There are four types of participles or verbal adjectives.

• Present active verbal adjectives translate as which is doing something.

Give-away sign: -щ- plus and adjective ending.

Я вижу мальчика, читающего книгу.

• Past active verbal adjectives translate as which did something or which was doing something.

Give-away sign: -вш- plus an adjective ending.

Студенты, сдавшие экзамены, сидят в кафэ.

• Present passive verbal adjectives translate as which is being done.

Give-away sign: -м- plus and adjective ending.

Книги, издаваемые в России, печатаются на финской бумаге.

• Past passive verbal adjectives translate as which was done. The person or thing who performed the action may be indicated by a noun phrase in the instrumental case.

Give away signs: -н-plus short-form adjective ending

                            -нн- plus long-form adjective ending

                             -т- plus short- or long-form adjective ending

Проект будет сдан в срок.

Учитель принёс проверенные работы.

Эта дверь закрыта.

Verbal adjectives may be placed either before or after the noun.

Passive participles

Past passive participles (PPPs) express the idea of a completed action and are almost exclusively formed from perfective transitive verbs, but have some features in common with adjectives.

Short PPPs as well as short adjectives

a)      are used as predicates;

b)      they are not declined;

c)      form gender and number distinctions by means of the same endings

d)      agree in gender and number with the subject of the sentence.

Long PPPs

like long adjectives PPPs:

a)      are used as modifiers

b)      answer the question «какой»(какая, какое, какие)

c)      agree in gender, number and case with the word modified

d)      are declined in the same way

like verbs PPPs:

a)      can have objects, adverbial modifiers etc., thus forming special groups within the sentence. Such groups are called participial phrases.

b)      Can express tense (past), voice (passive), aspect (perfective)

The place of the long PPP and the Participial Phrase in the sentence

1. If the modifier is expressed by a single participle it is always placed before the modified word.     

Учитель принёс проверенные работы.

2. If the modifier is expressed by a participial phrase, it is usually placed after the word modified (and is separated from it by a comma); it is also possible, however, for the participial phrase to be placed before the modified word. In that case, it is not separated by a comma. The longer the participial phrase the more it tends to come after the noun it describes.

 Он принёс книгу, забытую вами в библиотеке.

 Он принёс забытую вами в библиотеке книгу.

Passive participial phrases containing long PPPs  may be expressed in Russian as subordinate «который» clauses.

1) Passively, by replacing the long past participle with «который» as subject and the short PPP as predicate:

      (письмо, написанное моим братом вчера)

      письмо, которое было написано моим братом вчера

2)  Actively, by replacing the long past participle by «который» as direct object and the verb in the past tense:

(письмо, написанное моим братом вчера)

 письмо, которое мой брат написал вчера 

The present passive participle:

1.  The present passive participle is a verbal adjective, which does not have a short form, therefore it can not be used as a predicate, but only as a modifier.

      Газета, издаваемая нашим институтом, очень интересная.

2.  The participial phrases with the present passive participle may be placed before or after the word they modify.

      Я люблю читать газету, издаваемую нашим институтом.

      Я люблю читать издаваемую нашим институтом газету.

3. The verb in the main clause can be either in present, past or future.

      Здание, занимаемое нашей школой, ремонтировали в прошлом году/ будет ремонтироваться/ сейчас ремонтируется.

4. Some present passive participles are widely used as adjectives:

      любимый, уважаемый, непереводимый.

Present Passive Participles and «который» clauses:

The majority of participial phrases with present passive participles can be replaced by a «который» clause:

a)      «который» in Acc. Case + present tense of the transitive verb:

В газете, издаваемой нашим институтом, много полезной информации.

В газете, которую издаёт наш институт, много полезной информации.

b)      «который» in Nom. Case + present tense of the –ся- form of the transitive verb:

 В газете, издаваемой нашим институтом, много полезной информации.

В газете, которая издаётся нашим институтом, много полезной информации.

Active Participles:

If Passive Participles modify the (direct) object of someone’s action, the active participle modifies the performer of the action.

There are:

1.      Present Active Participles formed from the present tense of imperfective verbs

Летящая птица; бегущий человек;

2.      Past Active Participles formed from the Past tenses of both perfective and imperfective verbs,

родственник, приехавший из России; студенты, пишущие экзамен;

            Active participles

1.      are declined like adjectives and always agree in gender, number and case with the word modified,

Я смотрела на бегущих людей.

2.      when used alone always precede the word modified,

Прибывшие офицеры докладывают генералу о ситуации на линии фронта.

3.      they can form participial phrases which may be located before or after the word modified.

                        Мать смотрела на спящего ребёнка.

Офицер подошёл к сидящей около окна девушке.

Родственник, прилетевший из России, привёз много подарков.

Participial phrases with Active Participles and «который» clauses :

Participial phrases with Active Participles can be replaced by «который» clauses, in which «который» is a subject and the verb is in the past tense (perfective or imperfective) or in the present tense.

 Родственник, прилетевший из России, много рассказывал о Москве.

 Родственник, который прилетел из России, много рассказывал о Москве.

Поезд был полон людей,  возвращавшихся с работы.

Поезд был полон людей, которые возвращались с работы.

Мужчина, курящий трубку, директор фирмы.

Мужчина, который курит трубку, директор фирмы.

Note:  Sometimes the Present Active Participle is used instead of the Past Active Participle:

            Вчера мы видели горящий дом.

The present Participle in this case emphasizes the idea of simultaneous action of the participle and the verb of the main clause.