Participles

Greek loves participles. A single sentence of Xenophon can carry three or four of them, stacked before the main verb like boxcars before an engine. English uses participles too ("the man standing by the door," "having eaten, we left"), but much less freely, so learning to turn a Greek participle into a natural English clause is one of the big steps from beginner to reader.

A participle is a verb that works as an adjective. Like a verb, it has tense (really aspect), voice, and can take an object. Like an adjective, it has gender, number and case and must agree with the noun it describes.

Pronunciation key: capital syllable = accent, ē = eta, ō = omega, ü = upsilon, ē also = ει, oo = ου, h = rough breathing, ā and ī = long vowels (υ is always ü).

The present active participle: λύων, λύουσα, λῦον

The masculine and neuter are third declension (Lesson 14) with the stem λυοντ-. The feminine is first declension, like θάλαττα: short -α in the nominative and accusative, -ης and -ῃ in the genitive and dative. This 3-1-3 pattern is shared by most active participles. Smyth 305 is the reference.

The vocative is the same as the nominative. Points that trip people:

• The masculine and neuter dative plural λύουσι(ν) looks exactly like the verb λύουσι(ν), "they loose." The ντ dropped before σ and the vowel lengthened (ο to ου), the same rule as γέρουσι in Lesson 14. Context and the article sort it out.
• The neuter nominative λῦον has a circumflex because the υ is long and the last syllable short.
• The feminine genitive plural λυουσῶν is accented on the ending, like every first declension genitive plural.

The participle of εἰμί: ὤν, οὖσα, ὄν

"Being" has the same endings with no stem in front of them. Learn it as a chant: ὤν, οὖσα, ὄν; ὄντος, οὔσης, ὄντος.

τὰ ὄντα, "the things that are," is the Greek philosophers' word for reality. English "ontology" comes from the stem ὀντ-.

Two more participles to recognize now

Present middle/passive: λυόμενος, λυομένη, λυόμενον [lü-O-me-nos, lü-o-ME-nē, lü-O-me-non], "loosing for oneself" or "being loosed." It is declined exactly like ἀγαθός (2-1-2), so you already know every form. Deponents use it too: βουλόμενος "wanting," ἐρχόμενος "coming."

Aorist active: λύσας, λύσασα, λῦσαν [LÜ-sās, LÜ-sā-sa, LÜ-san], "having loosed," genitive λύσαντος, λυσάσης, λύσαντος. Second aorists use the λύων endings on the aorist stem, with the accent on the ending: λαβών, λαβοῦσα, λαβόν "having taken"; ἐλθών "having come"; ἰδών "having seen." Lesson 13 already showed you that these have no augment.

Time in participles: relative, not absolute

A participle does not tell time on its own. It tells aspect, and from that you get time relative to the main verb.

Vocabulary: ᾖδεν [ĒI-den] he was singing (imperfect of ᾄδω, "I sing"; temporal augment ᾳ to ῃ); ἀπῆλθεν [a-PĒL-then] he went away. The future participle λύσων, λύσουσα, λῦσον is declined like λύων. With ὡς in front, it states a purpose or claimed intention very clearly: ὡς λύσων "in order to untie, as if to untie."

Use 1: attributive participles

An attributive participle stands where an adjective would, in attributive position, normally between the article and the noun (Lesson 10). Translate it with a "who" or "which" clause.

• ὁ τὸν ἵππον λύων δοῦλος [ho ton HIP-pon LÜ-ōn DOO-los] "the slave who is untying the horse." Notice the participle's object τὸν ἵππον sits inside the article-noun frame too.
• αἱ ἐν τῇ ἀγορᾷ οὖσαι γυναῖκες [hai en TĒI a-go-RĀI OO-sai gü-NAI-kes] "the women who are in the marketplace." (γυνή, γυναικός, ἡ: woman, wife.)

Leave out the noun and the article plus participle becomes a noun phrase. This is extremely common.

• ὁ λύων "the one who looses, the man loosing"; οἱ λύοντες "those who loose."
• οἱ φεύγοντες "those fleeing," and so "the exiles" (φεύγω also means "I am in exile").
• τὰ ὄντα "the things that exist"; οἱ παρόντες "those present."
• ὁ βουλόμενος "whoever wishes, anyone who wants to."

Use 2: circumstantial participles

A circumstantial participle has no article and agrees with a noun or pronoun in the sentence (often the subject). It tells you the circumstances of the main action. Greek leaves the exact relation open, and you pick the English word that fits: when, while, after, since, because, although, if.

Here are more patterns with the aorist, which is where circumstantial participles do most of their work in narrative:

• ὁ Κῦρος ἀκούσας ταῦτα ἀπῆλθεν. "When Cyrus heard this, he went away," or "Cyrus, having heard this, went away."
• λαβόντες τὰ ὅπλα παρῆσαν. "They took their weapons and were there," or "Having taken their weapons, they arrived." English often turns a Greek participle into a second main verb joined with "and." That is a good translation, not a cheat.

Use 3: supplementary participles

A supplementary participle completes the meaning of certain verbs. Without it the main verb feels unfinished. Often the participle carries the main idea in English.

With ἀκούω, the person heard goes in the genitive, and so does the participle agreeing with him: ἀκούομεν τοῦ ῥήτορος λέγοντος "we hear the speaker speaking." The reading below has a famous example. φαίνομαι shows why the distinction matters: φαίνεται σοφὸς ὤν (participle) means "he is clearly wise," while φαίνεται σοφὸς εἶναι (infinitive, Lesson 17) means "he seems to be wise," and maybe is not.

The genitive absolute

Sometimes a participial phrase has its own subject that plays no part in the main sentence. Greek then puts the noun and participle in the genitive and leaves them standing on their own. This is the genitive absolute ("absolute" from Latin absolutus, "loosened," which is fitting for a lesson built on λύω).

• ἡλίου δύνοντος [hē-LI-oo DÜ-non-tos] "as the sun was setting" (literally "the sun setting"). ἥλιος sun; δύνω I sink, set.
• τοῦ πατρὸς ἀπόντος [TOO pa-tros a-PON-tos] "while the father was away." (πατήρ, πατρός, ὁ father; ἄπειμι I am absent.)
• ταῦτα εἰπόντος αὐτοῦ [TAU-ta ē-PON-tos au-TOO] "after he said this," "when he had said this."
• οὐδενὸς κωλύοντος [oo-de-nos kō-LÜ-on-tos] "with nobody stopping (him)," "unopposed."

How to spot one: a noun or pronoun in the genitive with a participle in the genitive, usually at the start of a sentence and set off by a comma, and nothing in the main clause that governs a genitive. Translate with "when," "while," "since," "although," or English "with," just like a circumstantial participle.

A recipe for participle-heavy sentences

1. Find the main verb (a finite form: indicative, or later subjunctive, optative or imperative).
2. Find its subject.
3. For each participle, find the noun it agrees with. Check for an article (attributive) and for the genitive absolute pattern.
4. Note the tense of each participle: present means at the same time, aorist means before.
5. Translate the main clause first, then add each participle as a clause or as "and ... ."