Verbs and syntax VIII: participles

• If infinitives are the parts of verbs that behave a little like nouns, participles are the parts of verbs that behave a lot like adjectives. In fact, they are adjectives, but adjectives formed from verbs. Each verb generates a family of three adjectives, one for each of three tense-voice combinations.

• English has two one-word participles, a present active one and a present or perfect passive one. "A loving husband", "a warning sign", "a ruling class", "a hearing person" (in the sense of not deaf - but not "a hearing aid"!) are all present active participles; "a loved one", "an overheard conversation" are present or perfect passive participles.
  

• Latin has three of these participles. Note that, as with infinitives, only 3 of the 6 tenses have participles, and this time only in one voice each (active or passive). The first one, the present active, is the same as English; another, the perfect passive, is similar but not identical to the English timeless passive. The third, the future active, has no one-word English equivalent. It's especially important to note that the Latin passive participle is perfect, not present: "having-been-loved", not "being-loved". English "loved" can mean both or either of these: "she buried her (having-been-)loved one in a shallow grave in Epping Forest", or "take your (currently-being-)loved ones to Thorpe Park for a day of slightly sad fun". If you did the second of these in Latin, it would mean you no longer loved them - amatus means loved in the past but not any more.

• How do they go?
  • The present participle goes like ingens, except that in some uses the ablative singular can have the non-i-stem -e insteadof the usual -i. The other two participles just go like malus.

• What do I do with them?
  • Participles can do all the things that adjectives can do (agree with a noun, or in Latin even do duty under the "men-women-and-things" rule for nouns where none is supplied).
    

  • But they can also do a lot of things that verbs can: take an object, attach an adverb, support a subordinate clause.
    

  • Latin adores participles, especially the perfect passive one, and will use them on any excuse. It even has a special construction for times when there isn't really an excuse: the ablative absolute.