Uploaded August 2021 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Participles in Latin have three tenses: present, perfect, and future. But these terms can be misleading, because they don't refer to the absolute time of the participle, but how the participle time relates to the tense of the main verb. The present participle shows an action that is in progress when the main verb occurs (some call it "same time"). The perfect participle shows an action that is already completed when the main verb happens (some call this "time before"). The future participle shows an action that is yet to occur when the main verb happens (some call this "time after"). But while these tense names can be confusing, the more you work with participles, the easier they get to understand.
Participles in Latin have three tenses: present, perfect, and future. But these terms can be misleading, because they don't refer to the absolute time of the participle, but how the participle time relates to the tense of the main verb. The present participle shows an action that is in progress when the main verb occurs (some call it "same time"). The perfect participle shows an action that is already completed when the main verb happens (some call this "time before"). The future participle shows an action that is yet to occur when the main verb happens (some call this "time after"). But while these tense names can be confusing, the more you work with participles, the easier they get to understand.
