-ущий/-ющий

Present Active Participles in -ущий/-ющий

Level 4Sounds Like pričastie nastoâŝego vremeni na -uŝij/-ûŝij

The present active participle in -ущий/-ющий acts like an adjective that describes 'who' or 'what' is doing something right now. It is the formal equivalent of a relative clause (e.g., 'the student who is reading' becomes 'the reading student').

How It Works

Present active participles are 'verbal adjectives' used primarily in formal, academic, or literary Russian. They allow for more concise sentences by replacing a relative clause.

1. Formation and Stress:
To form this participle, look at the 3rd person plural of an imperfective verb (perfective verbs do not have a present tense and therefore cannot form present participles), drop the final -т, and add -щий. This results in -ущий/-ющий for 1st conjugation verbs and -ащий/-ящий for 2nd conjugation verbs. Example: читать → читают → читающий (reading); писать → пишут → пишущий (writing). The stress on a present active participle almost always falls on the exact same syllable as it does in the 3rd person plural of the verb (e.g., пИшут → пИшущий, говорЯт → говорЯщий). However, there are a few exceptions where the stress shifts to the suffix, such as кормить (кОрмят → кормЯщий) or молить (мОлят → молЯщий).

2. The Subject Constraint and Transitivity:
You can only use an active participle if the noun it modifies is the one doing the action. You can replace 'человек, который читает' (the person who is reading) with 'читающий человек'. You cannot use it for 'книга, которую я читаю' (the book that I am reading). Unlike passive participles, active participles can be formed from both transitive and intransitive verbs.

3. Simultaneity:
A present active participle indicates an action happening at the same time as the main verb, regardless of the main verb's tense. For example, 'Студент, читающий книгу, сидит здесь' (The student, who is reading a book, sits here) and 'Студент, читающий книгу, сидел здесь' (The student, who was reading a book, sat here).

4. Agreement and Reflexives:
The participle must match the noun in gender, number, and case, declining exactly like standard adjectives ending in -ший/-щий (such as 'хороший'). For reflexive verbs, the suffix -ся is always used and never contracts to -сь (e.g., смеяться → смеющийся).

5. Punctuation:
When a participial phrase (the participle plus its dependent words) follows the noun it modifies, it must be set off by commas. Example: 'Студент, читающий книгу, сидит здесь.' If the participle comes before the noun, commas are usually not required: 'Читающий книгу студент сидит здесь.' However, if the participial phrase modifies a personal pronoun, or if it comes before the noun but carries an adverbial or causal meaning, it must be set off by commas (e.g., 'Много работающий, отец сразу лег спать.').

6. Participles as Nouns:
Many common Russian nouns are actually present active participles used independently (substantivization). Examples include курящие (smokers), окружающие (those around), and следующий (the next one).

Examples (4)

  1. Студенты, изучающие русский язык, часто ходят в библиотеку.

    Students studying the Russian language often go to the library.

    Word by Word: Students, [who are] studying Russian language, often go to library.

    Here, 'изучающие' describes the students. It is the plural nominative form of the participle from 'изучать'.

  2. Я вижу человека, идущего по улице.

    I see a man walking along the street.

    Word by Word: I see man, [who is] walking along street.

    The participle 'идущего' is in the accusative case to match 'человека'. It describes an action happening at the moment of seeing.

  3. Работающий двигатель сильно шумел.

    The running engine was making a lot of noise.

    Word by Word: Working engine strongly was-noising.

    In this case, the participle 'работающий' acts almost like a standard adjective, appearing before the noun.

  4. Издали был виден корабль, плывущий по воде.

    The ship sailing in the water was visible from afar.

    Word by Word: From-afar was visible ship, [which was] sailing in water.

    The participle 'плывущий' (from 'плыть') matches the masculine singular nominative noun 'корабль'.

Common Mistakes

  • Attempting to form a present participle from a perfective verb.

    прочитающий студент
    прочитавший студент

    Perfective verbs do not have a present tense, so they cannot form present participles. You must use a past active participle instead.

  • Using the reflexive suffix -сь instead of -ся.

    смеющиесясь люди
    смеющиеся люди

    In participles, the reflexive suffix is always -ся, regardless of whether the preceding letter is a vowel or consonant. It never contracts to -сь in participial forms.

  • Using the participle as a main verb to express the continuous tense.

    Он читающий книгу.
    Он читает книгу.

    Russian does not use participles to form continuous tenses like English does. Use the simple present tense for 'He is reading'.

How It Connects

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-ущий/-ющийLevel 4Present Active Participles in -ущий/-ющий

Learn This First

To form and use present active participles in -ущий/-ющий, learners must first be comfortable with the third-person plural present tense of first-conjugation verbs, as the participle stem is derived from this form. Additionally, since participles function as verbal adjectives, learners need to understand adjective agreement and the use of the relative pronoun 'который', which participles often replace in formal or written speech.