PARTICIPIAL CONSTRUCTIONS: OVERVIEW

I. Present and Past Participles

In English and German, participles can be used as adjectives. There are two types of participles, the Present Participle and the Past Participle:

Present Participle as Adjective

PRESENT PARTICIPLE = infinitive + -d

singend, ankommend, fragend, aufregend

(sleeping, waiting, questioning, exciting)

When used as attributive adjectives, present participles take adjective endings:

das singende Kind, das ankommende Schiff, die aufregende Frau

(the singing child, the arriving ship, the exciting woman)

Note that the singing, arriving, exciting are going on NOW, in the PRESENT.

Past Participle as Adjective

PAST PARTICIPLE = ge- + stem + -t or ge- + stem [vowel change] + -en

(See Present Perfect Tense Overview for formation of Past Participles)

gesungen, angekommen, gefragt, aufgeregt

(sung, arrived, questioned, excited)

When used as attributive adjectives, past participles take adjective endings:

die gesungenen Lieder, das angekommene Schiff, die aufgeregte Frau

(the sung songs, the arrived ship, the excited woman)

Note that the songs have already been sung, the ship has already arrived, the woman has

already been excited, PREVIOUSLY, in the PAST.

Gerundive as Adjective

GERUNDIVE = zu + present participle

die noch zu singenden Lieder, das noch zu bauende Haus

(the still to be sung songs, the still to be built house)

Note that the songs are still to be sung, the house to be built, in the FUTURE.

PARTICIPIAL CONSTRUCTIONS: OVERVIEW

II. Extended Participial Constructions

A present or past participle or a gerundive preceding a noun may be preceded by any number of modifiers in German. In English, this construction is usually expressed using a relative clause:

Diese im 17. Jahrhundert gebaute Kirche ist vor kurzem renoviert worden.

This church, which was built in the 17^th century, was recently renovated.

Note that the article (dieser) is separated from the noun to which it belongs. The participle preceding the noun supplies the verb for the relative clause in translation.

When translating from German to English, first find the noun to which the article belongs, and then form a relative clause, working backwards from the participle:

4 d 3 d 2 d 1

Die seit langem von der Polizei verfolgte Verbrecher wurden endlich

festgenommen.

1 2 3 4

The criminals [who had been] pursued by the police for a long time were finally caught.

Other Examples:

With Present Participles: (action continuing)

Wir wußten nichts von den seit langem im nächsten Zimmer wartenden Patienten.

We knew nothing of the patients [who were] waiting for a long time in the next room.

With Past Participles: (action completed)

Man kann aus den bis jetzt eingereichten Umfragen schon einen gewissen Trend

ablesen.

One can already ascertain a certain trend from the questionnaires [that have been] turned in up to now.

With Gerundive: (action to be completed in future)

Der alte Professor erzählte uns gestern von seinem nächstes Jahr in Deutschland

zu erscheinenden Buch.

The old professor told us yesterday about his book [which is] to be published next year in Germany.