Compound tenses: the participle mood or "modo participio"
There are two forms: one for the present tense (participio presente) e.g. "parlante, vedente, partente"... ( talking, seeing, departing) and one for the past tense (participio passato) e. g. "parlato, visto, partito" ( spoken, seen, departed).
The present participle is seldom used as a verb: "Cinque scatoloni contenenti vecchie riviste" ( Five boxes containing old magazines); "Un insegnante facente funzione di preside" ( A teacher acting as principal). They are sometimes used as nouns: for example, "i partenti" are the people who are about to leave on a journey or to start for a race; "i dolenti" are the mourners; "i non vedenti" are the blind... Several jobs and professions are called with present participles: "insegnante, commerciante, dirigente, conducente..." ( teacher, trader/shopkeeper, manager/principal, driver...). The past participle is much more frequent. It is used:
a) with the auxiliaries "avere, essere" in the compound tenses of the active voice: see the pages on the moods and tenses
b) with the auxiliary "essere" in all the tenses of the passive voice