participle

English

Etymology

From Middle English participle, from Old French participle (1388), variant of participe, from Latin participium.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɑːtɪsɪpəl/
• IPA^(key): /pɑːˈtɪsɪpəl/
• IPA^(key): /ˈpɑɹtɪˌsɪpəl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

participle (plural participles)

1. (grammar) A form of a verb that may function as an adjective or noun. English has two types of participles: the present participle and the past participle. In other languages, there are others, such as future, perfect, and future perfect participles.

Usage notes

Participles can be combined with the auxiliary verbs have and be to form the perfect aspect, the progressive aspect, and the passive voice. The tense is always expressed through the auxiliary verb.

• I have asked. (present tense, perfect aspect)
• I am asking. (present tense, progressive aspect)
• I am asked. (present tense, passive voice)

When not combined with have or be, participles are almost always adjectives and can form adjectival phrases called participial phrases. Nouns can occasionally be derived from these adjectives:

• the following items
• the following
• the dying victims
• the dying

In English, participles typically end in -ing, -ed or -en.

A present participle ending in -ing has the same form but a different function from a verbal noun called a gerund. Sometimes a present participle (adjective) is mistakenly called a gerund (noun).

Derived terms

• gerund-participle

Hypernyms

• verbal

Hyponyms

• active participle
• future participle
• passive participle
• past participle
• perfect passive participle
• present participle

Translations

verb form

• Albanian: pjesore (sq) f
• Arabic: اِسْم فَاعِل (ar) m (ism fāʕil), اِسْم مَفْعُول (ar) m (ism mafʕūl)
• Armenian: դերբայ (hy) (derbay)
• Asturian: participiu m
• Basque: partizipio
• Belarusian: дзеепрыме́тнік m (dzjejeprymjétnik), дзеяпрыме́тнік m (dzjejaprymjétnik)
• Bulgarian: прича́стие (bg) n (pričástie)
• Catalan: participi (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 分詞／分词 (zh) (fēncí), 分词 (zh) (fēncí)

• Czech: příčestí (cs) n, participium n
• Danish: participium n, tillægsform c
• Dutch: deelwoord (nl) n
• Esperanto: participo (eo)
• Estonian: kesksõna (et)
• Faroese: lýsingarháttur m
• Finnish: partisiippi (fi)
• French: participe (fr) m
• Galician: participio (gl) m
• Georgian: მიმღეობა (mimɣeoba)
• German: Mittelwort (de) n, Partizip (de) n, Partizipium (de) n
• Greek: μετοχή (el) f (metochí)

  Ancient: μετοχή f (metokhḗ)

• Hebrew: בֵּינוֹנִי (he) m (bēnoní)
• Hindi: कृदंत (hi) m (kŕdant)
• Hungarian: melléknévi igenév (hu)
• Icelandic: lýsingarháttur (is) m
• Ido: participo (io)
• Irish: rangabháil f
• Italian: participio (it) m
• Japanese: 分詞 (ja) (ぶんし, bunshi)
• Kazakh: есімше (esımşe)
• Korean: 분사 (ko) (bunsa)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Kyrgyz: атоочтук (ky) (atooctuk)
• Latin: participium (la) n
• Latvian: divdabis (lv) m, particips m
• Lithuanian: dalyvis (lt) m
• Macedonian: партицип m (particip)
• Malay: partisipel
• Mongolian: үйлт нэр (üjlt ner)
• Norman: participe m (Jersey)
• Northern Sami: ^{(please verify)} partisihppa
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: partisipp (no) n

  Nynorsk: partisipp n

• Old High German: teilnemunga f
• Persian: وجه وصفی (vaǰh-e-vasfī)
• Polish: imiesłów (pl) m
• Portuguese: particípio (pt)
• Romanian: participiu (ro) n
• Russian: прича́стие (ru) n (pričástije)
• Scottish Gaelic: rann-phàirt f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: партицип m

  Roman: particip (sh) m

• Slovak: príčastie n
• Slovene: deležnik (sl) m
• Spanish: participio (es) m
• Swedish: particip (sv) n
• Tagalog: pandiwari
• Tajik: сифати феълӣ (sifat-i feʾli)
• Turkish: ortaç (tr), durum ortacı (tr), sıfat-fiil (tr), partisip (tr)
• Ukrainian: дієприкме́тник (uk) m (dijeprykmétnyk)
• Uzbek: sifatdosh (uz)
• Vietnamese: phân từ (vi)
• Walloon: pårticipe (wa) m
• Welsh: rhangymeriad m
• West Frisian: mulwurd

Further reading

• “participle”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• participle in Britannica Dictionary