Participle

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A participle is a form of a verb that is used in a sentence to modify a noun, noun phrase, verb or verb phrase, and thus plays a role similar to that of an adjective or adverb^[] (some languages have distinct forms for adverbial participles and adjectival participles). It is one of the types of nonfinite verb forms. Its name comes from the Latin participium,^[] a calque of Greek metochē "partaking" or "sharing";^[] it is so named because the Ancient Greek and Latin participles "share" some of the categories of the adjective or noun (gender, number, case) and some of those of the verb (tense and voice).

Participles may correspond to the active voice (active participles), where the modified noun is taken to represent the agent of the action denoted by the verb; or to the passive voice (passive participles), where the modified noun represents the patient (undergoer) of that action. Participles in particular languages are also often associated with certain verbal aspects or tenses. The two types of participle in English are traditionally called the present participle (forms such as writing, singing and raising; these same forms also serve as gerunds and verbal nouns) and the past participle (forms such as written, sung and raised; regular participles such as the last, as well as some irregular ones, have the same form as the finite past tense).

In some languages, participles can be used in the periphrastic formation of compound verb tenses, aspects or voices. For example, one of the uses of the English present participle is to express continuous aspect (as in John is working), while the past participle can be used in expressions of perfect aspect and passive voice (as in Anne has written and Bill was killed).

A verb phrase based on a participle and having the function of a participle is called a participle phrase or participial phrase (participial is the adjective derived from participle). For example, looking hard at the sign and beaten by his father are participial phrases based respectively on an English present participle and past participle. Participial phrases generally do not require an expressed grammatical subject; therefore such a verb phrase also constitutes a complete clause (one of the types of nonfinite clause). As such, it may be called a participle clause or participial clause. (Occasionally a participial clause does include a subject, as in the English nominative absolute construction The king having died, ... .)

Types of participle

Participles are often identified with a particular tense, as with the English present participle and past participle (see under English below). However, this is often a matter of convention; present participles are not necessarily associated with the expression of present time, or past participles necessarily with past time.

Participles may also be identified with a particular voice: active or passive. Some languages (such as Latin and Russian) have distinct participles for active and passive uses. In English the present participle is essentially an active participle, while the past participle has both active and passive uses. The following examples illustrate this:

I saw John eating his dinner. (eating is an active participle; the modified noun John is understood as the agent)
I have eaten my dinner. (perfect construction; eaten is an active participle here)
The fish was eaten by lions. (here eaten is a passive participle; the fish is understood as the patient, i.e. to undergo the action)

A distinction is also sometimes made between adjectival participles and adverbial participles. An adverbial participle (or a participial phrase/clause based on such a participle) plays the role of an adverbial (adverb phrase) in the sentence in which it appears, whereas an adjectival participle (or a participial phrase/clause based on one) plays the role of an adjective phrase. Some languages have different forms for the two types of participle; such languages include Russian^[] and other Slavic languages, Hungarian, and many Eskimo languages, such as Sireniki,^[] which has a sophisticated participle system. Details can be found in the sections below or in the articles on the grammars of specific languages.

Some descriptive grammars treat adverbial and adjectival participles as distinct lexical categories, while others include them both in a single category of participles.^[]^[] Sometimes different names are used; adverbial participles in certain languages may be called converbs, gerunds or gerundives (although this is not consistent with the meanings of the terms gerund or gerundive as normally applied to English or Latin), or transgressives.

Sometimes adjectival participles come to be used as pure adjectives, without any verbal characteristics (deverbal adjectives). They then no longer take objects or other modifiers typical of verbs, possibly taking instead modifiers that are typical of adjectives, such as the English word very. The difference is illustrated by the following examples:

The subject interesting him at the moment is Greek history.
Greek history is an interesting subject.

In the first sentence interesting is used as a true participle; it acts as a verb, taking the object him, and forming the participial phrase interesting him at the moment, which then serves as an adjective phrase modifying the noun subject. However, in the second sentence interesting has become a pure adjective; it stands in an adjective's typical position before the noun, it can no longer take an object, and it could be accompanied by typical adjective modifiers such as very or quite (or in this case the prefix un-). Similar examples are "interested people", "a frightened rabbit", "fallen leaves", "meat-eating animals".

Indo-European languages

Germanic languages

English <span id="Modern English" />

In Old English, past participles of Germanic strong verbs were marked with a ge- prefix, as were most strong and weak past participles in Dutch and German today, and often by a vowel change in the stem. Those of weak verbs were marked by the ending -d, with or without an epenthetic vowel before it. Modern English past participles derive from these forms (although the ge- prefix, which became y- in Middle English, has now been lost).

Old English present participles were marked with an ending in -ende (or -iende for verbs whose infinitives ended in -ian). In Middle English, various forms were used in different regions: -ende (southwest, southeast, Midlands), -inde (southwest, southeast), -and (north), -inge (southeast). The last is the one that became standard, falling together with the suffix -ing used to form verbal nouns. See -ing (etymology).

Modern English verbs, then, have two participles:

The present participle, also sometimes called the active, imperfect, or progressive participle, takes the ending -ing. It is identical in form to the gerund (and verbal noun); the term present participle is sometimes used to include the gerund, and the term "gerund–participle" is also used.
The past participle, also sometimes called the passive or perfect participle, is identical to the past tense form (in -ed) in the case of regular verbs, but takes various forms in the case of irregular verbs, such as sung, written, put, gone, etc.

Details of participle formation can be found under English verbs and List of English irregular verbs.

The present participle, or participial phrases (clauses) formed from it, are used as follows:

to form the progressive (continuous) aspect: Jim was sleeping.
as an adjective phrase modifying a noun phrase: The man sitting over there is my uncle.
adverbially, the subject being understood to be the same as that of the main clause: Looking at the plans, I gradually came to see where the problem lay. He shot the man, killing him.
similarly, but with a different subject, placed before the participle (the nominative absolute construction): He and I having reconciled our differences, the project then proceeded smoothly.
more generally as a clause or sentence modifier: Broadly speaking, the project was successful. (See also dangling participle.)

Past participles, or participial phrases (clauses) formed from them, are used as follows:

to form the perfect aspect: The chicken has eaten.
to form the passive voice: The chicken was eaten.
as an adjective phrase: The chicken eaten by the children was contaminated. (See also reduced relative clause.)
adverbially: Seen from this perspective, the problem presents no easy solution.
in a nominative absolute construction, with a subject: The task finished, we returned home.

Both types of participles are also often used as pure adjectives (see Types of participles above). Here present participles are used in their active sense ("an exciting adventure", i.e. one that excites), while past participles are usually used passively ("the attached files", i.e. those that have been attached), although those formed from intransitive verbs may sometimes be used with active meaning ("our fallen comrades", i.e. those who have fallen). Some such adjectives also form adverbs, such as interestingly and excitedly.

The gerund is distinct from the present participle in that it (or rather the verb phrase it forms) acts as a noun rather than an adjective or adverb: "I like sleeping'"; "Sleeping is not allowed." There is also a pure verbal noun with the same form ("the breaking of one's vows is not to be taken lightly"). For more on the distinctions between these uses of the -ing verb form, see -ing: uses.

For more details on uses of participles and other parts of verbs in English, see Uses of English verb forms, including the sections on the present participle and past participle.

Latin and Romance languages

Latin

French

There are two basic participles:

Present active participle: formed by dropping the -ons of the nous form of the present tense of a verb (except with être) and then adding ant: marchant "walking", étant "being"
Past participle: formation varies according to verb group: vendu "sold", mis "placed", marché "walked", été "been", and fait "done". The sense of the past participle is passive as an adjective and in most verbal constructions with "avoir", but active in verbal constructions with "être", in reflexive constructions, and with some intransitive verbs.^[]

Compound participles are possible:

Present perfect participle: ayant appelé "having called", étant mort "being dead"
Passive perfect participle: étant vendu "being sold, having been sold"

Usage:

Present participles are used as qualifiers as in "un insecte volant" (a flying insect) and in some other contexts. They are never used to form tenses. The present participle is used in subordinate clauses, usually with en: "Je marche, en parlant".
Past participles are used as qualifiers for nouns: "la table cassée" (the broken table); to form compound tenses such as the perfect "Vous avez dit" (you have said) and to form the passive voice: "il a été tué" (he/it has been killed).

Spanish

In Spanish, the present or active participle (participio activo or participio de presente) of a verb is traditionally formed with one of the suffixes -ante, -ente or -iente, but modern grammar does not consider it a verbal form any longer, as they become adjectives or nouns on their own: e.g. amante "loving" or "lover", viviente "living" or "live".

The continuous is constructed much as in English, using a conjugated form of estar (to be) plus the gerundio (sometimes called a verbal adverb or adverbial participle as it does not decline) with the suffixes -ando (for -ar verbs), -iendo (for both -er and -ir verbs whose stems end in consonants), or -yendo (for both -er and -ir verbs whose stems end in vowels): for example, estar haciendo means to be doing (haciendo being the gerundio of hacer, to do), and there are related constructions such as seguir haciendo meaning to keep doing (seguir being to continue).

The past participle (participio pasado or pasivo) is regularly formed with one of the suffixes -ado, -ido, but several verbs have an irregular form ending in -to (e.g. escrito, visto), or -cho (e.g. dicho, hecho). The past participle is used generally as an adjective meaning a finished action, or to form the passive voice, and it is variable in gender and number in these uses; and also it is used to form the compound tenses (as in English) in which it has only one form, the singular male one. Some examples:

As an adjective

las cartas escritas "the written letters"

In the passive voice, accompanied by the verb "ser" (to be) and "por" (by)

Los ladrones fueron capturados por la policia "The thieves were caught by the police."

To form compound tenses

Ella ha escrito una carta. "She has written a letter."

Hellenic languages

Ancient Greek

The Ancient Greek participle shares in the properties of adjectives and verbs. Like an adjective, it changes form for gender, case, and number. Like a verb, it has tense and voice, is modified by adverbs, and can take verb arguments, including an object.^[]

There is a form of the participle for every combination of tense (present, aorist, perfect, future) and voice (active, middle, passive). All participles are based on the stems of the corresponding tenses. Here are the masculine nominative singular forms for a thematic and an athematic verb:

λύω "I release"	active	middle	passive
present	λύων	λυόμενος
aorist	λύσας	λυσάμενος	λυθείς
future	λύσων	λυσόμενος	λυθησόμενος
perfect	λελυκώς	λελυμένος

τίθημι "I put"	active	middle	passive
present	τιθείς	τιθέμενος
aorist	θείς	θέμενος	τεθείς
future	θήσων	θησόμενος	τεθησόμενος
perfect	τεθηκώς	τεθειμένος

Like an adjective, it can modify a noun, and can be used to embed one thought into another.

πολλὰ καὶ φύσει καὶ ἐπιστήμῃ δεῖ τὸν εὖ στρατηγήσοντα ἔχειν
"he who intends to be a good general must have a great deal of ability and knowledge,"

In the example, the participial phrase τὸν εὖ στρατηγήσοντα, literally "the one going to be a good general," is used to embed the idea εὖ στρατηγήσει "he will be a good general" within the main verb.

The participle is very widely used in ancient Greek, especially in prose.

Celtic languages

Welsh

In Welsh, the effect of a participle in the active voice is constructed by yn followed by the infinitive form (for the present participle) and wedi followed by the infinitive form (for the past participle). There is no mutation in either case. In the passive voice, participles are usually replaced by a compound phrase such as wedi cael ei/eu in contemporary Welsh and by the impersonal form in classical Welsh.

Slavic languages

Polish

The Polish word for participle is imiesłów (pl.: imiesłowy). There are four types of imiesłowy in two classes:

Adjectival participle (imiesłów przymiotnikowy)

active adjectival participle (imiesłów przymiotnikowy czynny): robiący - "doing", "one who does"
passive adjectival participle (imiesłów przymiotnikowy bierny): robiony - "being done" (can only be formed off transitive verbs)

Adverbial participle (imiesłów przysłówkowy)

present adverbial participle (imiesłów przysłówkowy współczesny): robiąc - "doing", "while doing"
perfect adverbial participle (imiesłów przysłówkowy uprzedni): zrobiwszy - "having done" (formed in virtually all cases off verbs in their perfective forms, here denoted by the prefix z-)

Dangling participle

Due to the distinction between adjectival and adverbial participles, in Polish it is practically impossible to make a dangling participle mistake in the classical English meaning of the term. For instance, in the sentence:

"I have found them hiding in the closet."

it is unclear, whether "I" or "them" is hiding in the closet. In Polish there is a clear distinction:

"Znalazłem ich, chowając się w szafie." - chowając is a present adverbial participle regarding the subject ("I")
"Znalazłem ich chowających się w szafie" - chowających is an active adjectival participle regarding the object ("them")

However, participles may cause confusion if used in sentences like this one:

"Mając 8 lat, rodzice posłali mnie do szkoły" - "Being 8 years old my parents sent me to school"

which does not make it clear - in grammatical terms - whether "me" or "my parents" were 8 at the time of "me" being sent to school. The use of the present adverbial participle mając (corresponding to the participle being in the English translation) is considered incorrect, and thus a different structure should be used.

Russian

Verb: слышать [ˈslɨ.ʂɐtʲ] (to hear, imperfective aspect)

Present active: слышащий [ˈslɨ.ʂɐ.ɕɕɪj] "hearing", "who hears"
Present passive: слышимый [ˈslɨ.ʂᵻ.məj] "being heard", "that is heard", "audible"
Past active: слышавший [ˈslɨ.ʂɐf.ʂəj] "who heard", "who was hearing"
Past passive: слышанный [ˈslɨ.ʂɐn.nəj] "that was heard", "that was being heard"
Adverbial present active: слыша [ˈslɨ.ʂɐ] "(while) hearing"
Adverbial past active: слышав [ˈslɨ.ʂɐf] "having been hearing"

Verb: услышать [ʊˈslɨ.ʂɐtʲ] (to hear, perfective aspect)

Past active: услышавший [ʊˈslɨ.ʂɐf.ʂəj] "who has heard"
Past passive: услышанный [ʊˈslɨ.ʂɐn.nəj] "that has been heard"
Adverbial past active: услышав [ʊˈslɨ.ʂɐf] "having heard"
Future participles formed from perfective verbs are technically possible, though not considered a part of standard language.^[]

Bulgarian

Verb: правя pravja (to do, imperfective aspect)

Present active: правещ pravešt
Past active aorist: правил pravil
Past active imperfect: правел pravel (only used in verbal constructions)
Past passive: правен praven
Adverbial present active: правейки pravejki

Verb: направя napravja (to do, perfective aspect)
Past active aorist: направил napravil
Past active imperfect: направел napravel (only used in verbal constructions)
Past passive: направен napraven

Participles are adjectives formed as verbs

Macedonian

Macedonian completely lost or transformed the participles of the Common Slavic, unlike the other Slavic languages. The following is noted:^[]

present active participle: it transformed into verbal adverb;
present passive participle: there are some isolated cases of present passive participle (or remnants of it), such as the word лаком [lakom] (greedy);
past active participle: there is only one word (remnant) of the past active participle, which is the word бивш [bivš] (former). However, this word is often substituted with the word поранешен [poranešen] (former);
past passive participle: transformed into verbal adjective (it behaves like normal adjective);
resultative participle: transformed into verbal l-form (глаголска л-форма). It is not a participle since it doesn't function attributively.

Baltic languages

Lithuanian

Among Indo-European languages, the Lithuanian language is unique for having thirteen different participial forms of the verb, that can be grouped into five when accounting for inflection by tense. Some of these are also inflected by gender and case. For example, the verb eiti ("to go, to walk") has the active participle forms einąs/einantis ("going, walking", present tense), ėjęs (past tense), eisiąs (future tense), eidavęs (past frequentative tense), the passive participle forms einamas ("being walked", present tense), eitas (“walked“ past tense), eisimas (future tense), the adverbial participles einant ("while [he, different subject] is walking" present tense), ėjus (past tense), eisiant (future tense), eidavus (past frequentative tense), the semi-participle eidamas ("while [he, the same subject] is going, walking") and the participle of necessity eitinas ("that which needs to be walked"). The active, passive and the semi- participles are inflected by gender and the active, passive and necessity ones are inflected by case.

Semitic languages

Arabic

Finno-Ugric languages

Finnish

Verb: tehdä (to do)

Present active: tekevä(doing)
Present passive: tehtävä(doable)
Past active: tehnyt (has done)
Past passive: tehty(been done)
Agent participle (passive): tekemä (done by...)

Negative participle: tekemätön (undone)

Other languages

Sireniki Eskimo

Sireniki Eskimo language, an extinct Eskimo–Aleut language, has separate sets of adverbial participles and adjectival participles. Different from in English, adverbial participles are conjugated to reflect the person and number of their implicit subjects; hence, while in English a sentence like "If I were a marksman, I would kill walruses" requires two full clauses (in order to distinguish the two verbs' different subjects), in Sireniki Eskimo one of these may be replaced with an adverbial participle (since its conjugation will indicate the subject).

Esperanto

Notes

References

Participles from the American Heritage Book of English Usage (1996).

External links

List of English simple past and past participle verb forms from myenglishteacher.net
Ernest De Witt Burton: Moods and Tenses of New Testament Greek. The adverbial participle.is:Hættir sagna í íslensku#Lýsingarháttur

ēducō "I educate"	active	passive
present	ēducāns	—
perfect	—	ēducātus
future	ēducātūrus	ēducandus

	Past	Present	Future
Active	-int-	-ant-	-ont-
Passive	-it-	-at-	-ot-