Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
A Participle is a special kind of adjective. Like any other adjective its job is to work
with nouns. In Latin there are four different types:
Present Active
Describes an action occurring at the same time as the main verb. Can be translated
by ‘…ing’ but also by ‘while’, ‘since’ or by subordinate clauses.
Can also be used as a noun e.g. amans ‘a loving person’ = a lover.
Recognise by the –ns or –nt- on the present stem of the verb.
Endings are the same as 3rd declension adjectives. ‘ingens’
The Present Participle is giving the reader a bit more information about the wolf.
The girl began to look for the (having been) lost books
The Past Passive Participle is giving the reader a bit more information about the
books. It’s terrible English, so we could change it and write something like: the girl
began to look for the books she lost. When you translate, you must be prepared to
change things around, but only after you’re certain what’s going on.
The Past Active Participle is giving the reader a bit more information about the
soldiers. We know that they entered the forum before they listened to the speech.
The Future Active Participle is giving the reader a bit more information about the
pupil.
Exercise:
audivi te dicentem