Participles

A Brief Summary of the Latin Participle

Simply put, a participle is a verbal adjective. In English, there are two participles: the present (working, seeing, walking) and the past (worked, seen, walked).In Latin there are three participles you need to know at this time: the present active, the perfect passive and the future active:

Present Active Infinitive	Present Active Participle	Perfect Passive Participle	Future Active Participle
portâre to carry	portans, portantis carrying	portatus, portata, portatum carried, having been carried	portaturus, portatura, portaturum going to carry, about to carry
docêre to teach	docens, docentis teaching	doctus, docta, doctum taught, having been taught	docturus, doctura, docturum going to teach, about to teach
ducere to lead	ducens, ducentis leading	ductus, ducta, ductum led, having been led	ducturus, ductura, ducturum going to lead, about to lead
capere to carry	capiens, capientis taking	captus, capta, captum taken, having been taken	capturus, captura, capturum going to take, about to take
invenîre to find	inveniens, invenientis finding	inventus, inventa, inventum found, having been found	inventurus, inventura, inventurum going to find, about to find

CAVE!!! In English the present participle is used in conjunction with the verb to be to form the progressive present tense: he is walking. NOT IN LATIN! In Latin, the present tense is used for the simple present -- he walks, the progressive present -- he is walking, and the emphatic present -- he does walk. All these meanings are encompassed in the one Latin form, ambulat.

Present A\ctive Participle

as with all forms in the Present System, use the Present Active Infinitive as the basis for the new form.

Drop -re. Add-ns for the nominative singular form. Add -ntis for the genitive singular form, which will give you the root for all the other case forms. Treat this participle as a third declension adjective.
Look at the chart above and note that, as with the imperfect tense, there is the vowel -e- (with the exception of the 1st conjugation); also note that -io verbs retain the -i-, seen in -ie- before -ns or -ntis.
When translating, equate -ns,-ntis, -nti, -ntem, -nte, -nti ( abl. sg.), and so on, with the English ending "-ing." Or think of it this way: -nt = -ing
Read pp. 133-135 in Book II of Ecce Romani for further explanations and demonstrations of this participle.

Perfect Passive Participle

As with all forms of the Perfect System, start with the 4th principal part of the verb. This happens to BE the perfect passive participle, unless the 4th principal part ends in -urus. In that case, there is NO passive form of the verb and,thus, NO perfect passive participle!

Change the endings to agree with the noun or pronoun being modified. Use the same technique as with 1st and 2nd declension adjectives, since that's exactly what this participle is.
Translate as having been .....ed, .....ed. For example, "having been carried" OR "carried," "having been seen" OR "seen," and so on.
Look at the chart above for examples from each conjugation.
Read pp. 50-51 in Book II of Ecce Romani for further explanations and demonstrations of this participle.

Future Active Participle

Here's a slight deviation from the rules. Use the 4th principal part of the verb, which is also the Perfect Passive Participle. Drop -us and add -urus, unless the 4th principal part of the verb already ends in -urus (see point 1 on the perfect passive participle above).

Change the endings to agree with the noun or pronoun being modified. Use the same technique as with 1st and 2nd declension adjectives, since that's exactly what this participle is.
Translate to show future action with going to ---, about to ..... .
Look at the chart above for examples from each conjugation.
Read pp. 184-186 in Book II of Ecce Romani for further explanations and demonstrations of this participle.

For ungraded on-line practices, select from either these Year, Block or KVHS schedule quizzes:

Participles Activity Part 1
Year
Block
KVHS

Participles Activity Part 2
Year
Block
KVHS

Participles Activity Part 3
Year
Block
KVHS

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