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Latin from scratch course › #19: Relative time & participles › #19.38: Syntax of participles

Latin from scratch #19.38: Syntax of participles

In the thirty-eighth class of the Latin from Scratch course, we’ll study the syntax of participles, taking into account the different functions they can have.

Contents

  • Basic syntax
  • Participle as predicate
  • Ablative absolute
    • Ablative absolute without participle
      • public office
      • stage of life
      • adjectives such as invitus

I explain everything in the following video (⏳ 18m 00s ⌛):

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Basic syntax

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Just like adjectives, participles must agree in gender, number and case with the noun they refer to. Also, participles can be nominalized or have their own complements (since they are verbs, after all).

There are two main constructions: participle as predicate, and the ablative absolute.

Participle as predicate

These participles appear as the predicate of any noun in the sentence in any syntactic function. Since the participle agrees with the noun, the participle can appear in any case.

Most of the times, these participles can be directly translated into English, usually right after the noun they refer to; if the participle has complements, these go after the participle.

Interdiu stellas non videmus solis luce obscuratas.

During the day we don’t see the stars, darkened by the light of the sun.

Ablative absolute

Ablative absolute participles (mostly perfect) only appear in the ablative case, always without a preposition. Both the participle and the noun it refers to (as well as the complements the noun and/or the participle might have) make up a syntactic unit which is independent from the rest of the sentence, and it has the meaning of an adverbial subordinate clause.

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The translation of these constructions can be a bit tricky in English, since a literal translation often feels artificial, clunky or too formal.

Cognita militum voluntate Ariminum cum ea legione proficiscitur.

The wishes of the soldiers being known, he heads for Rimini with this legion.

Having learned the wishes…

After learning the wishes…

The ablative absolute has a perfect participle most of the times, but it can also have a present participle:

Pitagoras, Tarquino regnante, in Italiam venit.

Pythagoras, Tarquin reigning, came to Italy.

… Tarquin being king…

… during the reign of Tarquin…

Last note. The ablative absolute is always in the ablative case, but not every participle in the ablative case will be an ablative absolute: it might just be a participle as predicate which happens to be in the ablative case (with or without preposition).

Ablative absolute without participle

It is not uncommon to find an ablative absolute without its participle. This is because the present participle of the verb sum (which does not exist in Latin) is assumed.

In our translations it is possible to use the English “being”, or translate in any other freer way.

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There are a few frequent types.

public office

The name of a person (or referring to a person) together with a noun related to public office (or similar) in the ablative case without a preposition will be an ablative absolute:

Cicerone (et) Antonio consulibus…

Cicero and Antony being consuls…

During the consulship of Cicero and Antony…

Antonio praetore…

Antony being praetor…

When Antony was praetor…

Duce illo…

He being general…

Since he was the general…

stage of life

It is pretty much the same when we have a noun referring to a stage of life:

Me puero…

Me being a child…

When/since I was a child…

adjectives such as invitus

An adjective (such as invitus, ‑a, ‑um) can appear in a similar structure:

Me invito…

Against my will…

Participles appear quite often in Latin, so it is a good idea to go and practice with them.

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Next: Syntax of participles →

Paco Álvarez

About Paco Álvarez

I’m Paco Álvarez, a Spanish classical philologist. For years I’ve been teaching Latin and Greek online to Spanish students. When I saw there was nothing like my AcademiaLatin.com for English-speaking Latin lovers, I decided to create it myself, and that’s how LatinFromScratch.com was born.

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Course content

  1. Quick start
  2. Introduction
  3. Cases and their functions
  4. The five declensions
  5. First declension
  6. Verbal conjugation
  7. Present tense
  8. Second declension
  9. 2-1-2 adjectives
  10. Imperfect past tense
  11. Future tense
  12. Third declension nouns
  13. Third declension adjectives
  14. Perfect past tense
  15. Adverbials of place
  16. Fourth declension
  17. Fifth declension
  18. Pluperfect tense
  19. Possessives
  20. Personal pronouns
  21. Apposition
  22. Predicative complement
  23. Present subjunctive
  24. Imperfect subjunctive
  25. Perfect subjunctive
  26. Perfect future indicative
  27. Pluperfect subjunctive
  28. Syntax of cum
  29. Syntax of ut & ne
  30. Comparison of adjectives
  31. Superlative adjectives
  32. Adverbs from adjectives
  33. Demonstratives
  34. Relative clauses
  35. Passive voice
  36. Deponent verbs
  37. Relative time
  38. Participles: morphology
  39. Participles: syntax
  40. Infinitives
  41. Compounds of sum
  42. Irregular verbs
  43. Imperative

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