Perfect Passive Participle

1
Perfect Passive Participle

• In the last chapter we began to use the 4th p.
  part of the verb for the first time.
• Now its time to actually learn all about that
  part.
• It is called the perfect passive participle. I
  call it the ppp for short!
• Lets break that name apart and really understand
  it.

2
Participle?

• Since we already understand that perfect is a
  tense and passive is a voice, its the word
  participle that we need to investigate further.
• A participle is a verbal adjective.
• It is a word that describes (adjective), but it
  is made from a verb.

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• It has characteristics of both verbs and
  adjectives.
• Like a verb it has tense and voice (perfect
  passive). This way we know when the action is
  happening and from what perspective.
• Like an adjective it has case, number, and
  gender. This means it has to agree with the noun
  or pronoun it is modifying.
• It translates using the -ed form of the verb or
  with the phrase having been ed.

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The full participle looks like this when it is
declined. It uses the endings of any 1st/2nd
declension adjective.
M
F
N
Nom.
amatus
amata
amatum
amati
amatae
amata
Gen.
amati
amatae
amati
amatorum
amatarum
amatorum
Dat.
amato
amatae
amato
amatis
amatis
amatis
amatum
amatam
amatum
amatos
amatas
amata
Acc.
amato
amata
amato
amatis
amatis
amatis
Abl.
amati
amatae
amata
amate
amata
amatum
Voc.
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Examples in English

• Compare these sentences.
• I see a black car.
• I see a parked car.
• Each uses an adjective to describe the car. In
  the first one there is a simple, straight
  adjective, black.
• In the second one there is an adjective that is
  actually made from the verb park.

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Now lets see the same participle, used in a
couple of ways.

• The car parked in the street is mine.
• The car, having been parked badly, was hard to
  move.
• Both of these use the participle parked to
  describe the car. The second one is a bit
  fancier because English often has trouble with
  participles and prefers to use them in phrases
  because it is more comfortable for us that way.
• You get to choose which you prefer when you
  translate. Sometimes it works just fine in the
  literal sense. Sometimes it sounds just awful
  and needs a bit of tweaking before it works for
  us.

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Lets see one in Latin.

• Puer reprehensus ad cubiculum iit.
• We can translate this in two ways
• The scolded boy went to (his) bedroom.
• The boy, having been scolded, went to (his)
  bedroom.
• Either one will be acceptable. Just pick the way
  you like it better.

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But we can get fancier.

• Lets take another look at that sentence
• Puer reprehensus ad cubiculum iit.
• We have other options for translating that take
  us out of the realm of the literal into the realm
  of interpretation. Try these other ways to
  translate and see what you think
• The boy who had been scolded went to (his)
  bedroom.
• Since/After/Because the boy had been scolded, he
  went to (his) bedroom.
• The boy had been scolded and went to (his)
  bedroom.
• These are called participial clauses and are what
  we usually prefer in English.
• Just be sure to keep true to the tense and voice.

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How do you keep true to the tense and voice?

• Keeping true to the tense and voice can actually
  be tricky. It means that you must truly
  understand the idea of the tense you are using.
• Participles, being made from verbs, have a time
  relationship with the main verb of the sentence.
  You must keep the participles tense in line with
  that of the verb.
• Perfect tense indicates a completed past action.
  However you choose to translate your participle
  you must be sure that its action was completed
  before the time of the main verb.

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Examples

• All of the following sentences use participles,
  but not all of them use the ppp. See if you can
  figure out which one(s) do.
• The stolen money was found in the car.
• The knife wielding thief was not around.
• The thief, about to turn the corner, was stopped
  by the police.
• The blind man used a seeing eye dog.
• The dog, trained at a special school, has become
  his friend as well as his helper.