An adjectival participle turns an action into a description of a noun. La virino leganta apud la fenestro is “the woman reading by the window”; la libro legata de ŝi is “the book being read by her.” The final -a makes each participle an adjective, so it agrees in number and accusative case just like bona or nova.
How to build the six forms
Start with a verb root, choose voice and relative time, and finish with -a:
| Form | Who or what it describes | Core relation |
|---|---|---|
| leganta | the reader, active | reading is ongoing |
| leginta | the reader, active | reading is completed |
| legonta | the reader, active | reading is still ahead |
| legata | the book, passive | reading is ongoing/repeated |
| legita | the book, passive | reading is completed |
| legota | the book, passive | reading is still ahead |
La leganta pasaĝero preskaŭ preterveturis sian haltejon.
The passenger who was reading almost missed his stop.
La legata libro apartenas al la biblioteko.
The book being read belongs to the library.
This minimal contrast depends on voice. The passenger performs the reading, so -ant- is active. The book undergoes it, so -at- is passive.
Adjectival participles compress relative clauses
An -a participle can usually be expanded into kiu plus a finite verb. This test makes its semantic role visible:
| Participle phrase | Expanded relative clause |
|---|---|
| la laborantaj studentoj | la studentoj, kiuj laboras/laboris tiam |
| la finintaj studentoj | la studentoj, kiuj jam finis |
| la ekzamenotaj studentoj | la studentoj, kiujn oni ekzamenos |
La en la atendejo sidantaj homoj ne aŭdis la anoncon.
The people sitting in the waiting room did not hear the announcement.
Ni gratulis la studentojn finintajn la kurson.
We congratulated the students who had completed the course.
La venontsemajne ekzamenotaj studentoj ricevis la horaron retpoŝte.
The students to be examined next week received the timetable by email.
Participles can keep the verb’s objects and prepositional complements: finintajn la kurson, sidantaj en la atendejo. This compactness is useful, but a long participial phrase may become harder to process than a relative clause. La homoj, kiuj sidis en la atendejo, … is often clearer in speech.
The alternative is developed on the page about relative clauses with kiu.
Relative time, not calendar tense
The participial vowels locate the action relative to the scene in which the noun is viewed. -Ant-/-at- is ongoing, -int-/-it- completed, and -ont-/-ot- prospective.
Hieraŭ mi parolis kun la tiam deĵoranta kuracisto.
Yesterday I spoke with the doctor who was on duty then.
Morgaŭ mi renkontos la hieraŭ alvenintan kuraciston.
Tomorrow I will meet the doctor who arrived yesterday.
En 2019 ŝi anstataŭis la baldaŭ emeritiĝontan direktoron.
In 2019 she replaced the director who was soon going to retire.
Deĵoranta is simultaneous with yesterday’s conversation. Alvenintan is prior to tomorrow’s meeting. Emeritiĝontan is prospective from 2019, though the retirement may be past now. English labels such as “present participle” and “past participle” conceal this relative-time logic.
Attributive and predicative positions
Like ordinary adjectives, participles can directly modify a noun or follow a linking verb.
La fermita pordo malhelpis la aerfluon.
The closed door obstructed the airflow.
La pordo estas fermita, sed la fenestroj estas malfermitaj.
The door is closed, but the windows are open.
In the first example, fermita is attributive. In the second, fermita/malfermitaj are predicative complements after esti and agree with their subjects. The form estas fermita may describe a completed passive event or its resulting state; context determines which aspect is prominent.
Adjectival participles may occur before or after the noun. Postposition is especially useful when the participle has complements:
La raporto verkita de nia esplorteamo aperos morgaŭ.
The report written by our research team will appear tomorrow.
La de nia esplorteamo verkita raporto is also grammatical, but the long modifier before the noun is denser.
Agreement in -J and -N
Because the final ending is -a, an adjectival participle follows normal adjective agreement:
| Role | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| subject/nominative | la atendanta gasto | la atendantaj gastoj |
| direct object/accusative | la atendantan gaston | la atendantajn gastojn |
Ĉu vi vidis la ekster la teatro atendantajn gastojn?
Did you see the guests waiting outside the theater?
Both atendantajn and gastojn carry -j-n. The plural belongs to the described group; accusative belongs to the noun phrase’s role as the object of vidis.
For the complete inflection pattern, continue with participles with plural and accusative.
Adjectival, adverbial, and nominal endings
The participial suffix remains the same when the final ending changes, but the grammar changes:
| Form | Function | Agreement |
|---|---|---|
| ridanta infano | adjective describing a noun | takes -j/-n |
| ridante, la infano respondis | adverbial circumstance | invariable |
| ridanto | noun naming the person | takes nominal -j/-n |
Do not choose -a merely because English uses a word ending in “-ing.” Choose it when the Esperanto form directly describes a noun.
English -ing is not automatically -anta
English uses “-ing” both for true participles and for ordinary lexical adjectives. Esperanto often prefers a simple root adjective.
La prelego estis interesa, kaj la preleganto respondis ĉiujn demandojn.
The lecture was interesting, and the lecturer answered every question.
Interesa means “interesting.” Interesanta would literally describe something that is currently interesting someone and normally needs that eventive context: temo interesanta multajn junulojn “a topic that interests many young people.” English “-ing” therefore does not justify inserting -ant- when Esperanto already has an ordinary lexical adjective.
La kuriero fine alvenis. La longe atendintaj laboristoj tuj malfermis la pordon.
The courier finally arrived. The workers who had waited a long time immediately opened the door.
Foundational status and register
The six -a participles belong to foundational Esperanto and are productive. Simple forms such as venonta semajno, pasinta jaro, fermita pordo, laboranta homo are neutral and extremely common. Long participial stacks occur more often in (formal), (academic), and literary writing. In conversation, a relative clause frequently sounds more transparent.
Common Mistakes
Reversing active and passive voice
❌ La libro leganta de Marta estas longa.
Incorrect — the book undergoes the reading.
✅ La libro legata de Marta estas longa.
The book being read by Marta is long.
Treating -int- as simply past from now
❌ Morgaŭ mi renkontis la hieraŭ alvenintan gaston.
Incorrect — the finite verb, not -int-, must mark tomorrow’s future meeting.
✅ Morgaŭ mi renkontos la hieraŭ alvenintan gaston.
Tomorrow I will meet the guest who arrived yesterday.
Forgetting adjective agreement
❌ Mi salutis la atendanta gastojn.
Incorrect — the participle must agree in plural and accusative.
✅ Mi salutis la atendantajn gastojn.
I greeted the waiting guests.
Making a passive participle from an intransitive role
❌ la okazota koncerto
Incorrect in the ordinary frame — the concert itself will occur; it is not an object of okazi.
✅ la okazonta koncerto
the upcoming concert
Overcompressing a long modifier
❌ La de ni hieraŭ post la kunveno longe diskutita propono ŝanĝiĝis.
Grammatically interpretable but overloaded and difficult to process.
✅ La propono, kiun ni longe diskutis hieraŭ post la kunveno, ŝanĝiĝis.
The proposal that we discussed at length yesterday after the meeting changed.
Key Takeaways
Adjectival participles combine active/passive voice with relative time and finish in -a. They describe nouns, retain verbal complements, and agree in -j/-n. Use the kiu-clause test to choose voice, read time relative to the surrounding scene, and prefer an explicit relative clause when a compact participial modifier becomes difficult to follow.
Related Topics
- The Six Participles: A System MapB1 — Map Esperanto's six participles by voice and relative time, then use them as adjectives, adverbs, nouns, and compound verb forms.
- Adverbial Participles in -EB1 — Use invariable -e participles to add simultaneous, prior, or prospective circumstances while keeping their subject tied to the main clause.
- Participles with Plural and AccusativeB2 — Apply -j and -n to adjectival and nominal participles while keeping adverbial -e forms invariable.
- Relative Time in ParticiplesC2 — Interpret participial time relative to the described situation, separating ongoing, completed, and prospective action from calendar tense.
- Attributive and Predicative AdjectivesA2 — Distinguish adjectives inside noun phrases from adjectives that assert a subject's or object's state, and choose agreement endings accordingly.
- Relative Clauses with KiuA2 — How kiu, kiuj, kiun, and kiujn introduce finite clauses that identify or describe people and things.