Russian has exactly four participles, and once you see that they form a clean 2 × 2 grid — voice (active / passive) crossed with tense (present / past) — the whole system stops looking like a pile of suffixes and starts looking like a table. This page is that table: a single, consolidated reference for forming and parsing all four, plus the two facts that govern which one can even exist (aspect and transitivity). The detail pages drill each participle individually; this one is the map you keep open beside them.
The 2 × 2 grid
| Active (the doer) | Passive (the receiver) | |
|---|---|---|
| Present | -ущ-/-ющ-, -ащ-/-ящ- → чита́ющий | -ем-/-им- → чита́емый |
| Past | -вш-/-ш- → чита́вший | -нн-/-енн-/-т- → прочи́танный |
Read it as a sentence each way:
- Active = the noun does the verb (the reading student → чита́ющий студе́нт).
- Passive = the noun undergoes the verb (the read book → прочи́танная кни́га).
- Present = action simultaneous with the main verb.
- Past = action prior to the main verb.
Every participle declines like an ordinary adjective (hard-stem чита́ющий, -ая, -ее, -ие; soft-stem in -щий, -вший etc.), agreeing in gender, number, and case with its noun — and the genitive -ого ending is pronounced "-ova" (чита́вшего = "chitávshevo"), exactly as in adjectives.
Present active: они-stem + -щ-
Source: the 3rd-person plural (они́) present-tense stem. Aspect: imperfective only (a present participle needs an ongoing present, which perfectives don't have). Suffix: -ущ-/-ющ- for 1st-conjugation verbs, -ащ-/-ящ- for 2nd-conjugation verbs, then adjective endings.
Take the они́ form, drop the -т, add -щ- + ending:
| Verb | они́-form | Present active participle |
|---|---|---|
| чита́ть (read, 1st conj.) | чита́ют | чита́ющий ("(the one) reading") |
| писа́ть (write, 1st conj.) | пи́шут | пи́шущий |
| говори́ть (speak, 2nd conj.) | говоря́т | говоря́щий |
| люби́ть (love, 2nd conj.) | лю́бят | лю́бящий |
Студе́нт, чита́ющий газе́ту у окна́, — мой брат.
The student reading the newspaper by the window is my brother. — present active чита́ющий = 'who is reading', agreeing with студе́нт.
Мне нра́вятся лю́ди, лю́бящие свою́ рабо́ту.
I like people who love their work. — лю́бящие (plural) from 2nd-conjugation люби́ть.
Past active: past stem + -вш-/-ш-
Source: the past-tense (infinitive) stem. Aspect: both — this is the only participle freely available from both aspects. Suffix: -вш- after a vowel (the normal case), -ш- after a consonant (when the masculine past has no -л), then adjective endings.
| Verb | Masc. past | Past active participle |
|---|---|---|
| чита́ть (impf.) | чита́л | чита́вший ("who was reading") |
| прочита́ть (pf.) | прочита́л | прочита́вший ("who read/finished") |
| нести́ (carry) | нёс (no -л) | нёсший ("who was carrying") — -ш- after consonant |
| прийти́ (come) | пришёл | прише́дший ("who came") — irregular stem |
The aspect contrast is meaningful: imperfective чита́вший = "who was reading / used to read"; perfective прочита́вший = "who (had) read it through". When the masculine past ends in a bare consonant (нёс, вёз, привёз), the suffix is -ш-: нёсший, вёзший.
Челове́к, написа́вший э́ту кни́гу, у́мер сто лет наза́д.
The person who wrote this book died a hundred years ago. — perfective past active написа́вший = 'who wrote.'
Пассажи́ры, опозда́вшие на рейс, жда́ли сле́дующего.
The passengers who'd missed the flight waited for the next one. — опозда́вшие (plural), perfective.
Present passive: мы-stem + -м-
Source: the 1st-person plural (мы) present stem. Aspect: imperfective, and the verb must be transitive (it must take a direct object — only then is there a "receiver" to be passive). Suffix: -ем- for 1st conjugation, -им- for 2nd, then adjective endings. This participle is limited and bookish — many verbs simply lack one, and it lives mostly in formal/written Russian.
| Verb | мы-form | Present passive participle |
|---|---|---|
| чита́ть (read, 1st conj.) | чита́ем | чита́емый ("being read") |
| люби́ть (love, 2nd conj.) | лю́бим | люби́мый ("(be)loved") |
| уважа́ть (respect) | уважа́ем | уважа́емый ("respected") |
Several have lexicalized into ordinary adjectives: люби́мый ("favourite / beloved"), уважа́емый ("dear…", the standard letter opener), ви́димый ("visible").
Уважа́емые пассажи́ры, по́езд отправля́ется че́рез пять мину́т.
Dear passengers, the train departs in five minutes. — уважа́емые, a present passive participle frozen into a polite address.
Э́то моя́ люби́мая пе́сня.
This is my favourite song. — люби́мая, present passive of люби́ть, now just an adjective.
Past passive: infinitive stem + -нн-/-енн-/-т-
Source: the infinitive stem. Aspect: perfective (you need a completed result for something to be "done to"). Transitivity: transitive only. This is the most important and most frequent participle, and it has three suffix routes:
| Suffix | When | Example |
|---|---|---|
| -нн- | infinitive in -ать/-ять → drop -ть, add -нн- | прочита́ть → прочи́танный ("read through") |
| -енн-/-ённ- | infinitive in -ить/-еть, or a consonant stem | постро́ить → постро́енный; реши́ть → решённый |
| -т- | monosyllabic / -нуть / -оть / -ереть stems | откры́ть → откры́тый; забы́ть → забы́тый |
Вот письмо́, напи́санное мои́м де́дом в 1942 году́.
Here's a letter written by my grandfather in 1942. — past passive напи́санное (-нн-), agreeing with письмо́.
Все зада́чи, решённые в кла́ссе, бы́ли в контро́льной.
All the problems solved in class were on the test. — решённые (-ённ-), from реши́ть.
The short form and the result construction
The past passive participle has a short form (used predicatively, like other short adjectives), built by trimming the long ending and dropping one н: прочи́танный → прочи́тан, прочи́тана, прочи́тано, прочи́таны. It agrees in gender and number (no case) and states a resulting state — the everyday "it has been done" construction.
| Long form | Short forms (m / f / n / pl) |
|---|---|
| откры́тый | откры́т / откры́та / откры́то / откры́ты |
| напи́санный | напи́сан / напи́сана / напи́сано / напи́саны |
| решённый | решён / решена́ / решено́ / решены́ |
Магази́н закры́т до девяти́ утра́.
The shop is closed until 9 a.m. — short form закры́т (masc., for магази́н); the result-state construction.
Все биле́ты уже́ про́даны.
All the tickets are already sold. — short plural про́даны; states the achieved result.
This short-form result construction is everywhere — on signs (Закры́то, Откры́то), in announcements (Магази́н закры́т), in reports (Реше́ние при́нято, "a decision has been taken"). It's covered in full on short-form passives.
Which one when — the availability rules
Before you can form a participle, two filters decide whether it exists at all:
- Aspect filter. Present participles (active and passive) come only from imperfectives — there's no "ongoing present" in a perfective. The past passive comes only from perfectives — you need a completed result. The past active is the free agent: both aspects.
- Transitivity filter. Both passives require a transitive verb (one with a direct object to receive the action). Intransitive verbs (идти́, спать) have no passive participle at all.
| Participle | Built from | Aspect | Needs transitive? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Present active (-щ-) | они́ present stem | imperfective only | no |
| Past active (-вш-/-ш-) | past/infinitive stem | both | no |
| Present passive (-м-) | мы present stem | imperfective only | yes |
| Past passive (-нн-/-енн-/-т-) | infinitive stem | perfective only | yes |
Source-language contrast: four where English has two
English makes do with two participles — the present (reading) and the past (read/written) — and leans on word order and auxiliaries to sort out voice and tense. Russian's four-way grid is more explicit but also more rigid: the doer who is reading (чита́ющий) and the thing being read (чита́емый) are different words, and "who read it" splits by aspect into чита́вший ("was reading") vs прочита́вший ("read it through"). English collapses these; Russian keeps them apart. The payoff is precision — but it means you can't translate "the reading man" and "the read book" with one form, and you must respect the aspect/transitivity filters that decide whether a participle even exists. For when to deploy these versus a relative clause, see participles vs который clauses.
Common Mistakes
❌ прочита́ющий студе́нт (meaning 'the reading student')
Wrong — present active comes only from imperfectives; the perfective прочита́ть has no present participle.
✅ чита́ющий студе́нт
the reading student — present active from imperfective чита́ть.
❌ Магази́н закры́тый.
Wrong register/form — the result statement needs the SHORT form, not the long attributive one.
✅ Магази́н закры́т.
The shop is closed. — short-form past passive закры́т states the resulting state.
❌ напи́санный де́дом письмо́
Agreement error — письмо́ is neuter, so the participle must be напи́санное.
✅ напи́санное де́дом письмо́
the letter written by grandfather — participle agrees with neuter письмо́.
❌ иду́щий дом (a passive 'built' meaning)
Wrong — идти́ is intransitive, so it has no passive participle at all; -щий on it can only be active ('going').
✅ постро́енный дом
a built house — past passive from transitive perfective постро́ить.
Key Takeaways
- Four participles in a voice × tense grid: present active -щ- (чита́ющий), past active -вш-/-ш- (чита́вший), present passive -ем-/-им- (чита́емый), past passive -нн-/-енн-/-т- (прочи́танный).
- Sources: present active = они́-stem; past active = past/infinitive stem; present passive = мы-stem; past passive = infinitive stem. All decline as adjectives (-ого = "-ova").
- Aspect filter: present participles only from imperfectives; past passive only from perfectives; past active from both. Transitivity filter: both passives need a transitive verb.
- The past passive is the priority — most frequent, and its short form (-н-/-т-, agreeing in gender/number) gives the everyday result construction: Закры́то, Напи́сано, Все биле́ты про́даны.
- To parse any participle, run its suffix back through the grid; for production, start with the past passive and its short form.
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Start learning Russian→Related Topics
- Participles: OverviewB2 — Russian has four participles (прича́стия) — present active (чита́ющий), past active (чита́вший / прочита́вший), present passive (чита́емый), past passive (прочи́танный) — all of them verbal adjectives that decline and agree with their noun. They are a bookish, written feature; in speech Russians use кото́рый-clauses instead.
- Present Active Participles (-ущий/-ащий)B2 — The present active participle (чита́ющий, говоря́щий, иду́щий) turns an imperfective verb into an adjective meaning 'the one who is doing X'. It declines like an adjective and replaces a кото́рый-clause where кото́рый is the subject.
- Past Active Participles (-вший)B2 — The past active participle (чита́вший, прочита́вший, ше́дший) means 'the one who was doing / who did X'. It is formed from the past stem, declines like an adjective, exists in both aspects, and saturates written Russian.
- Passive Participles (-емый, -нный, -тый)B2 — Passive participles describe the receiver of an action: present passive (чита́емый, люби́мый — rare, bookish) and the far more important past passive (прочи́танный, напи́санный, постро́енный, откры́тый), which builds both the adjectival passive and the predicate result construction.
- Short-Form Passive Participles and the Result ConstructionB1 — The short past passive participle (откры́т, закры́т, напи́сан, постро́ен, про́дан) is the everyday face of participles. With быть it expresses a result-state or the analytic passive — Магази́н закры́т, Письмо́ напи́сано — agreeing in gender and number, and spelled with ONE -н-.
- Participles vs Который Clauses: When to Use WhichB2 — A participle (студе́нт, чита́ющий кни́гу) and a кото́рый-clause (студе́нт, кото́рый чита́ет кни́гу) often mean the same thing but differ in register and in what they CAN do. Participles are bookish; кото́рый is neutral and the only option in speech. You can only turn a кото́рый-clause into a participle when кото́рый is the SUBJECT (→ active participle) or the direct OBJECT made passive (→ passive participle). Oblique-case кото́рый (в кото́ром, с кото́рым) has no participle equivalent.