Chapter 23
Participles
• These are more common in Latin than they are in English. English
prefers to use relative clauses or adverbial subordinate clauses.
• You’ve heard the word “participle” before – in chapter XIX when you
learned the perfect passive system of verbs. Then, you used the 4th
principal part of the verb to construct a perfect, future perfect, or
pluperfect passive verb. Do you remember the “official title” of the 4th
principal part?
Participles
• These are more common in Latin than they are in English. English
prefers to use relative clauses or adverbial subordinate clauses.
• You’ve heard the word “participle” before – in chapter XIX when you
learned the perfect passive system of verbs. Then, you used the 4th
principal part of the verb to construct a perfect, future perfect, or
pluperfect passive verb. Do you remember the “official title” of the 4th
principal part? “Perfect Passive Participle”
Participles
• Do you remember how I described a “participle”?
Participles
• Do you remember how I described a “participle”? I said it was a
“verbal adjective”.
• A participle “participates” in the functions of both verb and adjective:
Participles --- “Verbal Adjectives”
Verbal Aspects: Adjectival Aspects:
• -- voice • -- descriptive
• -- tense • -- can be used substantively
• -- action • -- declined to agree with what it
• -- if it’s active and from a modifies (in gender, number, and
transitive verb, it can take a case)
direct object
Latin regular verbs have FOUR participles:
Present Active
Perfect Passive
Future Active
Future Passive
(There is no present passive or perfect active.)
Participles -- Forms
ACTIVE PASSIVE
Present: present stem + -ns (gen. –ntis) Present: ----------
Perfect: ---------- Perfect: participial stem + -us, -a, -um
Future: participial stem + -urus, -ura, - Future: present stem + -ndus, -nda, -
urum ndum
Participles -- Forms, continued
ACTIVE PASSIVE
Present: agēns, agentis (“doing”) Present: ---------- (“being done”)
Perfect: ---------- (“having done”) Perfect: āctus, ācta, āctum (“having
Future: āctūrus, āctūra, āctūrum been done”)
(“going to do/about to do”) Future: agendus, agenda, agendum
(“about to be done”)
Notes about declining participles:
• Note that 3 of these participles (Perfect Passive, Future Active, and
Future Passive) decline like -us, -a, -um adjectives.
• Present Active declines like a 3rd declension adjective of 1 ending, like
potēns, potentis (see chapter XVI).
• There is one variation to consider re: the present active participle,
and it’s with the ablative singular: it is the expected -ī ending if it’s
being used more adjectivally; it has -e as its ending if it has more
verbal force (e.g. it’s taking a direct object) or it’s being used
substantively.
Notes about declining participles:
• ablative ī vs. e (continued):
• Adjectival: I am pleased by the “singing” poet:
.....ā poētā cantantī
• Verbal: I am pleased by the poet “singing” songs:
.....ā poētā carmina cantante
• Substantive: I am pleased by the “singing guy”/”singer”:
.....ā cantante
Relativity of Time
• The tense of a participle is not absolute but relative to the time of the
main verb of the sentence...
• Present Active Participle = this action is happening at the same time
as that of the main verb (“contemporaneous”)
• Perfect Passive Participle = this action happened at a time prior to
that of the main verb
• Future Participles = these actions will happen at a time after that of
the main verb
Participles - Examples
• Present Active: = “-ing”
• Vir labōrāns ad officium discessit. (nom.)
• Virum labōrantem in agrō vīdimus. (acc.)
• Ā virō labōrantī vīsa sum. (abl.; adjectival force)
• Ā virō legente librum vīsa sum. (abl.; verbal force)
Participles - Examples
• Perfect Passive: = “having been X’d” (or simply “X’d)
• Senex, ab amīcīs monitus, ad nōs fūgit. (nom.)
• Nautās, aquā celerī territōs, servāvimus. (acc.)
Participles - Examples
• Future Active: = “about to X” (or “going to X”)
• Virī, hostēs vīsūrī, timēbant. (nom.)
• Future Passive: = “about to be X’d” (or “going to be X’d”)
• Cīvēs, ā rēge videndī, timent.
Participles - Translation Options
• In English we prefer to use relative clauses or adverbial clauses.
• We can play with different ways to incorporate the information we
see in the participle.
• Senex, ab amīcīs monitus, ad nōs fūgit.
• The old man, “having been warned” by (his) friends, fled to us.
• The old man, “after he had been warned” by (his) friends, fled to us.
• The old man, “since he had been warned” by (his) friends, fled to us.
• The old man, “who had been warned” by (his) friends, fled to us.
Participles - Translation Options
• In English we prefer to use relative clauses or adverbial clauses.
• We can play with different ways to incorporate the information we
see in the participle.
• Pater, fīliam vīsūrus, casam parābat.
Participles - Translation Options
• In English we prefer to use relative clauses or adverbial clauses.
• We can play with different ways to incorporate the information we
see in the participle.
• Pater, fīliam vīsūrus, casam parābat.
• Father......was preparing the house.
Participles - Translation Options
• In English we prefer to use relative clauses or adverbial clauses.
• We can play with different ways to incorporate the information we
see in the participle.
• Pater, fīliam vīsūrus, casam parābat.
• Father......was preparing the house.
• Vīsūrus is a future active participle = “about to see”, so literally:
• The father, about to see (his) daughter, was preparing the house.
• How else could you express this?
Participles - Translation Options
• Pater, fīliam vīsūrus, casam parābat.
• The father, about to see (his) daughter, was preparing the house.
• How else could you express this?
• The father, since he was about to see his daughter, was preparing..
• The father, when he was about to see his daughter, was preparing..
• The father, who was about to see his daughter, was preparing...
Participles - Translation Options
• You can translate the participle literally or try:
• when
• since
• because
• after
• although
• relative pronoun
Vocabulary Chapter 23
• arx, arcis, f., citadel, stronghold
• dux, ducis, m., leader, guide; commander, general
• equus, equī, m., horse
• hasta, hastae, f., spear
• īnsula, īnsulae, f., island
• lītus, lītoris, n., shore, coast
• mīles, mīlitis, m., soldier
• ōrātor, ōrātōris, m., orator, speaker
• sacerdōs, sacerdōtis, m., priest
• aliquis, aliquid, indef. pron., someone, somebody, something
• quisquis, quidquid, indef. pron., whoever, whatever
• magnanimus, magnanima, magnanimum, great-hearted, brave, magnanimous
• umquam, adv., ever, at any time
Vocabulary Chapter 23
• ēducō, ēducāre, ēducāvī, ēducātum, to bring up, educate
• gaudeō, gaudēre, gāvīsus sum, to be glad, rejoice
• ostendō, ostendere, ostendī, ostentum, to exhibit, show, display
• petō, petere, petīvī, petītum, to seek, aim at, beg, beseech (Takes abl. of person
from whom something is asked: Ā vōbīs aquam petīvī.)
• premō, premere, pressī, pressum, to press; press hard, pursue
• opprimō, opprimere, oppressī, oppressum, to suppress, overwhelm, overpower,
check
• vertō, vertere, vertī, versum, to turn; change; so āvertō = turn away, revertō =
turn back... Vertō must be used with a direct object: Caesar cōpiās ad flūmen
vertit. What about “Caesar turned.”??? Caesar sē vertit.
Exercitātiōnēs
p. 188
# 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 11