In linguistics, aparticiple (from Latinparticipium'a sharing, partaking'; abbr.PTCP) is anonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives.[1] More narrowly,participle has been defined as "a word derived from a verb and used as an adjective, as in alaughing face".[2]
"Participle" is a traditional grammatical term from Greek and Latin that is widely used for corresponding verb forms in European languages and analogous forms inSanskrit andArabic grammar. In particular, Greek and Latin participles areinflected forgender,number andcase, but alsoconjugated fortense andvoice and can take prepositional and adverbial modifiers.
Cross-linguistically, participles may have a range of functions apart from adjectival modification. In European and Indian languages, the past participle is used to form thepassive voice. In English, participles are also associated withperiphrastic verb forms (continuous andperfect) and are widely used inadverbial clauses. In non-Indo-European languages, 'participle' has been applied to forms that are alternatively regarded asconverbs (seeSirenik below),gerunds,gerundives,transgressives, and nominalised verbs in complement clauses. As a result, 'participles' have come to be associated with a broad variety of syntactic constructions.
The wordparticiple comes from classical Latinparticipium,[3] fromparticeps 'sharing, participation', because it shares certain properties of verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. The Latin grammatical term is acalque of the Greek grammatical termμετοχή :metochē, 'participation, participle'.[4][5]
The linguistic term,past participle, was coined circa 1798[6] based on its participial form, whose morphology equates to the regular form ofpreterite verbs. The term,present participle, was first used circa 1864[7] to facilitate grammatical distinctions. Despite the taxonomical use of "past" and "present" as associated with the aforementioned participles, their respective semantic use can entail any tense, regardless of aspect, depending on how they are structurally combined.
Some languages have extensive participial systems but English has only two participial forms, most commonly termed:
past participle,[8] which is regularly formed with an-edsuffix (e.g.looked,ended,tutored) but has numerous irregular forms (e.g.broken,spoken,eaten); and
present participle,[9] which is formed with an-ing suffix (e.g.breaking,making,understanding).
Some grammars further distinguishpassive participles[10] as often associated withpassive voice versusactive participles[11] as often associated with e.g. thepresent progressive tense, but such linguistic distinctions are neither recognized nor employed on a universal basis.
Participles can be used adjectivally (i.e. without characteristics of canonical verbs) asattributive adjectives. Unlike standard verbs, participles don’t typically haveobjects or the usual modifiers that verbs have. However, they can be modified by adverbs such asvery orslightly. The difference is illustrated by the following examples:
The subjectinteresting him is Greek history.
Greek history is aninteresting subject.
Greek history is a veryinteresting subject.
In the first sentence,interesting functions transitively in a non-finite sense as a participle that expresses the objecthim, thereby forming the grammatical equivalent of "[that is]interesting him". In the second and third sentences,interesting functions as a prepositive adjective modifyingsubject. An adverb (such asvery orrecently) or a prefix (such asun-) can preface adjectival participles: "avery frightened rabbit", "recently fallen leaves", "uninterested people".
Some languages differentiateadjectival participles andadverbial participles. An adverbial participle (or a participial phrase/clause based on such a participle) plays the role of anadverbial phrase in the sentence in which it appears, whereas an adjectival participle (or a participial phrase/clause based on one) plays the role of anadjective phrase. Such languages includeRussian[12] and otherSlavic languages,Hungarian, and manyEskimo languages, such asSirenik,[13] which has asophisticated participle system. Details can be found in the sections below or in the articles on the grammars of specific languages.
Grammatical descriptions vary in the way these are treated. Some descriptive grammars treat such adverbial and adjectival participles as distinctlexical categories, while others include them both in a single category of participles.[12][14] Adverbial participles in certain languages may be calledconverbs,gerunds, orgerundives (though this is not consistent with the meanings of the termsgerund orgerundive as normally applied to English or Latin), ortransgressives.
Participles are often used to form certaingrammatical tenses orgrammatical aspects. The two types of participle in Modern English are termedpresent participle andpast participle, respectively (often also referred to as the-ing form and-ed/-en form).[15] The traditional terms are misleading because the participles do not necessarily correspond to tense:[16] the present participle is often associated with the progressive (continuous) aspect, while the past participle is linked with the perfect aspect or passive voice. See the examples below:
By the time you get home, I will havecleaned the house.[18]
The first sentence is in the past tense (were), but a present participle expresses the progressive aspect (be standing). The second sentence is in the future tense (will), but a past participle is used for the perfect aspect (have cleaned).
Participles may also be identified with a particularvoice:active orpassive. 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, and the past participle has both active and passive uses.
The following examples illustrate those concepts:
I saw Johneating his dinner. (Hereeating is an active present participle).
The bus hasgone. (Heregone is an active past participle).
The window wasbroken with a rock. (Herebroken is a passive past participle)
InOld English, past participles ofGermanic strong verbs were marked with age- prefix, as are 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 anepenthetic vowel before it. Modern English past participles derive from these forms (although thege- prefix, which becamey- in Middle English, has now been lost — except in some rare dialects such as theDorset dialect, where it takes the form ofa-).
Old English present participles were marked with an ending in-ende (or-iende for verbs whose infinitives ended in-ian).
InMiddle English, the form of the present participle varied across 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 formverbal nouns. See-ing (etymology).
Thepresent participle, also sometimes called theactive,imperfect, orprogressive participle, takes the ending-ing, for exampledoing,seeing,working,running,breaking,understanding. It is identical in form to theverbal noun andgerund (see below). The termpresent participle is sometimes used to include the gerund;[20] the term "gerund–participle" is also used to indicate the verb form.
Thepast participle, also sometimes called thepassive orperfect participle, is identical to thepast tense form (ending in-ed) in the case of regular verbs, for example "loaded", "boiled", "mounted", but takes various forms in the case ofirregular verbs, such asdone,sung,written,broken,understood,put,gone, etc.
In addition, various compound participles can be formed, such ashaving done,being done,having been doing,having been done.[21]
Participles, or participial phrases (clauses) formed from them, are used as follows:
1. As an adjective used in an attributive sense:
Abroken window (i.e., one that has been broken)
Aninteresting book (i.e., one that interests)
Anexciting adventure (i.e., one that excites)
Theattached files (i.e., those that are attached)
Afallen tree (i.e., one that has fallen)
Ourfallen comrades (i.e., those who have fallen)
Additionally, participles that express an adjectivally attributive meaning can be affixed to form adverbs, such asinterestingly andexcitedly.
2. In postpositive phrases. These are often regarded as functioning as areduced relative clause:
A windowbroken by the wind (A window that wasbroken by the wind).
A womanwearing a red hat (A woman who waswearing a red hat).
The manstanding over there is my uncle (The man who isstanding over there is my uncle).
We are a peopleclamoring for freedom (We are a people who areclamoring for freedom).
3. In anadverbial phrase. In the following, thesubject is understood to be the same as that of the main clause:
Reviewing her bank statement, Ann started to cry (While she reviewed her bank statement, Ann started to cry).
Having reviewed the bank statement, Ann started to cry (After she reviewed her bank statement, Ann started to cry).
He shot the man,killing him (He shot the man and killed him).
Maintained properly, wooden buildings can last for centuries (If/when they are maintained properly, wooden buildings can last for centuries).
With a different subject, placed before the participle:
He and Ihaving reconciled our differences, the project then proceeded smoothly (Because/after he and I had reconciled our differences, the project proceeded smoothly). (This is known as the nominative absolute construction.)
More generally as a clause or sentence modifier:
Broadlyspeaking, the project was successful.
4. Participles are used to formperiphrastic verb tenses:
The present participle forms theprogressive aspect with the auxiliary verbbe:
Jim wassleeping.
The past participle forms theperfect aspect with the auxiliary verbhave:
The chicken haseaten.
5. The past participle is used to formpassive voice:
The chicken waseaten.
Such passive participles can appear in an adjectival phrase:
The chickeneaten by the children was contaminated.
Adverbially:
Eaten in this manner, the chicken presents no problem.
And in a nominative absolute construction, with a subject:
The chickeneaten, we returned home.
Note that a past participle that complements astative verb (e.g., "The files thatare attached or "Our comrades whohave fallen") becomes a passive participle within apassive voice construct.
6. As a gerund. Thegerund is traditionally regarded as distinct from the present participle. A gerund can function transitively (e.g., "I likeeating ice cream") or intransitively (e.g., "I likeswimming"). In both instances, a gerund functions nominatively rather than adjectivally or adverbially—whether as an object (e.g., "I likesleeping") or as a subject (e.g., "Sleeping is not allowed"). Althoughgerunds andpresent participles are morphologically identical, their grammatical functions differ substantially.
Sometimes their morphological similarity can create contextual ambiguity, asNoam Chomsky pointed out in his well-known example:[22]
Flying planes can be dangerous.
When the meaning is "The practice of flying a plane is dangerous,"flying functions as a gerund; when the danger concerns "Planes that fly" or "Planes when they are flying" (i.e., in contrast togrounded planes),flying is being used adjectivally as a participle. For more on the distinctions between these uses of the-ing verb form, see-ing: uses.
In all of theScandinavian languages the past participle has to agree with the noun to some degree. All of the Scandinavian languages have mandatory agreement with the noun in number.Nynorsk andSwedish have mandatory agreement in both number and gender.Icelandic andFaroese have agreement in number, gender and case. The verb form used for the perfect (or "supine") aspect is generally identical to the nominative neuter singular form of the past participle for all verbs. For the present participle there is no agreement.
Sjølvkøyrande bilar kan vere farlege. (English:self-drivingcars can be dangerous)
Kyllingen varteten (English: The chicken waseaten)
Dyret vartete (English: The deer waseaten)
The participles are marked in bold. The first example involves a present participle and the two latter examples involves a past participle. All present participles end with an -ande suffix.
In Norwegian, the present participle may be used to form adjectives or adverbs denoting the possibility or convenience of performing the action prescribed by the verb. For example:
Var matenetande? (English: Was the foodedible?) (or rather: Was the foodany good?)
Utan servo vert bilen fortukøyrande. (English: Without power steering, the car soon becomesimpossible to drive.) (Lit: un-drivable)
This construction is allowed in Nynorsk, but not inBokmål, where suffixes like-elig or-bar are used instead.
Latin grammar was studied in Europe for hundreds of years, especially the handbook written by the 4th-century teacherAelius Donatus, and it is from Latin that the name and concept of the participle derives. According to Donatus there are four participles in Latin, as follows:[23]
future participle: supine stem +-ūrus,-ūra,-ūrum; e.g.lēctūrus "going to read", "due to read"
gerundive (sometimes[24] considered the future passive participle): e.g.legendus "due to be read", "necessary to be read"
However, many modern Latin grammars treat the gerundive as a separate part of speech.[25]
The perfect participle is usuallypassive in meaning, and thus mainly formed fromtransitive verbs, for examplefrāctus "broken",missus "sent (by someone)". However, certain verbs (calleddeponent verbs) have a perfect participle in anactive sense, e.g.profectus "having set out",hortātus "having encouraged", etc. The present and future participles are always active, the gerundive usually passive.
Because a participle is an adjective as well as a verb, just like any other Latin adjective its ending changes according to the noun it describes. So when the noun is masculine, the participle must be masculine; when the noun is in theaccusative (object) case, the participle is also in the accusative case; when the noun has plural endings, the participle also has plural endings. Thus a simple participle such asfrāctus "broken" can change tofrācta,frāctum,frāctī,frāctō and so on, according to its gender, number, and case.
A participle can have a descriptive meaning like an adjective, or a more dynamic meaning like a verb. Thus in the following sentence the participlestrīctō "drawn" is better taken as describing an action ("he drew his sword" or "after drawing his sword") rather than as describing the sword ("with a drawn sword"):
Strīctō gladiō addormientem Lucrētiam vēnit.[26] "Withdrawn sword he came to thesleeping Lucretia."
The dynamic, verbal meaning is more common, and Latin often uses a participle where English might use a simple verb.
The present participle often describes the circumstances attending the main verb. A typical example is:
Balbus ad mē vēnitcurrēns.[27] "Balbus came to merunning."
Both the future and the perfect participle (but not the present participle) can be used with various tenses of the verbesse "to be" to make a compound tense such as the future-in-the-past or the perfect passive:
Eō diē Rōmamventūrus erat.[28] "On that dayhe was going to return to Rome."
Occīsus est ā Thēbānīs.[29] "He was killed by the Thebans."
The perfect and future participles can also be used, with or without the verbesse "to be", in indirect speech clauses:
(Dīxit eōs) locum facileinventūrōs (esse).[30] "He said that they were easilygoing to find the place / He said that theywould find the place easily."
Present active participle: formed by dropping the-ons of thenous form of the present tense of a verb (except withêtre andavoir) and then addingant:marchant "walking",étant "being",ayant "having".
Past participle: formation varies according to verb group:vendu "sold",mis "placed",marché "walked",été "been", andfait "done". The sense of the past participle is passive as an adjective and in most verbal constructions withêtre, but active in verbal constructions withavoir, in reflexive constructions, and with some intransitive verbs.[31]
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 insectevolant" (a flying insect) and in some other contexts. They are never used to form tenses.
Past participles are used as qualifiers for nouns: "la tablecassée" (the broken table); to form compound tenses such as the perfect "Vous avezdit" (you have said) and to form the passive voice: "il a ététué" (he/it has been killed).
In Spanish, the so-called present or active participle (participio activo orparticipio 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 true participle, as such forms usually have the meaning of simple adjectives or nouns: e.g.amante "loving" or "lover",viviente "living" or "live".
The past participle (participio pasado orparticipio pasivo) is regularly formed with one of the suffixes-ado or-ido (-ado for verbs ending in "-ar" and-ido for verbs ending in "-er" or "-ir"; but some verbs have an irregular form ending in-to (e.g.escrito, visto, puesto), or-cho (e.g.dicho, hecho).[32] The past participle is used generally as an adjective referring to a finished action, in which case its ending changes according to gender and number. At other times is used to form compound tenses: the present perfect, past perfect (sometimes referred to as thepluscuamperfecto), and the future perfect, in which case it is indeclinable. Some examples:
As an adjective (note how "escritas" agrees in gender with the noun, "las cartas"):
las cartas escritas "the written letters"
To form compound tenses:
Ha escrito una carta. "She (he, it) has written a letter."
Había escrito una carta. "She (he, it) had written a letter."
Habrá escrito una carta. "She (he, it) will have written a letter."
TheAncient Greek participle shares in the properties of adjectives and verbs. Like an adjective, it changes form forgender,case, andnumber. Like a verb, it hastense andvoice, is modified byadverbs, and can takeverb arguments, including anobject.[33] Participles are quite numerous in Ancient Greek: a non-defective verb has as many as ten participles.
There is a form of the participle for every combination of aspect (present, aorist, perfect, future) and voice (active, middle, passive). All participles are based on their finite forms. Here are the masculine nominative singular forms for a thematic and an athematic verb:
λῡ́ω lū́ō "I release"
active
middle
passive
present
λῡ́ων lū́ōn
λῡόμενος lūómenos
aorist
λῡ́σᾱς lū́sās
λῡσάμενος lūsámenos
λυθείς lutheís
future
λῡ́σων lū́sōn
λῡσόμενος lūsómenos
λυθησόμενος luthēsómenos
perfect
λελυκώς lelukṓs
λελυμένος leluménos
τίθημι títhēmi "I put"
active
middle
passive
present
τιθείς titheís
τιθέμενος tithémenos
aorist
θείς theís
θέμενος thémenos
τεθείς tetheís
future
θήσων thḗsōn
θησόμενος thēsómenos
τεθησόμενος tethēsómenos
perfect
τεθηκώς tethēkṓs
τεθειμένος tetheiménos
Like an adjective, it can modify a noun, and can be used to embed one thought into another.
"hewho intends to be a good general must have a great deal of ability and knowledge"
In the example, the participial phraseτὸν εὖ στρατηγήσονταtòn eû stratēgḗsonta, literally "the one going to be a good general," is used to embed the ideaεὖ στρατηγήσειeû stratēgḗsei "he will be a good general" within the main verb.
The participle is very widely used in Ancient Greek, especially in prose.
There are two types of participles inHindi andUrdu (called togetherHindustani), aspectual participles which mark the aspect and non-aspectual participles which do not mark verbal aspect. The table below mentions the different participles present inHindustani,ɸ denotes the verb root. The aspectual participles can take a few other copulas after them besides the verbhonā "to be". Those copular verbs arerêhna"to stay",ānā "to come",jānā "to go".[34]
In Cornish, an equivalent present participle construction to English is formed by usingow (owth before vowels) with a verbal noun, e.g.Yma an den ow hwerthin ("The man is laughing"), andden ow hwerthin ("a laughing man"). Like Breton but unlike Welsh, Cornish also has verbal adjectives which are used similarly to English past participles, e.g.dehen molys ("clotted cream"), from the verbal nounmola "to clot".
In Welsh, the effect of a participle in the active voice is constructed byyn followed by the verb-noun (for the present participle) andwedi followed by the verb-noun (for the past participle). There is nomutation in either case. In the passive voice, participles are usually replaced by a compound phrase such aswedi cael ei/eu ("having got his/her/their ...ing") inmodern Welsh and by the impersonal form inliterary Welsh.
perfect adverbial participle (imiesłów przysłówkowy uprzedni):zrobiwszy – "having done" (formed in virtually all cases off verbs in theirperfective forms, here denoted by theprefixz-)
Due to the distinction between adjectival and adverbial participles, in Polish it is practically impossible to make adangling participle in the classical English meaning of the term. For instance, in the sentence:
I found them hiding in the closet.
it is unclear whether "I" or "they" were hiding in the closet. In Polish there is a clear distinction:
Znalazłem ich, chowając się w szafie. –chowając is a present adverbial participle agreeing grammatically with the subject ("I")
Znalazłem ich chowających się w szafie. –chowających is an active adjectival participle agreeing grammatically with the object ("them")
Macedonian has completely lost or transformed the participles of Common Slavic, unlike the other Slavic languages. The following points may be noted:[41]
present active participle: this has transformed into a verbal adverb;
present passive participle: there are some isolated cases or remnants of the present passive participle, such as the word лаком [lakom] (greedy);
past active participle: there is only one remnant of the past active participle, which is the word бивш [bivš] (former). However, this word is often replaced with the word поранешен [poranešen] (former);
past passive participle: this has been transformed into a verbal adjective (it behaves like a normal adjective);
resultative participle: this has transformed into a verbal l-form (глаголска л-форма). It is not a participle since it does not function attributively.
Among Indo-European languages, theLithuanian language is unique for having fourteen different participial forms of the verb, which can be grouped into five when accounting for inflection by tense. Some of these are also inflected by gender and case. For example, the verbeiti ("to go, to walk") has the active participle formseinąs/einantis ("going, walking", present tense),ėjęs (past tense),eisiąs (future tense),eidavęs (past frequentative tense), the passive participle formseinamas ("being walked", present tense),eitas ("walked" past tense),eisimas (future tense), the adverbial participleseinant ("while [he, different subject] is walking" present tense),ėjus (past tense),eisiant (future tense),eidavus (past frequentative tense), the semi-participleeidamas ("while [he, the same subject] is going, walking") and the participle of necessityeitinas ("what needs to be walked"). The active and passive participles and the semi-participles are inflected by gender, and the active, passive and necessity participles are inflected by case.
TheArabic verb has two participles: an active participle (ʾism al-fāʿil اسم الفاعل) and a passive participle (ʾism al-mafʿūl اسم المفعول), and the form of the participle is predictable by inspection of the dictionary form of the verb. These participles are inflected for gender, number and case, but not person. Arabic participles are employed syntactically in a variety of ways: as nouns, as adjectives or even as verbs. Their uses vary acrossvarieties of Arabic. In general the active participle describes a property of the syntactic subject of the verb from which it derives, whilst the passive participles describes the object. For example, from the verb كتبkataba, the active participle iskātib كاتب and the passive participle ismaktūb مكتوب. Roughly these translate to "writing" and "written" respectively. However, they have different, derived lexical uses. كاتبkātib is further lexicalized as "writer", "author" and مكتوبmaktūb as "letter".
InClassical Arabic, the participles do not participate in verbal constructions with auxiliaries the same way as their English counterparts and rarely take on a verbal meaning in a sentence (a notable exception being participles derived frommotion verbs as well as participles inQur'anic Arabic). In certaindialects of Arabic, however, it is much more common for the participles, especially the active participle, to have verbal force in the sentence. For example, in dialects of theLevant, the active participle is a structure that describes the state of the syntactic subject after the action of the verb from which it derives has taken place.ʼĀkil, the active participle ofʼakala ("to eat"), describes one's state after having eaten something. Therefore, it can be used in analogous way to the Englishpresent perfect (for example,ʼAnā ʼākil انا آكل meaning "I have eaten", "I have just eaten" or "I have already eaten"). Other verbs, such asrāḥa راح ("to go") give a participle (rāyiḥ رايح), which has a progressive ("is going…") meaning. The exact tense or continuity of the participles is, therefore, determined by the nature of the specific verb (especially itslexical aspect and itstransitivity) and the syntactic/semantic context of the utterance. What ties them all together is that they describe the subject of the verb from which they derive. The passive participles in certain dialects can be used as a sort ofpassive voice, but more often than not, they are used in their various lexicalized senses as adjectives or nouns.
Like Arabic, Hebrew has two types of participles (בינוניbênônî): an active participle (בינוני פועלbênônî pô'ēl) and a passive participle (בינוני פעולbênônî pā'ûl). These participles are inflected for gender and number. The active participle takes a variety of syntactic roles, such as a verb in present tense, a noun, and an adjective.[citation needed]
Hebrew has a syntactic construction of the verb "to be" (הָיָה)hayá in the past tense, and the active participle that cognates to thepast progressive tense in English. For example, the word עבדתיavádti means "I worked", and הייתי עובדhayíti ovéd means "I was working". Another use of this syntactic structure is equivalent to "used to" in English. For example, דויד בילדותו היה גר בארצות הבריתdavíd b'yaldutó hayá gar b'arcót habrít (David in his childhood used to live in the United States).[citation needed]
Finnish uses six participles (partisiippi) to convey different meanings. Below is a table displaying the declension of the participles of the verbtappaa (to kill).
Finnish Participles
Active
Passive
Present
tappava
tapettava
Past
tappanut
tapettu
Agent
tappama-
Negative
tappamaton
The participles work in the following way:
tappava
Present active participle: Conveys an ongoing action. Used to omit the use of the relative pronounwho,which orthat. Tappava means "killing" as in "killing machine". In other words, machinethat kills. It can also work as the subject of the sentence. In other words, tappava can mean "the one who kills" or "he who kills". Tappava on... = He who kills is...
tapettava
Present passive participle: Conveys possibility and obligation. Possibility as in -able (killable) and obligation as insomething that has to be killed.Tapettava mies can mean both "the killable man" (possibility) and "the man who has to be killed" (obligation).
tappanut
Past active participle: Used with the verbolla (to be) to construct the perfect and the past perfect tenses. In English the verb "to have" is used to form the perfect and past perfect tense (Ihave/had killed), in Finnish the verb "to be" is used instead (minäolen/olin tappanut). Just like the present active participle, it can also be used as the subject in a sentence, except it conveys the meaning in the past tense. In other words, tappanut can mean "the one who killed" or "he who killed". Tappanut on... = He who killed is...
tapettu
Past passive participle: A concluded action. Tapettu mies = the killed man.
tappama-
Agent participle: Always used with a possessive suffix. It is used to convey the meaning of the word "by" in English, since there is no word for "by" in Finnish. Hänen tappamansa mies = The man killedby him. The tense of the translation depends on the context.
tappamaton
Negative participle: Used to convey impossibility (unkillable) and undoneness (not killed). Tappamaton mies means both "unkillable man" and "man (who is) not killed".
Each of the participles can be used as adjectives and so some of them can be turned into nouns.
Participles are calledsıfat-fiil (lit. adjective-verb) orortaç in Turkish.[42]
Turkish participles consist of a verb stem and a suffix. Some participles may be conjugated, but some may not. Participles always precede the noun they are defining, unlike in English.
Participle suffixes, like many other suffixes in Turkish, change according to thevowel harmony andsandhi.
There are eight types of participle suffixes;-en,-esi,-mez,-ar,-di(k/ği)-ecek and-miş[43][44]
An easy way to remember those is a mnemonic taught in Turkish schools: "Anası mezar dikecekmiş", which has every type of the suffixes, and is still a coherent sentence, translated as "his/her mother is allegedly going to plant a grave(stone)".
Sirenik language, an extinctEskimo–Aleut language, had separate sets ofadverbial participles andadjectival participles. Unlike in English, adverbial participles were conjugated to reflect the person and number of their implicit subjects; hence, an adverbial participle could replace a clause in the English sentence "IfI were a marksman,I would kill walruses" since the subject was implied by the conjugation.
Esperanto has six different participle conjugations; active and passive for past, present and future. The participles are formed as follows:
Past
Present
Future
Active
-inta
-anta
-onta
Passive
-ita
-ata
-ota
For example, afalonta botelo is a bottle that will fall or is about to fall. Afalanta botelo is one that is falling through the air. After it hits the floor, it is afalinta botelo. These examples use the active participles, but the usage of the passive participles is similar. A cake that is going to be divided is adividota kuko. When it is in the process of being divided, it is adividata kuko. Having been cut, it is now adividita kuko.
These participles can be used in conjunction with the verb to be,esti, forming 18 compound tenses (9 active and 9 passive). However, this soon becomes complicated and often unnecessary, and is only frequently used when rigorous translation of English is required. An example of this would bela knabo estos instruita, or, the boy will have been taught. This example sentence is then in the future anterior.
When the suffix-o is used, instead of-a, then the participle refers to a person. Amanĝanto is someone who is eating. Amanĝinto is someone who ate. Amanĝonto is someone who will eat. Also, amanĝito is someone who was eaten, amanĝato is someone who is being eaten, and amanĝoto is someone who will be eaten.
These rules hold true for all transitive verbs. Since copular and intransitive verbs do not have passive voice, their participle forms can only be active.
An informal and unofficial addition to these six are the participles for conditional forms, which use-unt- and-ut-. For example,parolunto refers to someone who would speak (or would have spoken), and aleguta libro is a book that would be read (or have been read). These unofficial participle forms are however very rarely used in practice.
^abThe Russian Participles. Part of "An Interactive On-line Reference Grammar — Russian" by Dr. Robert Beard.
^Menovshchikov, G.A.: Language of Sireniki Eskimos. Phonetics, morphology, texts and vocabulary.Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Moscow • Leningrad, 1964. Original data: Г.А. Меновщиков: Язык сиреникских эскимосов. Фонетика, очерк морфологии, тексты и словарь. Академия Наук СССР. Институт языкознания. Москва • Ленинград, 1964
^Kiss, Katalin E.; Kiefer, Ferenc; Siptár, Péter (2003).Új magyar nyelvtan. Osiris tankönyvek (in Hungarian) (3. kiadás ed.). Budapest: Osiris Kiadó.ISSN1218-9855.
^Crystal, David. (2008).A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics (6th ed.), pp. 351-352. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
^Huddleston, Rodney. (2002). In Rodney Huddleston & Geoffrey K. Pullum (Eds.),The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language (pp. 78-81). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
^Hewings, Martin. (2005). Future continuous and future perfect (continuous). InAdvanced Grammar in Use (2nd ed.), p. 22. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
