Participial suffixes express voice and relative time, but the final word-class ending controls agreement. An adjectival participle in -a takes plural -j and accusative -n with its noun; a nominal participle in -o takes the ordinary noun endings; an adverbial participle in -e never takes either. English participles do not display this agreement, so English speakers often recognize the correct suffix but leave the Esperanto ending incomplete.
Separate the participial suffix from the final ending
In legantajn, the pieces have distinct jobs:
- leg- identifies the action;
- -ant- marks active, ongoing/repeated participation;
- -a makes an adjective;
- -j marks plural;
- -n marks accusative.
The same outer endings attach after any of the six participial suffixes: alvenintajn, elektotajn, riparitajn, ekzamenatajn.
Mi salutis la ekster la hotelo atendantajn gastojn.
I greeted the guests waiting outside the hotel.
Gastojn is plural and accusative, so its direct modifier is atendantajn. The internal verb meaning does not exempt a participle from adjective agreement.
The four-form adjective pattern
Every adjectival participle has the same number-and-case grid as an ordinary adjective:
The underlying rules are the same as for adjective agreement in number and adjective agreement in the accusative.
| Noun phrase role | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | la leganta studento | la legantaj studentoj |
| accusative | la legantan studenton | la legantajn studentojn |
La leganta studento ne aŭdis la sonorilon.
The student who was reading did not hear the bell.
La legantaj studentoj ne aŭdis la sonorilon.
The students who were reading did not hear the bell.
La instruisto alvokis la legantan studenton.
The teacher called the student who was reading.
La instruisto alvokis la legantajn studentojn.
The teacher called the students who were reading.
These four examples keep voice and relative time constant. Only the noun phrase’s number and grammatical role change.
Active and passive participles agree in the same way
Voice affects who the participle describes, not how agreement works. Active -nt- describes the semantic subject of the action; passive -t- describes its object.
La raportojn verkantaj esploristoj laboras en tri landoj.
The researchers writing the reports work in three countries.
Mi legis la raportojn verkitajn de tiuj esploristoj.
I read the reports written by those researchers.
In the first sentence, verkantaj agrees with nominative plural esploristoj. Raportojn is the internal object of verkantaj and does not control its agreement. In the second, verkitajn agrees with accusative plural raportojn; the de phrase names the agents.
This distinction is especially important when two plural noun phrases occur together. Ask which participant performs or undergoes the participial action, then ask what role that described noun phrase has in the larger clause.
Postposed participles still agree
Position does not change agreement. A participle after the noun is often clearer when it carries complements, but it still belongs to the noun phrase.
Ni kontrolis la fakturojn senditajn de la nova provizanto.
We checked the invoices sent by the new supplier.
Ĉu vi konas la homojn sidantajn ĉe la apuda tablo?
Do you know the people sitting at the next table?
Ĉu vi vidis la invititajn gastojn? — Jes, mi ĵus montris al ili la salonon.
Did you see the invited guests? — Yes, I just showed them the hall.
Senditajn and sidantajn need -j-n even though several words may intervene between them and the end of the clause. Expand the phrases as la fakturojn, kiujn la provizanto sendis and la homojn, kiuj sidas… to identify voice and agreement separately.
Predicative participles after esti
An -a participle used after esti agrees in number with its subject. It does not receive accusative -n, because the subject of esti remains nominative.
La fenestro estas fermita, sed la pordoj estas malfermitaj.
The window is closed, but the doors are open.
La invitiloj estis presitaj, sed la kovertoj ankoraŭ ne estis adresitaj.
The invitations had been printed, but the envelopes had not yet been addressed.
Presitaj and adresitaj agree with plural subjects. The finite form estis carries tense; the -it- participles present completion or result. Do not add -n merely because English calls such clauses “passive.” Accusative marks a grammatical role in Esperanto, not passive voice.
Adverbial participles stay invariable
An adverbial participle ends in -e, not -a, and therefore cannot take -j or -n.
Fininte la ekzamenon, la studentoj trankvile eliris.
Having finished the exam, the students calmly left.
Ridante, mi vidis la infanojn kuri al la balanciloj.
Laughing, I saw the children run toward the swings.
Plural la studentoj does not change fininte to finintaj. The object la infanojn does not change ridante to an accusative form. In the second sentence, mi is the one laughing; the -e participle relates to the main subject.
Compare the three endings:
| Form | Analysis | Inflection |
|---|---|---|
| la ridantaj infanoj | adjective + plural noun | -j agrees |
| ridante, la infanoj kuris | adverbial circumstance | no -j/-n |
| la ridantoj | noun naming people | nominal plural -j |
Nominal participles take noun endings
An -o participle normally names a person occupying the active or passive role: parolanto “speaker,” veninto “one who has come,” arestito “person arrested,” juĝoto “person to be tried.” As nouns, these forms take -j and -n normally.
La organizantoj bonvenigis la partoprenantojn ĉe la enirejo.
The organizers welcomed the participants at the entrance.
La polico liberigis du el la arestitoj, sed retenis la aliajn arestitojn.
The police released two of those arrested but detained the other detainees.
In la organizantoj, -j marks a plural subject. In la partoprenantojn and la aliajn arestitojn, -j-n marks plural objects. The participial material inside the noun still distinguishes role and time, but the outer inflection is ordinary nominal morphology.
Participles in -a can also stand with an omitted noun when context supplies it: la invititaj “the invited [people].” They remain adjectives and show the endings appropriate to that understood noun.
Ni sidigis la invititajn en la unua vico kaj la aliajn gastojn malantaŭ ili.
We seated the invited people in the first row and the other guests behind them.
The explicit nominal form invititojn is also possible and directly names the invitees. The two structures reach a similar reference through different final endings.
Relative time does not alter agreement
All three time relations use the same outer pattern:
Mi fotis la laborantajn volontulojn, la jam finintajn volontulojn kaj la baldaŭ forirontajn volontulojn.
I photographed the volunteers who were working, those who had already finished, and those who were soon going to leave.
Laborantajn, finintajn, forirontajn differ in relative time, but each agrees with a plural direct object. The same is true for passive kontrolatajn, kontrolitajn, kontrolotajn.
Register and distribution
The participial system and ordinary -j/-n agreement are foundational, and agreement is obligatory in every register; it is not a literary refinement. Contemporary usage regularly shows the same endings on short, lexicalized participles and newly formed eventive ones. What varies stylistically is density. A short phrase such as la venontaj gastoj is neutral. Several complements around an agreeing participle are more common in (formal) or (academic) writing and may be clearer as a relative clause in conversation.
Common Mistakes
Marking the noun but not its participle
❌ Mi vidis la atendanta pasaĝerojn.
Incorrect — the participle lacks plural and accusative agreement.
✅ Mi vidis la atendantajn pasaĝerojn.
I saw the waiting passengers.
Adding only plural but forgetting accusative
❌ Ni kontrolis la jam subskribitaj kontraktojn.
Incorrect — the participle is plural but not accusative.
✅ Ni kontrolis la jam subskribitajn kontraktojn.
We checked the contracts that had already been signed.
Adding -n after esti
❌ La dokumentoj estas presitajn.
Incorrect — the predicative participle agrees in plural but is not an object.
✅ La dokumentoj estas presitaj.
The documents are printed.
Making an -e participle agree
❌ Finintaj la taskon, ili iris hejmen.
Incorrect for the intended adverbial meaning — -e is required and is invariable.
✅ Fininte la taskon, ili iris hejmen.
Having finished the task, they went home.
Letting an internal object control agreement
❌ La raportojn verkantajn esploristoj respondis al demandoj.
Incorrect — the researchers, not the reports, perform the writing.
✅ La raportojn verkantaj esploristoj respondis al demandoj.
The researchers writing the reports answered questions.
Key Takeaways
Adjectival -a participles copy -j/-n from the noun they describe, whether they precede or follow it. Predicative participles after esti agree in number with the subject but normally have no -n. Nominal -o participles inflect like nouns, while adverbial -e participles are invariable. Always determine the participle’s final word class before adding case and number endings.
Related Topics
- Adjectival Participles in -AB1 — Build active and passive participles as agreeing adjectives that compress relative clauses without losing voice or relative time.
- Adverbial Participles in -EB1 — Use invariable -e participles to add simultaneous, prior, or prospective circumstances while keeping their subject tied to the main clause.
- 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.
- Adjective Agreement in NumberA1 — Learn why Esperanto adjectives take -j when they describe plural people or things, in both noun phrases and predicates.
- Adjective Agreement in the AccusativeA1 — Learn when Esperanto adjectives copy the accusative -n, how -ajn is built, and why predicative adjectives normally remain without -n.
- Direct ObjectsA1 — Learn which Esperanto verb complements are direct objects, how -n marks them, and how object marking remains stable when word order changes.