Participle

A participle (Latin participium, from particeps "participating"; plural: participles) is a grammatical form which is derived from a verb and thereby partly acquires properties of an adjective, but partly also retains properties of a verb. The term "participle" and likewise the German term Mittelwort express this peculiarity of participating in two categories at once, namely verb and adjective. In a similar way, there are also intermediate stages between verb and noun, which are called gerunds.

German examples of participles are the forms on -end like spielend (to the verb spielen; so-called "present participle") and the forms on ge- like gespielt (so-called "perfect participle"). In traditional grammar, participles were often enumerated as a separate part of speech alongside verb, adjective, noun, etc.; in contemporary linguistics, however, this view is not shared, but participles are regarded as words or even constructions in which verbal and adjectival components are included in alternating proportions. Most Germanic textbooks and school grammars refer to participles as verb forms.

Verbal properties of participles may be that they are sometimes combined with the usual complements of the verb, and that they are traditionally distinguished by tense and active/passive. However, they never show features of finite verb forms (number, person and mode), and the "tense" is never a true deictic (i.e. finite) tense, but relative tenses, as is otherwise possible in the infinitive (cf. the infinitive of the perfect as in played to have). Adjectival properties of participles can consist, for example, in the fact that they can occur as attributes to a noun, whereby in German they also exhibit the inflection of adjectives, such as the ending -e in spielende Kinder.

The grammatical properties of participles, however, are inconsistent; a major difficulty with the term is that the designation "participle" usually covers all variants that have the same outward form (i.e. in German with -end, ge-), even though they have quite different grammatical properties. For example, the inflected attributive form as in gespielte Überraschung is clearly adjectival, the outwardly same form in auxiliary verb constructions of German, such as Die Kinder haben Fußball gespielt is clearly an infinite verb form. In addition, there are uses of participles as adverbial determiners that are more difficult to classify. The expression of an intermediate status of the participle can thus be interpreted in different ways: It may mean that there is a middle word in the true sense, that is, that has verbal and adjectival properties at the same time, or that we are dealing with forms which alternate between clearly adjectival and clearly verbal uses.

Participles can be found in various languages of the world, partly also in other "tenses" (especially future participles) or with other forms of the active/passive distinction. The phenomenon that, as in German, present participles are "active" and perfect participles are "passive", is also found as a tendency in other languages, though by far not without exception (Slavic languages, for example, have perfect-active participles). There are also participles which are neutral with regard to the active/passive distinction.

Overview of the participle forms of German

In German, two participle forms are distinguished:

• "Participle I", also: "first participle, present participle, present participle, present middle word, first middle word, running form [of verb]"
• "Participle II", also: "second participle, past participle, past perfect participle, past perfect participle, past middle word, second middle word, consummation form [of verb], consummation form [of verb]"

Formation of the participle I

The present participle is formed by adding "-end" to the root of the verb. In German, the present participle always has the properties of an adjective, i.e. it is used as an attribute or as an adverbial clause, and with restrictions also as a predicative (see next section).

Example: the verb jump

Finite forms: e.g. spring-e, spring-st ... Infinitive: spring-en Word stem thus: spring- Present participle: spring-end

Special features:

• For verbs whose stem ends in -r or in -l, the ending -end is shortened to -nd, just as the -en of the infinitive is shortened to -n: smiling-ending, mourning-ending.
• Verbs whose stem ends in vowels behave irregularly. In some cases the infinitive is always shortened, namely tun, sein; here a participle form results which differs from the infinitive: tu-end, sei-end. Some other verbs with stem on vowel can optionally be shortened in the infinitive, but again this never happens with the participle: schau-en or colloquially: schaun, participle however always schau-end, never: *schaund.

Formation of the participle II

The so-called past participle is usually formed with the prefix "ge-" and by adding "-t" or "-et" (for regular verbs) or "-en" and other changes (for irregular verbs).

In weak verbs, the root is surrounded by ge- and the suffix -t:

• love → loved
• build → built
• win → won
• lay → lay

With strong verbs, the participle II form is formed with ge- and the suffix -en:

• riding → ridden
• bend → bent
• take → taken
• dig → dug

However, there are verbs that are formed without the prefix ge-, among them:

• all inseparable verbs, i.e. all verbs that are not stressed on the first syllable, especially verbs on -ieren
• react → reacts
• fix → fixed
• trumpets → trumpets
• inseparable verbs with unstressed prefixes like be-, er-, ent-, ge-, ver-, and zer-
• tell → tells
• recommend → recommended
• some words containing a -ge- or an unstressed prefix
• confessed → confessed
• concede → concede
• earning extra → extra

The past participle can also be formed as a compound noun in German. Examples:

• Noun + past participle (iced, mossy)
• Adverb + participle (well-tempered mood)
• Adjective + participle (the small print)

For the use of the second participle, see below under "Perfect participle".

Present participle

Properties in German

The participle I is used in the sentence to use a verb as an adjective or adverb.

Adjectival properties of the participle are inflection (example: suitable, suitable, suitable), antonymy (example: suitable - unsuitable), the possibility of forming composites (example: applicable), as well as the possibility of both attributive and predicative use (example: a suitable opportunity - the opportunity is suitable).

Examples:

• the loving mother - the singing girl - the silent lamb - the screaming salesman
• The example is true. - The child runs home crying.

The participle can be declined like an adjective. For this reason, it is often called a verbal adjective. The participle attributes, which can be formed by a participle and possibly an extension, are attributive to a noun. A participle attribute can always be resolved by a relative clause. This makes the sentence easier to understand.

Examples:

• the message coming from above (as a relative clause: the message coming from above)
• with the message coming from above (as a relative clause: with the message coming from above).

The participle in German can also express simultaneity of actions and activities, similar to Latin:

Examples:

• The man walks through the house singing (The man sings and walks, so he is doing two activities at the same time).

The participle can also be formed as a compound noun. Examples:

• noun + present participle (carnivorous, analgesic)
• Adverb + participle (perpetual calendar)
• Adjective + participle (single)

According to the New German Orthography, when the literal meaning is used, the hyphenation is recommended (e.g. the child riding a bike, the carnivorous plant). If the compound term is used in a figurative sense, the words should be written together (e.g. the tree standing alone, but the single woman [without a life partner or life companion]).

Latin language

In Latin: Present participle active (PPA)

The PPA expresses the temporal relation of simultaneity between the action expressed by the participle and that of the superordinate clause. In Latin, the participle also serves as a sentence shortener in the construction of the participium coniunctum (PC) and the ablative absolutus.

Greek language

In Greek: present participle active and present participle medium/passive.

In contrast to German, the passive forms of the present tense are formed synthetically (own forms).