B1 · Intermédiaire Chapitre 33

Participles and Gerunds

2 Règles totales
20 exemples
1 min
Règles dans ce chapitre Pratique rapide

Chapter in 30 Seconds

Master the art of transforming verbs into descriptive adjectives to sound more fluid and concise.

  • Identify active participles describing ongoing actions.
  • Construct passive participles for completed results.
  • Integrate descriptive verb-forms into your daily speech.
Elevate your Russian with the power of participles.

Ce que tu vas apprendre

Introduction to active and passive participles. Using adverbial participles for concise speech.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:

  1. 1
    By the end you will be able to: Describe people and objects using active and passive participles in written and spoken Russian.

Exemples clés (4)

1

Я вижу парня, танцующего в TikTok.

I see the guy dancing on TikTok.

Participes Actifs Russes : Les mots qui décrivent l'action
2

Девушка, ждущая Uber, смотрит в телефон.

The girl waiting for an Uber is looking at her phone.

Participes Actifs Russes : Les mots qui décrivent l'action
3

Твой заказ уже доставлен.

Your order has already been delivered.

Participes Passifs Russes : Décrire des actions terminées (-нный, -тый)
4

Это фото сделано на новый iPhone.

This photo was taken on a new iPhone.

Participes Passifs Russes : Décrire des actions terminées (-нный, -тый)

Conseils et astuces (2)

🎯

The 'They' Rule

Always look at the 'они' form of the verb to find the right present suffix. Если 'они пишут', то 'пишущий'.
frontend.learn_grammar.from_rule: Participes Actifs Russes : Les mots qui décrivent l'action
🎯

The 'Status' Trick

If you can imagine it as a notification on your phone, you probably need a short form passive participle.
frontend.learn_grammar.from_rule: Participes Passifs Russes : Décrire des actions terminées (-нный, -тый)

Vocabulaire clé (5)

читающий reading (active) написанный written (passive) открытый opened (passive) поющий singing (active) сделанный done/made (passive)

Real-World Preview

book-open

At the Bookstore

Review Summary

  • Verb stem + щ + ий/ая/ее
  • Verb stem + нн/т + ый/ая/ое

Erreurs courantes

Active participles act as adjectives. They describe a noun, they don't replace the verb.

Wrong: Читающий книга (Reading book)
Correct: Читающий книгу человек (A person reading a book)

Remember to match the gender of the participle to the noun it modifies.

Wrong: Написан письмо (Written letter)
Correct: Написанное письмо (The written letter)

Use passive participles for completed actions, not active ones.

Wrong: Сделающий задание (The doing task)
Correct: Сделанное задание (The completed task)

Next Steps

You've tackled a difficult topic! Keep practicing these forms, and your Russian will soon sound as natural as a native speaker's.

Read a news article and highlight all participles you find.

Continue to: Reported Speech

Pratique rapide (6)

Find the mistake in the reflexive participle ending.

Find and fix the mistake:

Я вижу улыбающуюсь женщину.

✓ Correct! ✗ Not quite. Correct answer: Я вижу улыбающуюся женщину.
Reflexive participles must always end in -ся, regardless of the preceding vowel.

frontend.learn_grammar.from_rule: Participes Actifs Russes : Les mots qui décrivent l'action

Find and fix the mistake in the sentence.

Find and fix the mistake:

Письмо было написан вчера.

✓ Correct! ✗ Not quite. Correct answer: Письмо было написано вчера.
'Письмо' is neuter, so the participle must end in -о (написано).

frontend.learn_grammar.from_rule: Participes Passifs Russes : Décrire des actions terminées (-нный, -тый)

Which sentence correctly uses the passive participle?

Choose the correct sentence:

✓ Correct! ✗ Not quite. Correct answer: Обед уже приготовлен.
'Приготовлен' is the correct short form for a masculine noun in a predicate position.

frontend.learn_grammar.from_rule: Participes Passifs Russes : Décrire des actions terminées (-нный, -тый)

Fill in the blank with the correct short form of 'прочитать'.

Эта статья уже ___.

✓ Correct! ✗ Not quite. Correct answer: прочитана
'Статья' is feminine, so the short form must be 'прочитана'.

frontend.learn_grammar.from_rule: Participes Passifs Russes : Décrire des actions terminées (-нный, -тый)

Fill in the blank with the correct present active participle of 'работать' (to work).

Человек, ___ в этом офисе, мой брат.

✓ Correct! ✗ Not quite. Correct answer: работающий
We need the present active participle to match the singular masculine noun 'человек'.

frontend.learn_grammar.from_rule: Participes Actifs Russes : Les mots qui décrivent l'action

Which sentence correctly uses a past active participle?

Choose the correct sentence:

✓ Correct! ✗ Not quite. Correct answer: Студент, прочитавший книгу, сдал экзамен.
'Прочитавший' is the correct past active participle for 'the one who read'.

frontend.learn_grammar.from_rule: Participes Actifs Russes : Les mots qui décrivent l'action

Score: /6

Questions fréquentes (4)

It's a verb form that acts like an adjective, describing a noun that is performing an action, like 'the reading boy'.
You treat it exactly like an adjective. It must match the noun's gender, number, and case (e.g., читающий, читающая, читающее, читающие).
Long forms (купленный) act like adjectives and describe nouns. Short forms (куплен) act like verbs and tell you the state of something.
Russian spelling rules! Long passive participles have -нн-, but when you shorten them to the 'status' form, they drop one -н-.
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