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# participle

noun (a participle, participles)

«participle» in the English dictionary: everyday and in Jewish tradition — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. A participle is a form of a verb used to make tenses or used like an adjective. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/participle/#m1)
2. The present participle ends in «-ing»: running, eating, singing. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/participle/#m2)
3. The past participle often ends in «-ed», «-en» or has a special form: walked, eaten, sung, gone. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/participle/#m3)

### In the lessons

In English grammar lessons participles help make tenses: «I am running» (present participle), «I have eaten» (past participle), «The window was broken» (passive). They also act like adjectives: «a crying baby», «a broken toy». In SATs grammar tests pupils are asked to find or use them. Phrases: «present participle», «past participle», «participle phrase».

### Examples

- In «She is singing», singing is the present participle. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/participle/#x1)
- In «I have finished my homework», finished is the past participle. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/participle/#x2)
- The past participle of «go» is «gone». [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/participle/#x3)
- «A broken window» uses the past participle as an adjective. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/participle/#x4)
- Write the past participle of «write»: written. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/participle/#x5)
- Some verbs have odd participles, such as swim, swam, swum. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/participle/#x6)
- «Running late, we jumped in the car» starts with a participle phrase. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/participle/#x7)

### Note

Countable. Irregular verbs have past participles you must learn (see, saw, seen; take, took, taken). Trap: «I have went» is wrong in Standard English; it is «I have gone». Another trap: «I seen it» uses the participle without «have»; Standard English is «I saw it» or «I have seen it».

## In Jewish tradition

In English grammar lessons participles help make tenses: «I am running» (present participle), «I have eaten» (past participle), «The window was broken» (passive). They also act like adjectives: «a crying baby», «a broken toy». In SATs grammar tests pupils are asked to find or use them. Phrases: «present participle», «past participle», «participle phrase».

### Examples

- The first is clearly the root שָׁכַב shakhav ‘to lie, lie down’, but שכובה looks like a passive participle, shekhuvah, while shakhav is normally an intransitive verb not amenable to being made passive. (Sefer Yetzirah, Sefaria community translation) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/P/participle/#x1)

### Note

Countable. Irregular verbs have past participles you must learn (see, saw, seen; take, took, taken). Trap: «I have went» is wrong in Standard English; it is «I have gone». Another trap: «I seen it» uses the participle without «have»; Standard English is «I saw it» or «I have seen it».

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «participle» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/participle/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«participle» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/participle.html) on Mova free.
- [Trees and pragmatics of «participle» in the Judaism dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/P/participle/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«participle» in the Judaism dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/judaism/w/participle.html) on Mova free.