Chaptering through 24 and 25
1. 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)
Which forms are already familiar to you?
Forms of the Latin Participles
Tense
ACTIVE
PASSIVE
Present
Laudāns, laudantis
Monēns, monentis
Docēns, docentis
Rapiēns, rapientis
Audiēns, audientis
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Laudātus, -a, -um
Monitus, -a, -um
Doctus, -a, -um
Raptus, -a, um
Audītus, -a, -um
Laudātūrus, -a, -um
Monitūrus, -a, -um
Doctūrus, -a, -um
Raptūrus, -a, -um
Audītūrus, -a, um
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Perfect
Future
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
Nominitive
Laudantēs
Laudantia
Genitive
Laudantium
Laudantium
Dative
Laudantibus
Laudantibus
Accusative
Laudantēs
Laudantia
Ablative
Laudantibus
Laudantibus
Plural
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 noun
1.
2.
Example: ā virō rogante pacem (“from the
man asking for peace”)
Example: ā rogante (“from the asking [man])
1.
Examples: sequēns, cōnantem, loquentibus
3. Deponent verbs can have these
participles too!
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
N. Monitī
Monitae
Monita
G. Monitōrum
Monitārum
Monitōrum
D. Monitīs
Monitīs
Monitīs
A. Monitōs
Monitās
Monita
Acc. Monitīs
Monitīs
Monitīs
Plural
Did you know?: the 4th Principle Part is technically termed “the Participial Stem”
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
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
Present
Future
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.
It’s called “absolute” because it is independent from the rest of a
sentence’s syntax! (ab + solvēre = “to be released”)
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
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 having
been said”, because dictīs is a perfect passive participle  The CONTEXT
makes it clear that Caesar did the talking
A good way to start translating an ablative absolute is to follow these
formulas: 1) “With x having (verb)-ed …” or 2) “With x being (verb) …”
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 is
defined by that of the main 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.: ī
2nd pl.: īte
Infinitives
Present: īre
Perfect: īsse
Future: itūrus esse
Participles
Present: iēns, euntis
Future: 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”
Indicative Present
Active
Imperf.
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
ferēbāmu ferēmu
s
s
ferimur
ferēmur
2nd pl.
fertis
ferēbātis
ferētis
feriminī
ferēminī
3rd pl.
ferunt
ferēbant
ferent
feruntur
ferentur
Imperatives
2nd sg.: fer
2nd pl.: ferte
Indicative Present
Passive
Infinitives
Present: ferre(act.); ferrī (pass.)
Perfect: tulisse (act.); lātus esse (pass.)
Future: latūrus esse
Future
Participles
Present: ferēns, ferentis
Perfect Pass.: lātus, -a, -um
Future: 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?