Editing Participle (section)

====Latin====
{{main article|Latin syntax#Participles|Latin conjugation#Participles|Latin syntax#The gerundive}}

[[Latin]] grammar was studied in Europe for hundreds of years, especially the handbook written by the 4th-century teacher [[Aelius Donatus]], and it is from Latin that the name and concept of the participle derives. According to Donatus there are four participles in Latin, as follows:<ref>Donatus, ''Ars Minor: de participio''.</ref>

* '''present''' participle: present stem + ''-ns'' (gen. ''-ntis''); e.g. ''legēns'' (plural ''legentēs'') "(while) reading"
* '''perfect''' participle: [[Latin conjugation#Supine|supine]] stem + ''-us'', ''-a'', ''-um''; e.g. ''lēctus'' "read (by someone)"
* '''future''' participle: supine stem + ''-ūrus'', ''-ūra'', ''-ūrum''; e.g. ''lēctūrus'' "going to read", "due to read"
* '''gerundive''' (sometimes<ref>cf. Wheelock, pp. 106ff and 112 note; Allen & Greenough, p. 315.</ref> considered the future passive participle): e.g. ''legendus'' "due to be read", "necessary to be read"

However, many modern Latin grammars treat the gerundive as a separate part of speech.<ref>e.g. Kennedy, Gildersleeve & Lodge, etc.</ref>

The perfect participle is usually [[Passive voice|passive]] in meaning, and thus mainly formed from [[Transitive verb|transitive]] verbs, for example ''frāctus'' "broken", ''missus'' "sent (by someone)". However, certain verbs (called [[deponent verb]]s) have a perfect participle in an [[Active verb|active]] sense, e.g. ''profectus'' "having set out", ''hortātus'' "having encouraged", etc. The present and future participles are always active, the gerundive usually passive.

Because a participle is an adjective as well as a verb, just like any other Latin adjective its ending changes according to the noun it describes. So when the noun is masculine, the participle must be masculine; when the noun is in the [[accusative case|accusative]] (object) case, the participle is also in the accusative case; when the noun has plural endings, the participle also has plural endings. Thus a simple participle such as ''frāctus'' "broken" can change to ''frācta'', ''frāctum'', ''frāctī'', ''frāctō'' and so on, according to its gender, number, and case.

A participle can have a descriptive meaning like an adjective, or a more dynamic meaning like a verb. Thus in the following sentence the participle ''strīctō'' "drawn" is better taken as describing an action ("he drew his sword" or "after drawing his sword") rather than as describing the sword ("with a drawn sword"):

*'''''Strīctō''' gladiō ad '''dormientem''' Lucrētiam vēnit.''<ref>Livy, 1.58.2</ref><br />"With '''drawn''' sword he came to the '''sleeping''' Lucretia."

The dynamic, verbal meaning is more common, and Latin often uses a participle where English might use a simple verb.

The present participle often describes the circumstances attending the main verb. A typical example is:
*''Balbus ad mē vēnit '''currēns'''''.<ref>Cicero, ''ad Atticum'' 9.2a.3.</ref><br />"Balbus came to me '''running'''."

Both the future and the perfect participle (but not the present participle) can be used with various tenses of the verb ''esse'' "to be" to make a compound tense such as the future-in-the-past or the perfect passive:
*''Eō diē Rōmam '''ventūrus erat'''.''<ref>Cicero, ''pro Milone'' 28.</ref><br />"On that day '''he was going to return''' to Rome."
*'''''Occīsus est''' ā Thēbānīs.''<ref>Nepos, ''Lysander'' 3.4.</ref><br />"'''He was killed''' by the Thebans."

The perfect and future participles can also be used, with or without the verb ''esse'' "to be", in indirect speech clauses:
*''(Dīxit eōs) locum facile '''inventūrōs''' (esse).''<ref>Nepos, ''Hannibal'' 12.3.</ref><br />"He said that they were easily '''going to find''' the place / He said that they '''would find''' the place easily."

For uses of the gerundive, see [[Latin syntax#The gerundive]].