Chapter 3 Chapter 3
A participle is a verb
form which is part verb and part adjective; it is called (logically enough)
a verbal adjective. English has two participles: the present participle
and the past participle. Latin has these two participles and also the future
participle.
The present participle is easy to recognize in English because it is the -ing form of the verb. It has two functions.
Theseus is entering the labyrinth.
Ariadne was trying to help Theseus.
Theseus was outstanding.
Theseus was an outstanding hero.
Theseus, seeing the Minotaur, was not afraid.
No one saw Theseus killing the Minotaur.
Keep in mind that the first function of the present participle in English does not occur in Latin. The verb phrase in English corresponds to a Latin tense.
Orpheus is singing.
Orpheus cantat (present).The animals were listening.
Animalia audiebant (imperfect).Eurydice will be coming.
Eurydice veniet (future).
In Latin, the present
participle is always active in meaning. It too is part verb and part adjective.
It is formed with the present stem of the verb plus -ns, -ntis, and
is an adjective of the third declension declined in all cases, singular
and plural: cantans, cantantis; docens, docentis; mittens, mittentis;
audiens, audientis. Like all adjectives in Latin, it must agree in case,
gender, and number with the noun or pronoun it modifies.
The present (active, remember) participle is used as an adjective to describe a noun or pronoun, just as in English.
Theseus was an outstanding hero.
Theseus erat heros praestans.Theseus, seeing the Minotaur, was not afraid.
Theseus Minotaurum videns non timebat.No one saw Theseus killing the Minotaur.
Nemo Theseum Minotaurum necantem vidit.
The present participle can also be used in what is at least technically a future sense.
Seeing the bear (when he sees the bear), the bartender will greet us quite politely.
Ursum videns, tabernarius comissime nos salutabit.
Although the verb
esse has no present participle, we can suppose its presence in a
clause which contains two nouns in the ablative. This construction is called,
as you remember, an ablative absolute, and was an old favorite among the
Romans. Although it is grammatically independent (and thus "absolute")
of the subject or the object of the main clause, it is logically connected
to the rest of the sentence and serves to explain the circumstances surrounding
the action. Thus:
With the turtle as farmer, we will rarely eat. As long as the turtle is farmer, The turtle being farmer, Turture agricola, raro edemus.