-вший
Past Active Participles in -вший
The past active participle (e.g., читавший) acts as a formal adjective meaning 'who was doing' or 'who did.' It is formed by adding -вший to the past tense stem.
How It Works
The past active participle allows you to compress a sentence by turning a verb into an adjective. Unlike past passive participles, past active participles can be formed from both transitive and intransitive verbs (e.g., спавший - who was sleeping).
1. Formation:
As a helpful pedagogical shortcut, you can form it by taking the infinitive or past tense stem depending on the verb type.
- Standard Vowel Stems: Take the infinitive stem (drop -ть) and add -вший.
читать → чита- → читавший (who was reading) - Consonant Stems: Take the masculine past tense stem and add -ший.
нести → нёс → нёсший (who was carrying) - Verbs in -сти/-сть: Use their present/future stem and add -ший.
вести → вед-у → ведший (who was leading); цвести → цвет-у → цветший (that was blooming) - Verbs in -чь and -ереть: These take -ший added to the past tense stem.
печь → пёк → пёкший (who was baking); умереть → умер → умерший (who died) - Verbs in -нуть: These can often have two forms, with or without -ну-.
исчезнуть → исчезнувший or исчезший (who disappeared) - Irregular: идти → шёл → шедший (who was walking)
2. Stress and Reflexives:
The stress usually falls on the vowel immediately preceding the suffix, matching the infinitive (e.g., понять → понявший). However, perfective verbs with the prefix вы- always pull the stress to the prefix (e.g., выжить → выживший), and consonant stems like умереть have irregular stress that matches neither the infinitive nor the masculine past (умерший). If the verb is reflexive, the -ся suffix is always kept at the very end and always appears as -ся, never -сь (e.g., смеяться → смеявшийся).
3. Aspect Nuances:
This participle works with both aspects to help you become proficient in describing past events:
- Imperfective (читавший): Focuses on a past process or repeated action.
- Perfective (прочитавший): Focuses on a completed result.
4. Usage and Register:
In spoken Russian, people usually use который + the past tense. The participle is a hallmark of the 'bookish' style. However, some words like бывший (former/ex) or сумасшедший (crazy) are used everywhere as regular adjectives.
5. Agreement, Syntax, and Punctuation:
- Declension: Like adjectives, these participles decline to agree with the noun they modify in gender, number, and case (agreement of participles).
- Syntax: They retain the properties of verbs, meaning they can take direct objects and adverbs just like the original verb.
- Punctuation: When a participial phrase (postposed participial clause) comes after the noun it modifies, it must be set off by commas.
Examples (5)
- Студент, успешно сдавший экзамен, получил похвалу.
The student who successfully passed the exam received praise.
Word by Word: Student, successfully having-passed exam, received praise.
Here, 'сдавший' is a perfective past active participle describing the student's completed action.
- Человек, нёсший тяжёлую сумку, остановился отдохнуть.
The person who was carrying a heavy bag stopped to rest.
Word by Word: Person, carrying heavy bag, stopped to-rest.
This example shows a consonant stem (нёс-). For these verbs, the suffix -ш- is used instead of -вш-.
- Мы встретили туриста, долго жившего в России.
We met a tourist who had lived in Russia for a long time.
Word by Word: We met tourist, long having-lived in Russia.
This uses an imperfective participle 'жившего' (in the accusative case) to describe a past state or process.
- Девушка, улыбавшаяся нам, была очень добра.
The girl who was smiling at us was very kind.
Word by Word: Girl, smiling-self at-us, was very kind.
Note how the reflexive suffix -ся is retained at the end of the participle.
- Прохожий, шедший по улице, внезапно остановился.
The passerby who was walking along the street suddenly stopped.
Word by Word: Passerby, walking along street, suddenly stopped.
The verb 'идти' (to go) has an irregular past active participle form: 'шедший'.
Common Mistakes
Using the active participle for a passive meaning.
Книга, читавшая мной...Книга, прочитанная мной...The active participle means the noun did the action. A book cannot 'read'; it must be 'read' (passive). Use a past passive participle instead.
Dropping the reflexive suffix -ся.
смеявший человексмеявшийся человекIf the original verb is reflexive (смеяться), the participle must also include the reflexive suffix. Note that in participles, it is always -ся, never -сь.
Using an active participle when the noun is the object of the relative clause.
Студент, которого я видевший вчера...Студент, которого я видел вчера...Active participles can only replace который when it is the subject of the clause. If the noun is the object (the person you saw), you must use a relative clause or a passive participle.
How It Connects
Learn This First
To learn the past active participle in -вший, you first need to know how to form the past tense of verbs, as the participle uses the same stem. Since participles function as verbal adjectives, you must also be comfortable with adjective case endings and agreement. Finally, understanding the relative pronoun 'который' helps in recognizing that these participles describe 'the person who did something'.
- -л/-ла/-лоPast Tense Gender Agreement
The past active participle is formed from the past tense stem of the verb, so understanding past tense formation is essential.
Level 2 - которыйRelative Pronoun Который
Participles are often used as a more formal alternative to relative clauses starting with 'который', and understanding the underlying relative structure is necessary for meaning.
Level 3
Related Patterns
- -шийPast Active Participles in -ший
This is the variant suffix used for verbs whose past tense stems end in a consonant or where a dropped 'д' or 'т' reappears.
Level 4 - -ущий/-ющийPresent Active Participles in -ущий/-ющий
The present active counterpart, used for actions happening at the same time as the main verb.
Level 4 - -нный/-енныйPast Passive Participles in -нный/-енный
The passive counterpart, used when the action was performed upon the noun.
Level 4 - Perfective result
Perfective participles are used to indicate that the action was completed before the main event.
Level 3 - Imperfective process
Imperfective participles focus on a past process or repeated action.
Level 3
Learn Next
Patterns that build on this one.
Practice -вший in Bubblegum
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