The Adjectival Participle

What is it?

Participles can act like adjectives. They can modify a substantive or even say something about it. The use of modifying a substantive is common.

How can I recognize it?

You will recognize an adjectival participle that is modifying a substantive in two ways:
1) it will usually have a definite article
2) it will agree with the substantive it is modifying in gender, number, and case.

How do I translate it?

The adjectival participle that is modifying a substantive should be translated like a relative clause.  So o` maqhth.j o` pisteu,wn should be translated "the disciple who believes."

Watch the following video for more information on translating an adjectival participle.

The Substantival Participle

As I go through and provide definitions, note that I get most of my information from Daniel Wallace's Greek grammar, with insights from Black's and Mounce's Greek introductory books.

What is it? 

A substantival participle is an independent use of the adjectival participle. It is used instead of and functions in the place of a substantive. Therefore it can work any way a noun can work: as the subject, object, etc. The substantival adjective is frequent in the New Testament.

How can I recognize it?

1) If the participle is articular (that is, has a definite article), then it is either adjectival or substantival. 

2) If it is articular and does not agree with a substantive in person, number, and case, then it is substantival.

How do I translate it?

Typically you can write out your rough translation as "the one who" or "the thing which" followed by the participle translated as a finite verb. So o` pisteu,wn would be translated as "the one who believes".

Watch the following video for more clarification.

Partying with Participles

Student tend to have a difficult time with participles. But when they learn how to process through them, they can be so much fun. I've attached a participle flow chart they I have used when teaching students to translate participles. The one main problem students have is that they see the participle flow chart and they panic. It looks too confusing and complicated and they just "give up" mentally.

In the participle videos to follow, I will walk you through using this flow chart for different types of participles. Here is the chart.

The Complex Greek Sentence

One of the benefits of having short videos like these (10-15 minutes) is that you can watch the video, pause it, repeat sections when necessary, and re-watch it.

This video contains a sentence that is a little more complicated. Both of these videos contain basic Greek structures. There are no participles, subjunctives, infinitives, -mi verbs, or imperatives. The key is to practice translating basic sentences with this methodology so more complicated sentences will be manageable.