Present Active Participles

1
Russian GrammarParticiples

• Present Active Participles

2
Overview

• In this tutorial we will cover the following
  topics
• What is a present active participle?
• How is this participle used?
• How is this participle formed?
• Quiz on present active participles

3
What is a present active participle?

• Participles are verbs that behave like adjectives
  in that they describe nouns
• English examples include
• Running water gt cf. English verb to run
• Sleeping children gt cf. English verb to sleep
• Hired hands gt cf. English verb to hire
• Arrested thieves gt cf. English verb to arrest
• Participles are helpful because they allow us to
  express a lot of meaning in fewer words. For
  example The arrested thieves stood trial.
  Instead of The thieves who were arrested stood
  trial. It doesnt save a lot of space, but it
  gives utterance a higher, more erudite style.

4
EXAMPLE OF A PRESENT ACTIVE PARTICIPLE FROM
TOLSTOYS WAR AND PEACE

• ???? ???? ??? ??????, ??? ?? ?????? ?? ???? ? ???
  ??????? ? ???? ?????????, ??, ????????, ?? ???
  ????? ???????? ???? ?? ???? ??????????? ? ???????
  ?????? ? ???????????? ??????????? ???????. ???
  ??? ????? ?????? ? ?? ????? ??????? ????????
  ????? ???????.
• Helen was so beautiful, that not only was no
  shadow of coquetry noticeable, but, rather, it
  was as if she were ashamed of her indisputable
  and incredibly powerful and conquer-inducing
  beauty. Is seemed as if she wanted, but could not
  diminish the effect of her beauty.

5
What are present active participles?

• Present active participles are participles that
  describe present-tense actions and they are in
  active voice
• English examples of these types of participles
  are
• I see the sleeping child.
• I see the burning house.
• I see the moving car.

6
What is active voice?

• Active and passive voice differ in how they view
  the subject and/or the direct object of a
  sentence.
• Consider the following example
• The car hit Bob.
• This is an active sentence. It has a subject, a
  verb, and a direct object.
• The subject of the sentence is the person
  actually performing the action.

7
What Is passive voice?

• We can make this this sentence passive by
  switching word order.
• Bob was hit.
• This is a passive sentence.
• The subject of the sentence is not actually the
  person/thing performing the action.
• We can also say Bob was hit by the car and it
  will still be passive.

8
Active Voice and Present Active Participles

• Present active participles in Russian can only be
  used to describe something that is actually
  performing the action, thus it can be used with
  active constructions, not passive ones.
• ? ????????? ? ?????????? ????????.
• I talked with the shopping woman.
• The woman is the one who is shopping so we use a
  present active participle.

9
How Are Participles Used?

• In Russian participles are typically used in
  writing, not in speaking. If you are looking to
  get more practice using participles, I would
  definitely recommend reviewing how to use ???????
  since it will help you immensely in using and
  understanding participles.
• In Russian participles are used in three ways
• Like adjectives to describe a noun ???
  ?????????? ??????? or ??? ?????????? ?? ??????
  ???????.
• Like relative pronouns to describe a noun ???
  ???????, ?????????? ?? ??????.
• Like nouns when the noun is left out because it
  is understood ?????????? ??????.

10
How Are Participles Formed?

• Present Active Participles

11
Making Present Active Participles

• These participles are formed from verbs in the
  present tense that are imperfective
• (Remember that perfective verbs do not have a
  present tense form)!
• Form 3rd person plural of verb (??? form)
  ??????, ???????, ????
• Remove final -? ?????-, ??????-, ???-
• Add -?- ??????-, ???????-, ????-
• Add the ending -?? and then decline it to agree
  with the word it is describing (in number, case,
  and gender)
• If verb is reflexive, add ?? to the end
  (participles never end in the ?? ending)
• ???????? ???????, ????????? ???????, ??????
  ????, ???????????? ???????

12
?????

• Answer the following questions about present
  active participles
• T or F - Present active participles can only be
  formed from past-tense verbs
• FALSE - They are formed from present tense verbs
• T or F - Present active participles can only be
  formed from imperfective verbs
• TRUE - They are only formed from imperfective
  verbs
• T or F - Present active participles are formed
  using the letter -?
• FALSE - They are formed using the letter -?
  (e.g., ??????? ???????)

13
Practice forming Present Active Participles

• Use the following example to practice forming
  present active participles
• Start with ???????
• Form the 3rd person plural form of present tense
  verb
• ???????
• Remove the final -?
• ?????-
• Add the participial ending and adjective suffix
• ?????????
• Decline the participle so it fits in the
  following sentence ? ????? ________ ?????.
• ? ????? ????????? ?????.

14
??????????

• Form present active participles for the following
  verbs
• ??????
• ????????
• ??????
• ????????
• ??????
• ??????
• ????????

• ????????
• ?????????
• ???????
• ?????????
• ???????
• ??????
• ??????????

15
Congratulations

• You have now finished this tutorial on present
  active participles. If you have further
  questions, consult a Russian grammar book or talk
  with your Russian instructor.