Chaptering through 24 and 251. Participles: Forms, Tenses, and Uses

2. Ablative Absolute

3. New Verbs: eō (to go) and ferō (to carry)

Definitions

A Participle is: A Verbal Adjective! As such, they MODIFY

NOUNS!

… So, a participle will naturally combine some of the characteristics of verbs and nouns

… And, just as other adjectives, can sometimes stand in for nouns

Participles in English

We use participles in English all the time:

The running man goes to the store in a hurry.

The moved books were lost.

Participles in English are often formed by adding suffixes to verb stems: -ing for Present Active Participles, -ed for Past Passive Participles

Participles in Latin

Now, in Latin things are (as always!) more precise: Participles will have these characteristics

of adjectives: AGREEMENT IN CASE, NUMBER, AND

GENDER WITH THEIR MODIFIED NOUN Participles will have these characteristics

of verbs: TENSE, VOICE, and the ABILITY TO HAVE

A DIRECT OBJECT

Types of Participles in Latin

Latin only has three possible forms of the participle:

1) The present active (The running man)

2) The perfect passive (the moved books)

3) The future active (the about-to-run man)

Forms of the Latin ParticiplesTense ACTIVE PASSIVE

Present Laudāns, laudantisMonēns, monentisDocēns, docentisRapiēns, rapientisAudiēns, audientis

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Perfect

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Laudātus, -a, -umMonitus, -a, -umDoctus, -a, -umRaptus, -a, umAudītus, -a, -um

Future Laudātūrus, -a, -umMonitūrus, -a, -umDoctūrus, -a, -umRaptūrus, -a, -umAudītūrus, -a, um

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Which forms are already familiar to you?

Forming Present Participles

To form a present participle:

1) Take the present stem: 1st, 2nd, and 3rd: amā-, monē-, docē- 3rd –iō and 4th: rapiē-, audiē-

2) Add the noun endings –ns, -ntis, …

Note that this suffix –ns, -ntis can never be added to a 3rd

-iō or 4th conjugation verb root without the insertion of -e-!!!

Present Active Participles

Present active participles look and decline like 3rd declension adjectives, so you already pretty much know the forms!

Singular Masc. and Fem. Neuter

Nominitive Laudāns Laudāns

Genitive Laudantis Laudantis

Dative Laudantī Laudantī

Accusative Laudantem Laudantem

Ablative Laudante, Laudantī Laudante, Laudantī

Plural

Nominitive Laudantēs Laudantia

Genitive Laudantium Laudantium

Dative Laudantibus Laudantibus

Accusative Laudantēs Laudantia

Ablative Laudantibus Laudantibus

Notes on Present Actives!1. For the ablative forms, the ending in –

ī is used when simply modifying a noun 1. Example: ā virō rogantī (“from the asking

man”)2. The ending in –e is used, on the other

hand, if the participle has an object or stands alone as a noun1. Example: ā virō rogante pacem (“from the

man asking for peace”)2. Example: ā rogante (“from the asking

[man])3. Deponent verbs can have these

participles too!1. Examples: sequēns, cōnantem, loquentibus

Forming Perfect Passive Participles

Guess what?! YOU ALREADY KNOW THEM!! At least for the verbs you’ve memorized! BECAUSE…

THE PERFECT PASSIVE PARTICIPLE IS THE 4th PRINCIPLE PART!!!

And… They decline like 1st and 2nd Declension adjectives (-us, -a, -um)

Perfect Passive Participles

Singular Masc. and Fem. Neuter

N. Monitus Monita Monitum

G. Monitī Monitae Monitī

D. Monitō Monitae Monitō

Acc. Monitum Monitam Monitum

Abl. Monitō Monitā Monitō

Plural

N. Monitī Monitae Monita

G. Monitōrum Monitārum Monitōrum

D. Monitīs Monitīs Monitīs

A. Monitōs Monitās Monita

Acc. Monitīs Monitīs Monitīs

Forming Future Active Participles

These are already familiar to you as part of Future Active Infinitives

To form them: 1) Take the 4th principle part of your verb 2) Drop off the –us or –um ending 3) Add -ūr- 4) Slap an -us, -a, -um, with any case ending back on there!

Example: Say you want an accusative, singular, feminine form from rapiō:

Raptus Rapt- Raptūr- Raptūram

Did you know?: the 4th Principle Part is technically termed “the Participial Stem”

Tenses of Participles

Participles have three possible tenses: present, perfect (past), and future

Like infinitives in INDIRECT DISCOURSE, participles show TIME RELATIVE TO THE MAIN VERB

Main Verb

Before------------------------Contemporary-----------------------------After

Participle

Perfect PresentFuture

Some Examples

Exercitum proficīscentem hortātus est. “He encouraged the departing army” The

ENCOURAGING happens AT THE SAME TIME as the DEPARTING

Romam eōs ventūrōs Cicerō vīdit. “Cicero saw those guys about to come to Rome” The

SEEING happens BEFORE the COMING TO ROME

Caesar hostibus victīs nōn pārēbat. “Caesar was not obeying his conquered enemies.” The

CONQUERING happened BEFORE the NOT OBEYING

Uses of Participles

Participles are FAR MORE VERSATILE in Latin than in English

1. A use you know: Compound perfect passive tenses and certain infinitives Ego amātus sum a fīliō; dictūrus esse; dictum esse

2. Adjectival Captam urbem (“the captured city”); Fēmina sciēns

(“a thinking woman”)

But … More often participles convey more

specific kinds of information:

For Example, depending on the context the sentence: Hannibal omnēs vincēns Italiā potitur

Can mean:

Adjectival 1 Hannibal conquering all

Adjectival 2 Hannibal, who conquers all,

Temporal 1 While Hannibal conquers all, he

Temporal 2 As long as Hannibal conquers all, he

Causal Because Hannibal conquers all, he

… has control of Italy.

More possibilities …

For the sentence Cicero victus gaudēbat.

Could mean

Concessive Although conquered,

Adjectival Having been conquered,

Temporal 1 When conquered,

Temporal 2 After having been conquered,

Causal Because he had been conquered,

… Cicero was rejoicing.

So …

You will often have to do some “detective work” and test different translations before choosing one (for example, in the last sentence “Because he was conquered, Cicero was rejoicing” can probably be excluded!)

When you see a participle, your translation-toolkit should include words like … Although, even though, when, while, after, as long as, and because; don’t forget that you can translate them as relative clauses too!

Sometimes you can even translate a participial phrase as its own clause For example: Rōma condita hominibus carēbat =

Rome was founded and was in need of people.

Ablative Absolute A useful and common construction with participles is

called “The Ablative Absolute”

These take the place of subordinate clauses to express 1) Time (When, after, while, etc.) 2) Cause (Because) 3) Concession (Although, even though) 4) Condition (if)

The components: A noun (or pronoun) in the ablative and participle in the ablative

It’s called “absolute” because it is independent from the rest of a sentence’s syntax! (ab + solvēre = “to be released”)

Ablative Absolutes

An example:

To say, “Caesar dismissed the soldiers after saying these things”, all you know how to do now is:

Postquam haec dīxit, Caesar mīlitēs dīmīsit.

Watch how that subordinate clause disappears when the ablative absolute jumps in:

Caesar, hīs dictīs, mīlitēs dīmīsit.

A literal translation would be: “Caesar, with these things having been said, dismissed the soldiers”

Notice how the Latin literally says “with these things havingbeen said”, because dictīs is a perfect passive participle The CONTEXTmakes it clear that Caesar did the talking

More examples

1) Cause: “Because Rome was captured, the Romans are not rejoicing” Subordinate clause: Quia Rōma capta est, Rōmānī nōn

gaudent. Ablative absolute: Rōmā captā Rōmānī nōn gaudent.

2) Condition: “If Hercules comes, we are saved.” Subordinate clause: Sī Hercules venit, conservāmur. Ablative Absolute: Hercule veniente conservāmur.

Note that, just like all other participles, the tense of ablative absolutes isdefined by that of the main verb!

A good way to start translating an ablative absolute is to follow theseformulas: 1) “With x having (verb)-ed …” or 2) “With x being (verb) …”

Finally on Ablative Absolutes …

There is NO PARTICIPLE for the verb “to be”, SO…

An ablative absolute will look like this:

Imperātōre bonō, cīvitās est bona.

“With the Emperor (being) good, the state is good”

or, a better translation

“When the Emperor is good, the state is good”

Irregular Verb: “to go”

Indicative

Present

Imperf. Future Perf. Pluperf. Fur. Perf.

1st sg. eō ībam ībō iī, (īvī) ieram ierō

2nd sg. īs ībās ībis iistī ierās ieris

3rd sg. it ībat ībit iit ierat ierit

1st pl. īmus ībāmus ībimus iimus ierāmus ierimus

2nd pl. ītis ībātis ībitis iistis ierātis ieritis

3rd pl. eunt ībant ībunt iērunt ierant ierint

Imperatives 2nd sg.: ī2nd pl.: īte

InfinitivesPresent: īrePerfect: īsseFuture: itūrus esse

ParticiplesPresent: iēns, euntisFuture: itūrus, -a, -um

Compounds of eō

There are many compounds of īre: adeō exeō ineō redeō subeō trānseō

Try to translate a few …

Irregular Verb: ferō, ferre, tulī, lātus “to carry, bear”

IndicativeActive

Present

Imperf. Future

Indicative Passive

Present

Future

1st sg. ferō ferēbam feram feror ferar

2nd sg. fers ferēbās ferēs ferris ferēris

3rd sg. fert ferēbat feret fertur ferētur

1st pl. ferimus ferēbāmus

ferēmus

ferimur ferēmur

2nd pl. fertis ferēbātis ferētis feriminī ferēminī

3rd pl. ferunt ferēbant ferent feruntur ferentur

Imperatives2nd sg.: fer2nd pl.: ferte

InfinitivesPresent: ferre(act.); ferrī (pass.)Perfect: tulisse (act.); lātus esse (pass.)Future: latūrus esse

ParticiplesPresent: ferēns, ferentisPerfect Pass.: lātus, -a, -umFuture: lātūrus, -a, -um

More on ferō

The entire perfect system of ferō is active and built off of the 3rd principle part, tulī

Compounds of ferō are abundant. Some examples: Auferō, auferre, abstulī, ablātus Cōnferō, cōnferre, contulī, collātus Īnferō, īnferre, intulī, illātus Offerō, offerre, obtulī, oblātus Referō, referre, rettulī, relātus

What patterns do you see? Can you define any of these?