| Participles |
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The participle takes its root form from a verb, but it acts as an adjective, so it is called a verbal adjective. Like an adjective, it modifies nouns and pronouns, and in form it must agree with the noun or pronoun it modifies in case, number, and gender. Also like an adjective, it can appear by itself without any noun or pronoun to modify, in which case it is called a substantive adjective. In dictionaries and vocabulary lists, the participle will be shown in its nominative and genitive forms, as though it were a 3rd declension adjective:
amans, amantis (from amo, amare - I love
But, like a verb, the participle conveys tense -- present, perfect, or future -- and it also has voice, active or passive. It can even have a direct object, just like a verb does. In a verb synopsis it will be listed underneath the conjugation in these six possible combinations, rather like this:
| Active | Passive | |
|---|---|---|
| Present | amans, amantis loving |
-- |
| Perfect | -- | amatus, amata, amatum having been loved, beloved |
| Future | amaturus, amatura, amaturum about to love |
amandus, amanda, amandum about to be loved, must be loved |
Notice that the present active forms have 3rd declension endings, but all the other participles take the forms of 1st and 2nd declension adjectives. Why are two of the possible six forms missing? Because Latin verbs have no present passive and no perfect active participles.
However, since deponent verbs have active meanings in spite of their passive forms, you will see what looks like a perfect passive form in the active column, as below, because its meaning is active:
| Active | Passive | |
|---|---|---|
| Present | morans, morantis delaying |
-- |
| Perfect | moratus, morata, moratum having delayed |
-- |
| Future | moraturus, moratura, moraturum about to delay |
morandus, moranda, morandum about to be delayed, must be delayed |
Deponent participles have one more quirk: the future passive form is also passive in meaning.
To form the present active, add -ns to the present stem of the verb:
The easiest way to translate a present active participle into English is to use a -ing ending on the English verb: playing, singing, eating, and so on. Adstantes senatores = bystanding senators.
The present active participle frequently stands in for a substantive (a noun): adstantes = bystanding (ones) = bystanders.
The perfect passive participle is the 4th principal part of a transitive verb. Perfect passive participles can usually be translated into English with the -ed ending: dux captus = the captured leader ( = the leader having been captured).
The future active is formed from the stem of the 4th principal part with the addition of -urus, -ura, -urum. The future active plus 'esse' is identical to the future active infinitive: visurus = being about to see, visurus esse = to be about to see. Future active participles can usually be translated with 'about to' or 'going to': bellum terminaturum = the war about to end.
While one sometimes sees the gerundive and its associated noun form the gerund listed with participles, the use of these forms is more intricate and thus needs more explanation. I give the following data to those who have seen references the a future passive participle. A geruNDive is easily identified by the use of the same ND in the Latin form. How one uses it is more complex that recognizing the form.
The gerundive is formed by adding -ndus, -nda, -ndum to the present stem. BUT, just as in the present active participle, the 3-IO and the 4th conjugations show -IE- before the ending: capiendus, audiendus. The gerundive can be translated with 'about to be' or 'to be': epistula legenda = the letter (about) to be read. Sometimes it can be translated as a simple adjective: homo abominandus = 'horrible man' in place of 'man about to be abominated.'
When the gerundive is combined with a 3rd person form of esse, this combination expresses obligation or necessity: haec epistula est scribenda = this letter must be written. This gerundive of obligation is also called the passive periphrastic!
In form only the gerund resembles a future passive participle, but it is a verbal noun rather than a verbal adjective. The gerund's meaning is always active and always in the present tense. It is always neuter in gender, always singular in number, and it never appears in the nominative case. It is formed like the future passive participle and declined like a 2nd declension noun:
It is translated into English as a verbal noun ending in -ing: ars docendi = the art of teaching; modus vivendi = way of living.
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