Module 33

The Present, Future, and Aorist Active Participle · The Attributive Participle · The Future Participle of Purpose · The Genitive Absolute

Module 33 Summary

In this module you learn the stems and endings for the present, future, and aorist active participles for μι-verbs (εἰμί, εἶμι, δίδωμι, ἵστημι, τίθημι) and ω-verbs. You learn the definition of an attributive participle and how future participles show purpose. You learn the genitive absolute construction.

The Participle

Participles are adjectives with verbal qualities. Remember that adjectives are one of the eight parts of speech. In Ancient Greek, adverbs (1), conjunctions (2), interjections (3), and prepositions 1 (4) function just like their English counterparts. The Greek adjective (5) differs from the English adjective because it has endings and agrees in gender, case, and number with the noun or pronoun it modifies. Greek nouns (6), pronouns (7), and verbs (8) differ from their English counterparts in this fundamental way: they use endings to create meaning in a way that English does not.

As an adjective, a participle must modify a noun or pronoun. Like adjectives, participles may also function substantively as nouns. If you remember these key pieces of information when reading and translating, you will not struggle to understand how any participle in any context functions.

As a verb, a participle has an additional level of complexity that other adjectives do not. It has tense-aspect, it has voice, and it can take adverbial modifiers and direct and indirect objects.

Participles may be classed as serving four types of functions—attributive, circumstantial, substantive, and supplementary.2 The future participle of purpose and the genitive absolute, both learned in this module, are classed as circumstantial participles.

Tense-Aspect

Remember that time (tense) refers to the past, present, and future and can be absolute to the time of speaking, or relative to the matrix (head or main) verb or some other fixed point. Aspect refers to whether an action is incomplete (imperfective), complete (perfective), or in a state (stative). The present tense stem, which is used to form the present and imperfect tenses, communicates an incomplete action. The beginnings and ends of the action are undefined. Thus, the tense-aspect for the present is present ongoing or repeated, and the tense-aspect for the imperfect is past ongoing or repeated (imperfective). The aorist tense stem communicates a completed action as a single whole. The boundaries of the action’s beginning and end define the action as complete (perfective). The tense-aspect of the perfect, pluperfect, and future perfect (not covered in this text due to its rarity) have a completed state that results from a previous completed action or have a completed state (stative) whose effects are still relevant. The future tense stems have a temporal value but no aspect, showing no distinction between the imperfective (incomplete) and perfective (complete) aspect (CGCG 33.4-6).

Lucian of Samosata c. 125 CE. Born on the banks of the upper Euphrates River, Lucian was an Assyrian who wrote in ancient Greek but whose native language was probably Syriac, a dialect of Aramaic. What we know of Lucian comes from his own works. He was a satirist and rhetorician. He ridiculed hypocrisy, pedantry, religion, and superstition. Educated in Ionia, he lived in Athens for approximately ten years during which time it is surmised that he wrote many of his works. Of the over eighty writings attributed to him, Part II of this textbook series offers excerpts from A True Story, Ἀληθῆ διηγήματα; Dialogue of the Courtesans, Ἑταιρικοὶ Διάλογοι; Zeus the Tragedian, Ζεὺς Τραγῳδός; The Lover of Lies, Φιλοψευδής; and The Ass, ὁ Ὄνος, though it is not certain whether Lucian is the author of this last work. In his own day Lucian was very popular. Today his writings continue to exert influence.

Tense-Aspect Examples

Consider these examples taken from Lucian’s The Ass.

Present Participle and Simultaneity. The present participle expresses an ongoing action simultaneous with the matrix (head or main) verb.

τῷ ξύλῳ τυπτόμενος κρούω τὴν ὁπλὴν περὶ πέτραν ὀξεῖαν.

Being beaten by a club, I strike my hoof on a sharp rock.

Aorist Participle and Anteriority. The aorist participle commonly expresses a perfective action anterior to that of the matrix (head or main) verb.

τὰ μὲν σκεύη τῶν ἡμετέρων ὤμων ἀφελόντες εὖ κατέθηκαν.

Removing the bags from my haunches, they stowed them carefully away.

Aorist Participle and Coincidence. The aorist participle may also refer to an action or state of being that coincides with the matrix (head or main) verb.

ἐγὼ δὲ καὶ τοὺς φονεῖς τοὺς ἐμαυτοῦ φευξόμενος καὶ πολλὴν ἐπικουρίαν καὶ θεραπείαν ἐκ τῆς ἀνασωθείσης ἐμοὶ κόρης ἐλπίζων ἔθεον τοῦ τραύματος ἀμελήσας.

To escape my murderers and with the hope that I would receive much aid and care from the damsel I saved, I ran with no regard for my wound.

Perfect Participle and Stasis. The perfect participle usually refers to a state (lasting effects) that is simultaneous with the matrix (head or main) verb.

ἰδοῦσα γραῦν δίκην Δίρκης ἐξ ὄνου ἡμμένην τολμᾷ τόλμημα γενναῖον καὶ ἄξιον ἀπονενοημένου νεανίσκου.

Seeing the old lady joined to the ass, just as Dirke had been, she took a risk, both courageous and worthy of a youth who had lost all sense.

Future Participle and Posteriority. The future participle has relative-tense, indicating an action posterior to the matrix (head or main) verb.

To escape my murderers and with the hope that I would receive much aid and care from the damsel I saved, I ran with no regard for my wound.

For a thorough presentation of the tense-aspect of participles, see CGCG 52.4-.6.

The English Participle in -ing

The English participle in -ing commonly occurs. Since a participle must modify a noun or pronoun, do not confuse the adjective -ing form—skiing down the hill, he fell—with the noun -ing form—skiing downhill is fun. In the first, skiing modifies the pronoun he. In the second, skiing is a verbal noun and functions as the subject. In the below excerpt from Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five, note the participles and the nouns they modify.

When the bombers got back to their base, the steel cylinders were taken from the racks and shipped back to the United States of America, where factories were operating night and day, dismantling the cylinders, separating the dangerous contents into minerals. Touchingly, it was mainly women doing this work. The minerals were then shipped to specialists in remote areas. It was their business to put them into the ground, hiding them cleverly, so they would never hurt anybody ever again.

Module 33 Practice Identifying English Participles in -ing

From Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five, mark the participles and the nouns they modify. Check your answers with the Answer Key.

But the subject of war never came up until Billy brought it up himself. Somebody in the zoo crowd asked him through the one interpreting what the most valuable thing he had learned on Tralfamadore was so far, and Billy spoke, replying, “How the inhabitants of a whole planet can live in peace! As you know, I am from a planet that has been engaged in senseless slaughter since the beginning of time. I myself have seen the bodies of schoolgirls who were boiled alive in a water tower by my own countrymen, proudly fighting pure evil at the time.” This was true. Billy saw the bodies being boiled in Dresden. “And I have lit my way in a prison at night with candles from the fat of human beings who were butchered by the brothers and fathers of those schoolgirls who were boiled. Earthlings must be the terrors of the Universe! If other planets aren’t now in danger from Earth, they soon will be. So tell me the secret so that I, taking it back to Earth, can save us all: How can a planet live at peace?”

The Declension of the Present, Future, and Aorist Active Participles of μι-Verbs

Stems and Endings for εἰμί, εἶμι, δείκνυμι, δίδωμι, ἵημι, ἵστημι, τίθημι, φημί

Stems. μι-verbs have a variety of long, short, mixed, and ω-verb stems in the present, imperfect, aorist, and sometimes perfect forms. For an accurate explanation of stems and word formation, see Reading Morphologically and Gareth Morgan’s Lexis by James Patterson.

The forms for the participles of μι-verbs show variation, mainly due to the different stems and to contraction of the stem vowel with the vowel of the participle ending. The future participle for μι-verbs declines like the future participle of ω-verbs. See the section on ω-verbs for how to form the future active participle for δείκνυμι, δίδωμι, ἵημι, ἵστημι, τίθημι, and φημί.

Verb	Vowel Grade	Present Tense Stem
εἰμί (ἐσ/)	short	ἐ (σ)-
εἶμι (ἰ/, ῑ)	long, short, short	εἰ-, ἰ-, ἰε-
δείκνυμι (δεικ/)	long, short	δεικνῡ-, δεικνυ-
δίδωμι (δο/)	long, short	διδω- (διδου-), διδο-
ἵημι (Jε/)	long, short	ἱη- (ἱει-), ἱε-
ἵστημι (στα/)	long, short	ἱστη-, ἱστᾰ-
τίθημι (θε/)	long, short	τιθη- (τιθει-), τιθε-
φημί (φα)	long, short	φη-, φᾰ-

Verb	Vowel Grade	Aor. Act. Mid. Tense Stem
εἰμί (ἐσ/)	-------	-------
εἶμι (ἰ/, ῑ)	-------	-------
δείκνυμι (δεικ/)	regular first aorist	δειξ-
δίδωμι (δο/)	long, short, mixed	δω-, δο-, δωκ-
ἵημι (Jε/)	long, short, mixed	-ἡ-, -ἑ-, -ἡκ-
ἵστημι (στα/ ἔστησα)	regular first aorist	στησ-
ἵστημι (στα/ ἔστην)	long, short	στη-, στᾰ-
τίθημι (θε/)	long, short, mixed	θη-, θε-, θηκ-
φημί (φα/)	------	------

Endings. Endings for εἰμί and εἶμι are -ων, -ουσα, -ον. Endings for δείκνυμι, δίδωμι, ἵημι, ἵστημι, τίθημι and φημί are -ς, -σα, -ν.

In what follows, note carefully how the stems and endings combine.

The Declension of the Present Active Participles of εἰμί and εἶμι

εἰμί (ἐσ/): ὤν, οὖσα, ὄν being

	Singular			Plural
	M	F	N	M	F	N
N	ὤν	οὖσα	ὄν	ὄντες	οὖσαι	ὄντα
A	ὄντα	οὖσαν	ὄν	ὄντας	οὔσᾱς	ὄντα
G	ὄντος	οὔσης	ὄντος	ὄντων	οὐσῶν	ὄντων
D	ὄντι	οὔσῃ	ὄντι	οὖσι (ν)	οὔσαις	οὖσι (ν)
V	ὤν	οὖσα	ὄν	ὄντες	οὖσαι	ὄντα

	Singular			Plural
	M	F	N	M	F	N
N	ὤν	οὖσα	ὄν	ὄντες	οὖσαι	ὄντα
G	ὄντος	οὔσης	ὄντος	ὄντων	οὐσῶν	ὄντων
D	ὄντι	οὔσῃ	ὄντι	οὖσι (ν)	οὔσαις	οὖσι (ν)
A	ὄντα	οὖσαν	ὄν	ὄντας	οὔσᾱς	ὄντα
V	ὤν	οὖσα	ὄν	ὄντες	οὖσαι	ὄντα

Note that these forms, minus the accents and breathings, are similar to the present and second aorist active participle endings for ω-verbs: λέγων, λέγουσα, λέγον speaking.

εἶμι (ἰ/, ῑ): ἰών, ἰοῦσα, ἰόν coming, going

	Singular			Plural
	M	F	N	M	F	N
N	ἰών	ἰοῦσα	ἰόν	ἰόντες	ἰοῦσαι	ἰόντα
A	ἰόντα	ἰοῦσαν	ἰόν	ἰόντας	ἰούσᾱς	ἰόντα
G	ἰόντος	ἰούσης	ἰόντος	ἰόντων	ἰουσῶν	ἰόντων
D	ἰόντι	ἰούσῃ	ἰόντι	ἰοῦσι (ν)	ἰούσαις	ἰοῦσι (ν)
V	ἰών	ἰοῦσα	ἰόν	ἰόντες	ἰοῦσαι	ἰόντα

	Singular			Plural
	M	F	N	M	F	N
N	ἰών	ἰοῦσα	ἰόν	ἰόντες	ἰοῦσαι	ἰόντα
G	ἰόντος	ἰούσης	ἰόντος	ἰόντων	ἰουσῶν	ἰόντων
D	ἰόντι	ἰούσῃ	ἰόντι	ἰοῦσι (ν)	ἰούσαις	ἰοῦσι (ν)
A	ἰόντα	ἰοῦσαν	ἰόν	ἰόντας	ἰούσᾱς	ἰόντα
V	ἰών	ἰοῦσα	ἰόν	ἰόντες	ἰοῦσαι	ἰόντα

The Declension of the Present and Aorist Active Participles of δείκνυμι, δίδωμι, ἵημι, ἵστημι, τίθημι, φημί

Present Active Participle of δείκνῡμι (δεικ/): δεικνύς, δεικνῦσα, δεικνύν showing

	Singular			Plural
	M	F	N	M	F	N
N	δεικνύς	δεικνῦσα	δεικνύν	δεικνύντες	δεικνῦσαι	δεικνύντα
A	δεικνύντα	δεικνῦσαν	δεικνύν	δεικνύντας	δεικνύσᾱς	δεικνύντα
G	δεικνύντος	δεικνύσης	δεικνύντος	δεικνύντων	δεικνυσῶν	δεικνύντων
D	δεικνύντι	δεικνύσῃ	δεικνύντι	δεικνῦσι (ν)	δεικνύσαις	δεικνῦσι (ν)
V	δεικνύς	δεικνῦσα	δεικνύν	δεικνύντες	δεικνῦσαι	δεικνύντα

	Singular			Plural
	M	F	N	M	F	N
N	δεικνύς	δεικνῦσα	δεικνύν	δεικνύντες	δεικνῦσαι	δεικνύντα
G	δεικνύντος	δεικνύσης	δεικνύντος	δεικνύντων	δεικνυσῶν	δεικνύντων
D	δεικνύντι	δεικνύσῃ	δεικνύντι	δεικνῦσι (ν)	δεικνύσαις	δεικνῦσι (ν)
A	δεικνύντα	δεικνῦσαν	δεικνύν	δεικνύντας	δεικνύσᾱς	δεικνύντα
V	δεικνύς	δεικνῦσα	δεικνύν	δεικνύντες	δεικνῦσαι	δεικνύντα

Note the fixed accent in all forms and the shift to a circumflex on the ultima in the feminine plural of the genitive.

Aorist Active Participle of δείκνῡμι (δεικ/): δείξᾱς, δείξᾱσα, δεῖξαν showing, having shown

	Singular			Plural
	M	F	N	M	F	N
N	δείξᾱς	δείξᾱσα	δεῖξαν	δείξαντες	δείξασαι	δείξαντα
A	δείξαντα	δείξᾱσαν	δεῖξαν	δείξαντας	δειξάσᾱς	δείξαντα
G	δείξαντος	δειξάσης	δείξαντος	δειξάντων	δειξασῶν	δειξάντων
D	δείξαντι	δειξάσῃ	δείξαντι	δείξᾱσι (ν)	δειξάσαις	δείξᾱσι (ν)
V	δείξᾱς	δείξᾱσα	δεῖξαν	δείξαντες	δείξασαι	δείξαντα

	Singular			Plural
	M	F	N	M	F	N
N	δείξᾱς	δείξᾱσα	δεῖξαν	δείξαντες	δείξασαι	δείξαντα
G	δείξαντος	δειξάσης	δείξαντος	δειξάντων	δειξασῶν	δειξάντων
D	δείξαντι	δειξάσῃ	δείξαντι	δείξᾱσι (ν)	δειξάσαις	δείξᾱσι (ν)
A	δείξαντα	δείξᾱσαν	δεῖξαν	δείξαντας	δειξάσᾱς	δείξαντα
V	δείξᾱς	δείξᾱσα	δεῖξαν	δείξαντες	δείξασαι	δείξαντα

The aorist participle is a regular ω-verb form.
Note the fixed accent in all forms and the shift to a circumflex on the ultima in the feminine plural of the genitive.

Present Active Participle of δίδωμι (δο/): διδούς, διδοῦσα, διδόν giving

	Singular			Plural
	M	F	N	M	F	N
N	διδούς	διδοῦσα	διδόν	διδόντες	διδοῦσαι	διδόντα
A	διδόντα	διδοῦσαν	διδόν	διδόντας	διδούσᾱς	διδόντα
G	διδόντος	διδούσης	διδόντος	διδόντων	διδουσῶν	διδόντων
D	διδόντι	διδούσῃ	διδόντι	διδοῦσι (ν)	διδούσαις	διδοῦσι (ν)
V	διδούς	διδοῦσα	διδόν	διδόντες	διδοῦσαι	διδόντα

	Singular			Plural
	M	F	N	M	F	N
N	διδούς	διδοῦσα	διδόν	διδόντες	διδοῦσαι	διδόντα
G	διδόντος	διδούσης	διδόντος	διδόντων	διδουσῶν	διδόντων
D	διδόντι	διδούσῃ	διδόντι	διδοῦσι (ν)	διδούσαις	διδοῦσι (ν)
A	διδόντα	διδοῦσαν	διδόν	διδόντας	διδούσᾱς	διδόντα
V	διδούς	διδοῦσα	διδόν	διδόντες	διδοῦσαι	διδόντα

Note the fixed accent in all forms and the shift to a circumflex on the ultima in the feminine plural of the genitive.

Aorist Active Participle of δίδωμι (δο/): δούς, δοῦσα, δόν giving, having given

	Singular			Plural
	M	F	N	M	F	N
N	δούς	δοῦσα	δόν	δόντες	δοῦσαι	δόντα
A	δόντα	δοῦσαν	δόν	δόντας	δούσᾱς	δόντα
G	δόντος	δούσης	δόντος	δόντων	δουσῶν	δόντων
D	δόντι	δούσῃ	δόντι	δοῦσι (ν)	δούσαις	δοῦσι (ν)
V	δούς	δοῦσα	δόν	δόντες	δοῦσαι	δόντα

	Singular			Plural
	M	F	N	M	F	N
N	δούς	δοῦσα	δόν	δόντες	δοῦσαι	δόντα
G	δόντος	δούσης	δόντος	δόντων	δουσῶν	δόντων
D	δόντι	δούσῃ	δόντι	δοῦσι (ν)	δούσαις	δοῦσι (ν)
A	δόντα	δοῦσαν	δόν	δόντας	δούσᾱς	δόντα
V	δούς	δοῦσα	δόν	δόντες	δοῦσαι	δόντα

Note the fixed accent in all forms and the shift to a circumflex on the ultima in the feminine plural of the genitive.
These forms are identical to the present participle minus the reduplication δι-.

Present Active Participle of ἵημι (Jε/): ἱείς, ἱεῖσα, ἱέν throwing

	Singular			Plural
	M	F	N	M	F	N
N	ἱείς	ἱεῖσα	ἱέν	ἱέντες	ἱεῖσαι	ἱέντα
A	ἱέντα	ἱεῖσαν	ἱέν	ἱέντας	ἱείσᾱς	ἱέντα
G	ἱέντος	ἱείσης	ἱέντος	ἱέντων	ἱεισῶν	ἱέντων
D	ἱέντι	ἱείσῃ	ἱέντι	ἱεῖσι (ν)	ἱείσαις	ἱεῖσι (ν)
V	ἱείς	ἱεῖσα	ἱέν	ἱέντες	ἱεῖσαι	ἱέντα

	Singular			Plural
	M	F	N	M	F	N
N	ἱείς	ἱεῖσα	ἱέν	ἱέντες	ἱεῖσαι	ἱέντα
G	ἱέντος	ἱείσης	ἱέντος	ἱέντων	ἱεισῶν	ἱέντων
D	ἱέντι	ἱείσῃ	ἱέντι	ἱεῖσι (ν)	ἱείσαις	ἱεῖσι (ν)
A	ἱέντα	ἱεῖσαν	ἱέν	ἱέντας	ἱείσᾱς	ἱέντα
V	ἱείς	ἱεῖσα	ἱέν	ἱέντες	ἱεῖσαι	ἱέντα

Note the fixed accent in all forms and the shift to a circumflex on the ultima in the feminine plural of the genitive.