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). Present participles, instead, are frequently used as adjectives: "una stella cadente, il Grillo Parlante di Pinocchio, libri interessanti..." ( a falling star, Pinocchio's talking cricket, interesting books...)

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