Present Participle (missakiriya)

Present Participle (missakiriya)

The present participle is a verbal adjective. That means it describes the action that a noun or pronoun is doing.

dīghaṃ vā assasanto “dīghaṃ assasāmī’ti pajānāti

dīghaṃ vā passasanto “dīghaṃ passasāmī’ti pajānāti MN118

Breathing in deeply, he knows, “I am breathing in deeply.”

Breathing out deeply, he knows, “I am breathing out deeply.”

Which is the noun/pronoun that is being described by the present participles in these sentences?

Although the present participle acts as a verb, it is declined like a noun. It agrees with the noun in gender, case and number.

seyyathāpi bhikkhave makkaṭo araññe pavane caramāno… SN12.61

Just like, monks, a monkey roaming around in a forest wilderness…

makkato = masc.nom.sg

caramāno = masc.nom.sg

puriso passeyya maccha-gumbaṃ carantaṃ tiṭṭhantaṃ MN39

a man could see a school of fish wandering around and remaining still.

macchagumbaṃ = masc.acc.sg

carantaṃ = masc.acc.sg

tiṭṭhantaṃ = masc.acc.sg

How to form a present participle

There are 3 ways to form present participles

1. add -nta to the verbal base

2. add -māna to the verbal base

3. add -āna to the verbal base (found in verse)

1	√gam	to go	gaccha	+ nta	gacchanta	going
2	√gam	to go	gaccha	+ māna	gacchamāna	going
3	√gam	to go	gaccha	+ āna	gacchāna	going

present participles ending in -nta

√as	to be	sa	santa	existing
√bhaṇ	to speak	bhaṇa	bhaṇanta	speaking
√bhū	to be	bhava	bhavanta	being
√car	to walk	cara	caranta	walking
√dis	to point out	dese	desenta	explaining
√dis	to see	passa	passanta	seeing
√kar	to do	karo	karonta	doing
√kath	to tell	kathe	kathenta	telling
√khād	to chew	khāda	khādanta	chewing
√ñā	to know	jāna	jānanta	knowing
√rud	to cry	ruda	rudanta	crying
√sak	to be able	sakko	sakkonta	being able
√vass	to rain	vassa	vassanta	raining

present participles ending in -māna

√as	to be	sa	samāna	being
√bhaj	to associate	bhaja	bhajamāna	associating
√budh	to know	bujjha	bujjhamāna	knowing
√car	to walk	cara	caramāna	walking
√dā	to give	dada	dadamāna	giving
√namass	to worship	namassa	namassamāna	worshipping
√dis	to see	passa	passamāna	seeing
√ṭhā	to stand	tiṭṭha	tiṭṭhamāna	standing
√vad	to speak	vada	vadamāna	speaking
√yaj	to sacrifice	yaja	yajamāna	sacrificing

Present participles ending in -āna

DPD has only about 40²⁴ of these so far, mostly in the verses of the Dhammapada and Sutta Nipāta

This data is relevant for the year 2025

√ādā	to take	ādiya	ādiyāna	grasping
√es	to seek	esa	esāna	seeking
√īr	to move	iriya	iriyāna	going around
√kam	to desire	kāmaya	kāmayāna	desiring
√sī	to lie down	saya	sayāna	lying down
√vad	to speak	vada	vadāna	saying

Declension of present participles

Present participles are declined in all 3 genders to agree with nouns in all three genders.

If the person or thing doing the action is masculine / feminine / neuter

then the participle is masculine / feminine / neuter

Masculine ending in -māna (like nara)

1.nom	gacchamāno	gacchamānā
2.acc	gacchamānaṃ	gacchamāne
3.inst	gacchamānena	gacchamānehi
4.dat	gacchamānāya gacchamānassa	gacchamānānaṃ
5.abl	gacchamānā gacchamānamhā gacchamānasmā	gacchamānehi
6.gen	gacchamānassa	gacchamānānaṃ
7.loc	gacchamāne gacchamānamhi gacchamānasmiṃ	gacchamānesu
8.voc	gacchamāna gacchamānā	gacchamānā

What do you notice?

Feminine ending in -māna (like vedanā)

1.nom	gacchamānā	gacchamānā gacchamānāyo
2.acc	gacchamānaṃ	gacchamānā gacchamānāyo
3.inst	gacchamānāya	gacchamānāhi
4.dat	gacchamānāya	gacchamānānaṃ
5.abl	gacchamānāya	gacchamānāhi
6.gen	gacchamānāya	gacchamānānaṃ
7.loc	gacchamānāyaṃ gacchamānāya	gacchamānāsu
8.voc	gacchamāne	gacchamānā gacchamānāyo

Neuter ending in -māna (like cittaṃ)

1.nom	gacchamānaṃ	gacchamānā gacchamānāni
2.acc	gacchamānaṃ	gacchamāne gacchamānāni
3.inst	gacchamānena	gacchamānehi
4.dat	gacchamānāya gacchamānassa	gacchamānānaṃ
5.abl	gacchamānā gacchamānamhā gacchamānasmā	gacchamānehi
6.gen	gacchamānassa	gacchamānānaṃ
7.loc	gacchamāne gacchamānamhi gacchamānasmiṃ	gacchamānesu
8.voc	gacchamāna gacchamānā	gacchamānāni

Masculine ending in -anta (like bhagavant)

1.nom	gacchaṃ gacchanto	gacchanto gacchantā
2.acc	gacchantaṃ	gacchante
3.inst	gacchatā gacchantena	gacchantehi
4.dat	gacchato gacchantassa	gacchataṃ gacchantānaṃ
5.abl	gacchatā gacchantamhā gacchantasmā	gacchantehi
6.gen	gacchato gacchantassa	gacchataṃ gacchantānaṃ
7.loc	gacchante gacchantamhi gacchantasmiṃ	gacchantesu
8.voc	gacchaṃ gaccha gacchā	gacchanto gacchantā

Feminine ending in -ntī (like nadī)

1.nom	gacchantī	gacchantī gacchantiyo
2.acc	gacchantiṃ	gacchantī gacchantiyo
3.inst	gacchantiyā	gacchantīhi
4.dat	gacchantiyā	gacchantīnaṃ
5.abl	gacchantiyā	gacchantīhi
6.gen	gacchantiyā	gacchantīnaṃ
7.loc	gacchantiyā gacchantiyaṃ	gacchantīsu
8.voc	gacchanti gacchantī	gacchantī gacchantiyo

Neuter ending in -anta (like bhagavant/cittaṃ)

1.nom	gacchaṃ	gacchantā gacchantāni
2.acc	gacchantaṃ	gacchante gacchantāni
3.inst	gacchatā gacchantena	gacchantehi
4.dat	gacchato gacchantassa	gacchataṃ gacchantānaṃ
5.abl	gacchatā gacchantamhā gacchantasmā	gacchantehi
6.gen	gacchato gacchantassa	gacchataṃ gacchantānaṃ
7.loc	gacchante gacchantamhi gacchantasmiṃ	gacchantesu
8.voc	gacchaṃ gaccha gacchā	gacchanto gacchantā

One thing to notice about present participles is the fact that they are verbs. Like other verbs, they can take an object in the accusative case.

abhippamodayaṃ cittaṃ assasissāmī'ti sikkhati, abhippamodayaṃ cittaṃ passasissāmī'ti sikkhati.

“I will breathe in gladdening the mind” he trains,

“I will breathe out gladdening the mind” he trains.

(MN62 mahārāhulovādasuttaṃ)

aññatitthiyā paribbājakā andhā acakkhukā ajānantā ārogyaṃ, apassantā nibbānaṃ, atha ca pana imaṃ gāthaṃ bhāsanti.

Wandering ascetics who belong to other sects are blind and visionless, not knowing health, not seeing Nibbāna, and yet they say this verse.

(MN75 māgaṇḍiyasuttaṃ)

Just like other verbs, sometimes the object is not in the accusative case. Here it is in the locative.

seyyathāpi, bhikkhave, makkaṭo araññe pavane caramāno.

Just like, monks, a monkey, wandering in a forest, in wilderness.

(SN12.61 assutavāsuttaṃ)

Please keep this in mind when you work with present participles.

Additionally, some time if prp in nom case (usually in form like gacchaṃ), qualifying subject they can be translated figuratevley with "when"