES
What is a participle?
A participle is a verbal adjective. It retains characteristics of both parts
of speech; that is, a participle acts like both an adjective and a verb.
This sentence, in Latin, would have 4 participles:
The cooked food, having been prepared with great care, was hot,
steaming, and about to be eaten.
This sentence, in Latin, could have 2 or 3 participles:
The barking dog, about to eat the food, had been restrained by his
owner who was sweating from the effort.
 Like an adjective:
o a participle describes/modifies a noun
o a Latin participle must agree with the noun it modifies in
gender, number and case.
 Like a verb:
o a participle will have a tense, either in the present, future, or
perfect.
o a participle will also have voice, indicating whether the
subject is performing the action (active voice) or receiving the
action (passive voice).
o also, participles in the active voice may take objects if the
verb from which the participle derives takes an object (i.e. if
the participle is created from a transitive verb).
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PARTICIPLES
E.g. If the original verb means “see,” its participles are:
 “seeing” (present active)
o SAMPLE SENTENCES:
 “Lincoln was shot (while/as he was) seeing the play.”
 “A seeing person does not face the same challenges as a
visually impaired person”
 “having been seen” (perfect passive)
o SAMPLE SENTENCES:
 “With the play having been seen, the audience slowly
shuffled out of the theater.”
 “(Having been) seen by the cops, the thug didn’t even
bother to flush the weed down the toilet.”
 “about to see” (future active)
o SAMPLE SENTENCES:
 “I am about to see whether you understand participles or
not.”
 “About to see the movie, Jeff got a call on his tricked-out
Bluetooth-cellphonular camera-thingy and was booed by
the other patrons.”
Any of these participles can describe a noun and each tense/voice of the
participle has its own rules of formation in Latin.
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PARTICIPLES
FUNCTION OF THE PARTICIPLE
The participle shares the characteristics of two other parts of speech.
 A participle is like a verb, in that it expresses an action and has
tense and voice.
 It also takes a direct object if it is active and transitive.
 It is a verbal adjective and like any other adjective it will have case,
number, and gender and will modify a noun.
TENSES OF THE PARTICIPLE
The tenses of the participle, like those of the infinitive, are relative to
the time of the main verb.
 The present participle describes an action contemporaneous with
that of the main verb
 The perfect participle describes an action prior to that of the main
verb
 The future participle describes an action after or subsequent to
that of the main verb.
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PARTICIPLES
FORMATION OF PARTICIPLES
There are four participles in Latin, including the present and future in
the active voice, and the perfect in the passive voice (N.B. there is also
a future passive participle which we will study more later).
Present Active Participle: the present active participle is formed as
follows.
1. First and second conjugations: add -ns to the present stem.
voco, present stem vocā + ns = vocāns, calling.
moneo, present stem monē + ns = monēns, warning.
2. Third (including Third –IO) and fourth conjugations: add -ēns to
the present stem.
rego, present stem reg + ēns = regēns, ruling.
capio, present stem capi + ēns = capiēns, capturing.
audio, present stem audi + ēns = audiēns, hearing.
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PARTICIPLES
Perfect Passive Participle: The perfect passive participle is the fourth
principal part declined as a first and second declension adjective (like
parātus, -a, -um).
vocātus, -a, -um
monitus, -a, -um
rectus, -a, -um
captus, -a, -um
audītus, -a, -um
having been called
having been warned
having been ruled
having been captured
having been heard
Future Active Participle: This participle is formed by adding -ūrus, ūra, -ūrum to the base of the fourth principal part. It is also declined
like a 2-1-2 or first and second declension adjective (like bonus, -a, um)
vocatūrus, -a , -um
monitūrus, -a, -um
rectūrus, -a, -um
captūrus, -a, -um
audītūrus, -a, -um
going to call, about to call
going to warn, about to warn
going to rule, about to rule
going to capture, about to capture
going to hear, about to hear
The irregular verb sum, esse has only one participle form, the future
active: futūrus, -a, -um, “going to be, about to be.”
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PARTICIPLES
Future Passive Participle: This participle is formed similarly to the
rules for forming present active participles. Instead of adding –ns to the
present stem, however, you add –(e)ndus, -a, -um. The participle is
declined like a 2-1-2 adjective or first and second declension adjective.
1. First and second conjugations: add –ndus, -a, -um to the present
stem.
voco, present stem vocā + ndus, -a, -um = vocāndus, vocānda,
vocāndum, to be called, going to be called, about to be called.
moneo, present stem monē + ndus, -a, -um = monēndus,
monēnda, monēndum, to be warned, about to be warned, going to
be warned.
2. Third (including Third –IO) and fourth conjugations: add -endus, a, -um to the present stem.
rego, present stem reg + endus, -a, -um = regendus, regenda,
regendum, to be ruled, about to be ruled, going to be ruled.
capio, present stem capi + endus, -a, -um = capiendus, capienda,
capiendum, to be captured, about to be captured, going to be
captured.
audio, present stem audi + endus, -a, -um = audiendus, audienda,
audiendum, to be heard, about to be heard, going to be heard.
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PARTICIPLES
SUMMARY OF PARTICIPLES
The following summary lists an example of the participle for each
conjugation.
Active
Passive
Present:
vocāns, vocantis
monēns, monentis
regēns, regentis
capiēns, capientis
audiēns, audientis
NA...
(dum/cum clause)
Perfect:
arbitrātus, -a, -um
pollicitus, -a, -um
secūtus, -a, -um
gressus, -a, -um
ortus, -a, -um
vocatus, vocatī
monitus, monitī
rectus, rectī
captus, captī
auditus, auditī
Future:
vocaturus, vocaturī
moniturus, moniturī
recturus, recturī
capturus, capturī
auditurus, auditurī
vocandus, -a, -um
monendus, -a, -um
regendus, -a, -um
capiendus, -a, -um
audiendus, -a, -um
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PARTICIPLES
DECLENSION OF PARTICIPLES
The perfect passive, future active, and future passive participles are
declined like first and second declension adjectives. The present active
participle is declined like a third declension adjective, except it can
have an –e in the ablative singular as well as an –ī (recall that third
declension adjectives in the positive degree had only an –ī in the
ablative singular). The present participle uses the –e ending in the
ablative singular when operating as a participle or substantive. If it is
working just as an adjective, the ending is –ī.
adjective use:
participle use:
substantive use:
by a wise man, ā sapientī virō
with Caesar ruling Rome, Caesare Rōmam rēgente
he was hurt by a lover, ab amante laesus est
Singular
Nom.
Gen.
Dat.
Acc.
Abl.
Plural
M. & F. N.
M. & F. N.
vocāns vocāns
vocantis vocantis
vocantī vocantī
vocantem vocāns
vocante/ī vocante/ī
vocantēs vocantia
vocantium
vocantibus
vocantēs vocantia
vocantibus
Cavē! Be sure you can distinguish how to decline third declension
adjectives in the positive degree, present active participles, and third
declension adjectives in the comparative degree. Each is slightly
different from the others with regard to how many “–i”s to incorporate.
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Note on English participles: (taken from www.dictionary.com)
par·ti·ci·ple
P Pronunciation Key (pär t -s p l)
n.
A form of a verb that in some languages, such as English, can
function independently as an adjective, as the past participle baked
in We had some baked beans, and is used with an auxiliary verb to
indicate tense, aspect, or voice, as the past participle baked in the
passive sentence The beans were baked too long.
[Middle English, from Old French, variant of participe, from Latin
participium (translation of Greek metokhē, sharing, partaking,
participle), from particeps, particip-, partaker. See
participate.]
Usage Note: Participial phrases such as walking down the street or
having finished her homework are commonly used in English to modify
nouns or pronouns, but care must be taken in incorporating such phrases
into sentences. Readers will ordinarily associate a participle with the
noun, noun phrase, or pronoun adjacent to it, and misplacement may
produce comic effects as in He watched his horse take a turn around the
track carrying a racing sheet under his arm. A correctly placed
participial phrase leaves no doubt about what is being modified: Sitting
at her desk, Jane read the letter carefully.
Another pitfall in using participial phrases is illustrated in the following
sentence: Turning the corner, the view was quite different. Grammarians
would say that such a sentence contains a “dangling participle” because
there is no noun or pronoun in the sentence that the participial phrase
could logically modify. Moving the phrase will not solve the problem
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(as it would in the sentence about the horse with a racing sheet). To
avoid distracting the reader, it would be better to recast the sentence as
When we turned the corner, the view was quite different or Turning the
corner, we had a different view.
A number of expressions originally derived from participles have
become prepositions, and these may be used to introduce phrases that
are not associated with the immediately adjacent noun phrase. Such
expressions include concerning, considering, failing, granting, judging
by, and speaking of. Thus one may write without fear of criticism
Speaking of politics, the elections have been postponed or Considering
the hour, it is surprising that he arrived at all.
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