Participle
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In linguistics, a participle is a verbal adjective.
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Participles in Modern English
In the English language, there are two types of participle:
- the present participle, also known as the imperfect participle, which is formed by adding the suffix "-ing" to a verb (the form is the same as that of a gerund, but the usage differs); and
- the past participle, sometimes known as the perfect participle, which is formed by adding the suffix "-ed".
The present participle in English is an active participle; the past participle is sometimes a passive participle (but sometimes not: in particular, the past participles of intransitive verbs are never passive, and are therefore sometimes used with active senses, such as in the expression fallen comrades, and the perfect tense, formed with the perfect participle -- "has done, has made" is also active).
Most irregular verbs do not follow this pattern for forming past participles. Only modal auxiliary verbs fail to form present participles in English. All others form present participles by adding "-ing"; even the most irregular verbs do not vary from that pattern.
Examples
- "talk" becomes "talking" and "talked" (regular)
- "do" becomes "doing" and "done" (irregular)
- "eat" becomes "eating" and "eaten" (irregular)
Participles are adjectives and are often used in front of nouns; as in "I saw a talking horse", "It was the done thing" and "She sold the crashed car at a loss".
A present participle is often confused with a gerund, a noun form of a verb with "-ing".
Participles in other languages
Latin
Other languages have different sorts of participles. For example, Latin has:
- active present participle: educans "teaching"
- passive perfect participle: educatus "having been taught"
- passive future participle: educandus "about to be taught" (strictly speaking, this is a Latin gerundive which is a construct richer in meaning that does not perfectly replicate the function of the other participles).
- active future participle: educaturus "about to teach"
Old English
- Old English ended present participles with -ind. In the East Midlands dialect, it merges with -ing, which originally only named actions.
- Past participles are marked with a ge-' prefix, as is done today in Dutch and High German.
French
There are two basic participles:
- Present participle: formed with the verb root + ant. Eg, marchant "walking", étant "being"
- Past participle: formation varies according to verb group. Eg: marché "walked", été "been", vendu "sold". May require agreement.
Compound participles are possible:
- Present perfect participle: ayant appelé "having called", étant mort "having died"
- Passive perfect participle: étant vendu "being sold, having been sold"
Spanish
In Spanish, the present participle (el gerundio) of a verb is generally formed with one of the suffixes -ando, -iendo; the past participle (el participio) is generally formed with one of the suffixes -ado, -ido.
Traditionally, Spanish grammar has regarded the present participle not as an adjective, but as an adverb, and it does not change form to agree with any noun in gender or number. Nonetheless, it is used in much the same ways as the (adjective) present participle in English; for example, Spanish's equivalent of English's progressive aspect (e.g., to be doing) is formed with a combination of the verb estar (to be in a transient sense) and the present participle of the main verb (e.g., estar haciendo).
By contrast, the past participle is considered an adjective, and agrees with a noun in gender and number, except when used to express the perfect aspect (e.g., to have done, which in Spanish is haber hecho).
Esperanto
In Esperanto each transitive verb has two present participles (active and passive), two past participles, and two future participles. Some speakers have also analogously constructed two conditional participles. These are not in widespread use nor are they officially sanctioned by the Akademio de Esperanto, but nonetheless they are readily understood. Intransitive verbs of course cannot have passive participles.
See also
References
- Participles from the American Heritage Book of English Usage (1996).als:Partizip
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