The Participle: Introduction

This lesson presents a part of speech known as the PARTICIPLE. Essentially, participles are VERBAL ADJECTIVES. As with verbs, participles have TENSE and VOICE, and can take DIRECT or INDIRECT OBJECTS. As with adjectives, participles have GENDER, NUMBER, and CASE.

English Participles

In English, there are two participial forms:

• The PRESENT participle
• The PAST participle

The PRESENT participle in English is recognized by its ending: –ing. Sometimes the participle stands on its own; in other situations, the participle introduces a PARTICIPIAL PHRASE. A participial phrase consists of the participle, plus any other words or phrases that modify or complement the participle. The present participle in English is ACTIVE.

• Odysseus was a loving father.
  • Here the participle stands on its own, modifying father.
• We saw Odysseus thinking about it.
• We saw Odysseus fighting the Trojans.
  • In these two sentences, each participle is modifying Odysseus; both also introduce participial phrases.

The PAST PARTICIPLE in English is most commonly identified by the ending –ed (e.g., worked, loved), though other forms exist (e.g., eaten, sung). As with the present participle, the participle can stand on its own or introduce a PARTICIPIAL PHRASE. The past participle in English is PASSIVE.

• Odysseus burned the captured city.
  • Here the participle modifies city.
• The women, captured by the Greeks, were unhappy.
  • Here the participle modifies women, and introduces a participial phrase.
• The war, fought mainly on the plains of Troy, came to an end.
  • Here the participle modifies war, and introduces a participial phrase.

Greek Participles

An ancient grammarian once wrote that the Greeks were φιλομέτοχοι, participal-loving. This is no exaggeration. Nearly a third (!) of Greek verbal forms are participles. As a result, mastering Greek participles is essential to reading almost any paragraph of ancient Greek.

As VERBAL ADJECTIVES, Greek participles are part VERB (and so possess tense and voice), and part ADJECTIVE (and so decline to reflect gender, number, case):

Greek participles exist in three tenses: PRESENT, FUTURE, and AORIST. To form each of these tenses:

• Participles use the same TENSE STEM that a given VERB uses in the INDICATIVE mood.

Greek participles exist in the ACTIVE, MIDDLE, and PASSIVE voices. To mark these voices:

• Participles add VOICE MARKERS to the tense stem.

Finally, Greek participles must be able to reflect the GENDER, NUMBER, and CASE of their ANTECEDENT. To match the antecedent:

• Participles add ADJECTIVE endings.

Putting it all together, the formation of a participle looks something like this:

Present Active Participle: Thematic Verbs

Active Participles

The pattern for ALL PARTICIPLES in the ACTIVE voice is:

• tense stem + ντ + 3-1-3 adjective endings
  • A σ is added before the 1st declension endings for the FEMININE
  • 1st declension endings for the FEMININE are ᾰ in the nom. and acc. sing.
  • The persistent accent is on the LAST VOWEL SOUND of the VERB STEM.

Present Active Participle: –ω Verbs

Present active participles are built upon the PRESENT TENSE STEM. For –ω verbs, the thematic vowel ο is added before the ντ marker, producing the following pattern:

• present stem + οντ + 3-1-3 adjective endings

Predictable sound changes yield the following endings for the NOMINATIVE SINGULAR  of THEMATIC PRESENT ACTIVE participles:

• Masculine: (-οντς→-ονς→) –ων
• Feminine: (-οντσα→-ονσα→) –ουσα
• Neuter: (-οντ→) –ον

On their own, these endings form one of the most common and useful participles:

Present Active Participle of εἰμί be (S 305; GPH, p. 224)

Singular:

Plural:

To form the present active participle of –ω verbs, simply add ων, ουσα, ον as an ending.

Present Active Participle of λύω loosen (S 305; GPH, p. 186)

Singular:

Plural:

Present Active Participle: Contract Verbs

Contract verbs follow the normal rules of contraction when forming thematic present active participles.

Present Active Participle of αἱρέω grab (S 310; GPH, p. 200)

Masculine:

Feminine:

Neuter:

Present Active Participle of ἐρωτάω ask (S 310; GPH, p. 198)

Masculine:

Feminine:

Neuter:

Present Active Participle of δηλόω show (S 310; GPH, p. 202)

Masculine:

Feminine:

Neuter:

Present Active Participle: Athematic Verbs

For athematic (-μι) verbs, no thematic vowel is added before the ντ marker. The result is the following pattern:

• present stem + ντ + 3-1-3 adjective endings

Predictable sound changes yield the following endings for the NOMINATIVE SINGULAR of ATHEMATIC PRESENT ACTIVE participles:

• Masculine: (-ντς→-νς→) –ς
• Feminine: (-ντσα→-νσα→) –σα
• Neuter: (-ντ→) –ν

In other words, for athematic verbs, add ς, σα, ν as an ending.

Present Active Participle of δείκνυμι show (S 308; GPH, p. 216)

Singular:

Plural:

Present Active Participle of δίδωμι give (S 307; GPH, p. 204)

Present Active Participle of τίθημι place, make (S 307; GPH, p. 212)

Present Active Participle of ἵστημι stand (S 306; GPH, p. 208)

Present Active Participle of ἵημι throw (S 777)

Future Active Participle

Recall that ALL verbs are THEMATIC (-ω) verbs in the FUTURE tense. So to form the future active participle:

• Add ων, ουσα, ον to the future stem (= verb stem + σ)

Future Active Participle of λύω loosen (S 662; GPH, p. 188)

Future Active Participle of δείκνυμι show (S 662)

– τὸ τέλος –