The participle in Russian is a verbal adjective, which means that it is at the same time both part of the verb and an adjective. There are five verbal participles in Russian:
present active: читающий ‘who is reading’
past active: читавший ‘who was reading’; прочитавший ‘who (had) read’
imperfective passive: читаемый ‘which is read’
perfective passive (short form): прочитан ‘has been read’
perfective passive (long form): прочитанный ‘which has been read’
The active participles, the imperfective passive and the long-form perfective passive decline like long adjectives and agree in case, gender and number with the nouns they qualify, while the short-form perfective passive functions like a short adjective.
The participles are confined mainly to written styles, except for the perfective passive short form.
Present active participle
The present active participle denotes an action which is simultaneous with the action or state denoted by the main verb. The main verb may denote present or past action:
Я видел/вижу кошку, лежащую на полу.
I saw/see a cat lying on the floor.
A comma appears between the noun and the following participle which qualifies it. For participial phrases in the middle of the sentence, the phrase requires commas both before and after it.
The present active participle is formed by replacing the final -т of the third-person plural of the present tense by the endings -щий (m.), -щая (f.), -щее (n.), -щие (pl.):
кричат | кричащий | -ая -ее -ие ‘who is, are shouting’ |
шумят | шумящий | -ая -ее -ие ‘who is, are making noise’ |
бегут | бегущий | -ая -ее -ие ‘who is, are running’ |
работают | работающий | -ая -ее -ие ‘who is, are working’ |
In the case of reflexive verbs, -ся is used throughout:
смеются — смеющийся -аяся -ееся -иеся ‘who is, are laughing’
The past active participle
The past active participle is used to denote:
a) action simultaneous with the action of a main verb in the past tense
Студентка, читавшая книгу, подошла к профессору.
The student who was reading a book approached the professor.
b) action completed prior to the action of the main verb
Студентка, прочитавшая книгу, ответила на вопрос.
The student who had read the book answered the question.
A comma appears between the noun and the following participle which qualifies it. For participial phrases in the middle of the sentence, the phrase requires commas both before and after it.
The past active participle is formed from imperfective and perfective verbs by replacing the -л of the masculine past tense by -вший (m.), -вшая (f.), -вшее (n.), -вшие (pl.):
читал | читавший | вшая -вшее -вшие ‘who was, were reading’ |
прочитал | прочитавший | вшая -вшее -вшие ‘who (had) read’ |
In reflexive verbs, the suffix -ся is used throughout:
смеявшийся ‘who laughed, was laughing’
If the masculine past does not end in -л, the endings -ший, -шая, -шее, -шие are added to it to make the participle:
привык — привыкший -шая -шее -шие ‘who got used to’
умер — умерший -шая -шее -шие ‘who died’
Verbs in -ти with a present-future stem in -т- or -д- have participles based on stems ending in these consonants:
идти, past шёл — шедший -шая -шее -шие ‘who was, were going’
цвести, past цвёл — цветший -шая -шее -шие ‘which was, were blooming’
The imperfective passive participle
The imperfective passive denotes an action which is simultaneous with the action of the main verb. The main verb may be in the present, past or future tense of either aspect:
Он говорил/говорит/будет говорить о предмете, изучаемом в университете.
He talked/is talking/will talk about a subject which is studied at university.
A comma appears between the noun and the participle which qualifies it. For participial phrases in the middle of the sentence, the phrase requires commas both before and after it.
The imperfective passive participle is formed by adding adjectival endings to the first-person plural of an imperfective transitive verb:
читаем | читаемый | -ая -ое -ые ‘which is, are read’ |
любим | любимый | -ая -ое -ые ‘who, which is, are loved’ |
The perfective passive participle (short form)
The short form of the perfective passive participle is often used in Russian. It functions as a predicate to the noun, with which it agrees in gender and number, and denotes:
a) completion of an action
Контракт подписан.
The contract has been signed.
b) existence of a state
Машина сломана.
The car is broken.
The masculine short form of the participle derives from infinitives in -ать and -ять by replacing -ть by -н, to give endings -ан/-ян. The feminine, neuter and plural forms are derived from the masculine by the addition of -а, -о, -ы.
написать | написан | написана написано написаны ‘has been written’ |
The masculine short form of the participle is derived from second-conjugation infinitives in -ить/-еть by replacing the infinitive ending by -ен or -ён:
Пациент осмотрен.
The patient has been examined.
Телевизор включён.
The TV has been turned on.
The masculine short form of perfective passive participles from verbs in -ти, -зть, -сть and -чь is derived by replacing the final -т of the third-person singular of the conjugation of the verb by -н:
перевести — переведёт | переведён | -ена -ено -ены ‘has been translated’ |
The perfective passive participle (long form)
The perfective passive participle (long form) denotes an action completed prior to the action of the main verb:
В этом магазине продаются холодильники, произведённые в Германии.
Fridges which have been produced in Germany are sold in this store.
A comma appears between the noun and the following long-from participle which qualifies it. For participial phrases in the middle of the sentence, the phrase requires commas both before and after it.
Long-form participles are made from verbs in -ать/-ять by adding -ный, -ная, -ное, -ные to the masculine short form.
написан | написанный | написанная написанное написанные ‘which has been written’ |
Long-form participles from second-conjugation verbs in -ить/-еть are derived by adding -ный, -ная, -ное, -ные to the masculine short form:
Пациент, осмотренный доктором, подошёл ко мне.
The patient who had been examined by the doctor approached me.
Телевизор, включённый соседями, громко работал.
The TV (that had been) turned on by the neighbours was loud.
The long form of participles from verbs in -ти, -чь, -зть and -сть is made by adding -ный, -ная, -ное, -ные to the short-form masculine:
переведённый | переведённая переведённое переведённые ‘translated’ |
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