Esperanto Participles: -anta, -inta, -onta and What They Do

Esperanto has three active participles, one per tense: -ant- is doing it, -int- has done it, -ont- is about to. Add the ending -a, -o or -e and one root gives nine words.

The name of the language is one: esperi (to hope) plus -ant- plus -o gives esperanto, one who hopes. Zamenhof published the first book of the language in 1887 as Doktoro Esperanto, and the name passed to the language.

Three participles, one per tense

The participles reuse the vowels of the three tenses:

The vowel tells the time: a for now, i for done, o for to come. The time is measured from the main verb, not from today:

• Mi vidis la dormantan infanon. - I saw the sleeping child.

The child was asleep at the moment of seeing, so -ant-, though all of it is now past.

1234

1. 1leganta virino
2. 2kuiranta viro
3. 3kuranta knabo
4. 4parolanta knabino

Leganta virino, a woman reading; kuiranta viro, a man cooking; kuranta knabo, a boy running; parolanta knabino, a girl talking. Each is in the middle of it, so -ant-.

Nine words from one root

A participle still needs an ending to say what kind of word it is. Each of the three takes -a, -o or -e:

The -o forms name someone by what they are doing for now: komencanto is a beginner, because beginning is a phase. A trade takes -ist- instead: instruisto, a teacher. Participles as nouns has the full set.

They agree like adjectives

The -a forms are ordinary adjectives, so they take -j and -n like any other:

• Mi vidas la legantajn infanojn. - I see the children who are reading.
• La venintaj homoj parolis. - The people who had come spoke.

It looks heavy written down. It is the same decision as for la bonajn infanojn, made on a longer word.

Replacing a kiu clause

Drop kiu and the verb, and put the participle where the verb was:

• La knabo leganta la libron estas mia amiko. - The boy reading the book is my friend.
• La veninta homo parolis. - The person who had come spoke.

A participle with nothing after it usually goes in front of the noun, like any adjective: la homo, kiu venis becomes la veninta homo.

One condition: the noun must be the subject of the clause you replace. In la libro, kiun mi legas, the book is not doing the reading, so an active participle cannot replace it. That needs the passive participles, -ata, -ita, -ota: see the passive.

The -e form, and its trap

The -e participle folds a whole time or reason clause into one word:

• Kiam mi finis la laboron, mi dormis. becomes Fininte la laboron, mi dormis. - Having finished the work, I slept.
• Ĉar li vidis min, li haltis. becomes Vidinte min, li haltis. - Having seen me, he stopped.

An -e participle has no subject of its own: it borrows the subject of the main clause. So this sentence says the house came home:

• Veninte hejmen, la domo estis malplena. - Having come home, the house was empty.

Check that whoever does the -e action is the subject of the main verb. If not, write the kiam clause out:

• Kiam mi venis hejmen, la domo estis malplena. - When I came home, the house was empty.

Go easy on esti + participle

Esti plus a participle builds a compound tense for every shade of time: mi estas leganta (I am in the middle of reading), mi estis leginta (I had read). They are correct, and mostly unnecessary:

Use the simple tense by default, and the compound only when being in the middle of it is the point. Compound tenses has the full set.

Mistakes English speakers make

What to do next

1. Take three verbs you know and build their nine forms each.
2. Rewrite two kiu sentences with a participle, checking that kiu was the subject.
3. Then read participles as nouns for leganto, venkinto and the people who carry a tense.

See also

• The passive - the three passive participles, -ata, -ita and -ota, built the same way.
• Participles as nouns - parolanto, venkinto and the people who carry a tense.
• Compound tenses - esti plus a participle, and why to use it sparingly.
• Subordinate clauses - the kiu and kiam clauses a participle can replace.