greek participle

Table of Contents

Be sure to study English participles before you attempt to master Greek participles. Just as in English, Greek participles are verbal adjectives:

Being adjectives, they have gender, number, and case; and like other adjectives they agree in gender, number, and case with the nouns that they modify; see principle 7.
Being verbs, they have tense and voice, they can be modified by adverbs or prepositional phrases, and if transitive, they can take an object.

In these charts, you can see the building blocks of a participle. stem (black) + participle morpheme (blue) + case ending (red) (cf BBG 27.3)

Consider this sentence:

ο ἀπόστολος λέγων ταῦτα ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ βλέπει τὸν κύριον

The apostle, saying these things in the temple, sees the Lord.

Here the participle λέγων, which means “saying,”

agrees with ἀπόστολος, which is in the nominative, masculine, and singular. The participle, therefore, must be the same; cf principle 7.
Since participles are also like verbs, λέγων has tense and voice. It is in the present tense because the action is represented as going on at the same time as the action of the leading verb βλέπει;
It is in the active voice because it represents the apostle as doing something, not as having something done to him;
It has the adverbial modifier ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ and the direct object ταῦτα.
On the other hand, it has no subject, as a finite verb would have; participles never have a subject.

Consider this sentence:

βλέπομεν τὸν ἀπόστολον λέγοντα ταῦτα ἐν τη ἱερῷ,

we see the apostle saying these things in the temple.

Here the noun with which the participle agrees is accusative, singular, masculine. Therefore the participle must also be accusative, singular, masculine, but its direct object and its adverbial modifier are the same as the previous example.

προσερχόμεθα τῷ ἀποστόλῳ λέγοντι ταῦτα ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ,

we come to the apostle while he is saying these things in the temple.

Here the participle λέγοντι agrees with a masculine noun in the dative singular and must therefore itself be dative singular masculine. But in this example it is quite impossible to translate the participle literally. The translation,

we come to the apostle saying these things in the temple,

would not do because in the English sentence the participle saying would be understood as modifying the subject of προσερχόμεθα, not ἀποστόλῳ. It is necessary, therefore, to give up all attempts at translating the participle “literally.” Instead, we must express the idea which is expressed by the Greek participle in an entirely different way—by the use of a temporal clause. When such temporal clauses are used to translate a Greek present participle they are usually introduced by the DMW “while.” Such a free translation would have been better than the literal translation even in example #1 above, although there the literal translation was not absolutely impossible. It would have been better to translate ὁ ἀπόστολος λέγων ταῦτα ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ βλέπει τὸν κύριον with while the apostle is saying these things in the temple, he sees the Lord.

διδασκομένῳ ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀποστόλου προσέρχονται αὐτῷ oi δοῦλοι

while he is being taught by the apostle, the servants are coming to him

Here διδασκομένῳ agrees with αὐτῷ which, like τῷ ἀποστόλῳ in the preceding example, is dative with the verb προσέρχομαι. διδασκομένῳ is the present passive participle of διδάσκω.

All Greek participles are either articular or anarthrous:

If articular, then it must be either attributive or substantival.
If anarthrous, then it may still be attributive or substantival but many anarthrous participles have an additional adverbial nuance. Note: even adverbial participles will still be modifying a noun (it will agree with that noun in gender, number, and case).

Substantival participles will be performing one of the noun functions and hence won’t be modifying anything.

Study chapter 26 in BBG.

Present Forms:

Present singular, active

Case	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	λύων	λύουσα	λύον
Genitive	λύοντος	λύουσης	λύοντος
Dative	λύοντι	λύουσῃ	λύοντι
Accusative	λύοντα	λύουσαν	λύον

Present plural, active

Case	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	λύοντες	λύουσαι	λύοντα
Genitive	λυσόντων	λυουσῶν	λυσόντων
Dative	λύουσι(ν)	λυούσαις	λύουσι(ν)
Accusative	λύοντας	λυούσας	λύοντα

Present singular, middle passive

Case	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	λυόμενος	λυομένη	λυόμενον
Genitive	λυομένου	λυομένης	λυομένου
Dative	λυομένῳ	λυομένῃ	λυομένῳ
Accusative	λυόμενον	λυομένην	λυόμενον

Present plural, middle passive

Case	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	λυόμενοι	λυόμεναι	λυόμενα
Genitive	λυομένων	λυομένων	λυομένων
Dative	λυομένοις	λυομέναις	λυομένοις
Accusative	λυομένους	λυομένας	λυόμενα

Aorist Forms:

Aorist singular, active

Case	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	λύσας	λύσασα	λῦσαν
Genitive	λύσαντος	λυσάσης	λύσαντος
Dative	λύσαντι	λυσάσῃ	λύσαντι
Accusative	λύσαντα	λύσασαν	λῦσαν

Aorist plural, active

Case	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	λύσαντες	λύσασαι	λύσαντα
Genitive	λυσάντων	λυσασῶν	λυσάντων
Dative	λύσασι(ν)	λυσάσαις	λύσασι(ν)
Accusative	λύσαντας	λυσάσας	λύσαντα

Aorist singular, middle

Case	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	λυσάμενος	λυσαμένη	λυσάμενον
Genitive	λυσάμενου	λυσαμένης	λυσάμενου
Dative	λυσάμενῳ	λυσαμένῃ	λυσάμενῳ
Accusative	λυσάμενον	λυσαμένην	λυσάμενον

Aorist plural, middle

Case	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	λυσάμενοι	λυσάμεναι	λυσάμενα
Genitive	λυσαμένων	λυσαμένων	λυσαμένων
Dative	λυσαμένοις	λυσαμέναις	λυσαμένοις
Accusative	λυσαμένους	λυσαμένας	λυσάμενα

Aorist singular, passive

Case	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	λυθείς	λυθεῖσα	λυθέν
Genitive	λυθέντος	λυθείσης	λυθέντος
Dative	λυθέντι	λυθείσῃ	λυθέντι
Accusative	λυθέντα	λυθεῖσαν	λυθέν

Aorist plural, passive

Case	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	λυθέντες	λυθεῖσαι	λυθέντα
Genitive	λυθέντων	λυθεισῶν	λυθέντων
Dative	λυθεῖσι(ν)	λυθείσαις	λυθεῖσι(ν)
Accusative	λυθέντας	λυθείσας	λυθέντα

Perfect Forms:

Perfect singular, active

Case	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	λελυκώς	λελυκυῖα	λελυκός
Genitive	λελυκότος	λελυκυίας	λελυκότος
Dative	λελυκότι	λελυκυίᾳ	λελυκότι
Accusative	λελυκότα	λελυκυίαν	λελυκός

Perfect plural, active

Case	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	λελυκότες	λελυκυῖαι	λελυκότα
Genitive	λελυκότων	λελυκυιῶν	λελυκότων
Dative	λελυκόσι(ν)	λελυκυίαις	λελυκόσι(ν)
Accusative	λελυκότας	λελυκυίας	λελυκότα

Perfect singular, middle/passive

Case	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	λελυμένος	λελυμένη	λελυμένον
Genitive	λελυμένου	λελυμένης	λελυμένου
Dative	λελυμένῳ	λελυμένῃ	λελυμένῳ
Accusative	λελυμένον	λελυμένην	λελυμένον

Perfect plural, middle/passive

Case	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	λελυμένοι	λελυμέναι	λελυμένα
Genitive	λελυμένων	λελυμένων	λελυμένων
Dative	λελυμένοις	λελυμέναις	λελυμένοις
Accusative	λελυμένους	λελυμένας	λελυμένα