Active present participles
Turning a verb into an adjective: “the one doing the action right now” (читающий = who is reading).
⚡Key points
What is an active present participle?
A participle (причастие) is a verb form that behaves like an adjective. The active present participle describes the noun that is itself doing the action, right now: человек, читающий кни́гу = the man who is reading a book (literally “the man reading a book”). It answers the question како́й? (which?).
Like a verb, it keeps its aspect and can take an object (читающий кни́гу). Like an adjective, it agrees in gender, number and case with the noun. In English it is rendered by a relative clause (“who is reading”) or an -ing form (“reading”).
Formation: start from “они́”
Take the 3rd person plural (они́) of the present, drop the final -т, and add the participle suffix plus the adjectival ending -ий / -ая / -ее / -ие.
1st conjugation (endings -ут/-ют) → suffix -ущ- / -ющ-.
2nd conjugation (endings -ат/-ят) → suffix -ащ- / -ящ-.
From verb to participle
| чита́ть — они́ чита-ют | читающий | who reads / reading |
| писа́ть — они́ пиш-ут | пишущий | who writes / writing |
| идти — они́ ид-ут | идущий | who goes / going |
| говори́ть — они́ говор-ят | говоря́щий | who speaks / speaking |
| люби́ть — они́ люб-ят | любящий | who loves / loving |
| учиться — они́ уч-атся | учащийся | who studies (a pupil) |
💡⚠️ Imperfective verbs only (НСВ)
Agreement of the participle
The participle agrees like an adjective in gender, number and case with the noun it modifies. The endings follow the soft-adjective pattern (type хоро́ший).
Agreement of читающий
| Masculine | читающий студе́нт | the student who is reading |
| Feminine | читающая студе́нтка | the (female) student who is reading |
| Neuter | читающее дитя́ | the child who is reading |
| Plural | читающие студе́нты | the students who are reading |
When and how to use it
Describe who is doing the action now
Студе́нт, читающий кни́гу, — мой брат. (The student who is reading a book is my brother.)
Я ви́жу дете́й, играющих в па́рке. (I see children playing in the park.)
The participle keeps its own objects (оборо́т)
Человек, говоря́щий по-русски, — гид. (The man speaking Russian is the guide.)
Rather written and formal register
In speech, the кото́рый clause is usually preferred.
Participle ↔ кото́рый
The active present participle is equivalent to a relative clause with кото́рый in the nominative (кото́рый as subject) and in the present. You can switch from one to the other:
Turning кото́рый → participle
студе́нт, кото́рый чита́ет
→ студе́нт, читающий (the student who is reading)
де́вушка, кото́рая поёт
→ де́вушка, поющая (the girl who is singing)
де́ти, кото́рые игра́ют
→ де́ти, играющие (the children who are playing)
💡⚠️ Only кото́рый as subject (nominative) becomes an active participle
Verbs in -ся always keep -ся: улыбаться → улыба́ющийся.
Dialogue: at the library
Ania: Who is that man reading the newspaper by the window? — Oleg: That is the professor who teaches history. — Ania: And the girl writing something in a notebook? — Oleg: A student getting ready for the exam.