An Easy Check: The Adverbial Participle In Russian

An adverbial participle is a very complicated verb form that is really easy to misuse. However, there is always an easy way to check yourself when you're not confident enough.

An adverbial participle helps to express an additional action happening alongside the main action. There are two denotions of adverbial participle: a process or a result of a completed action.

An adverbial participle is formed using both imperfect and perfect verbs, which can be a bit difficult to understand. However, it's good news that adverbial participles are not changeable. Both types are used in all three tenses without any changes. The action which is expressed with an adverbial participle must refer to the subject in the sentence! In other words, actions expressed with an adverbial participle and the predicate must refer to the same subject.

1. How to Form Adverbial Participle Denoting Process

Tip: use an imperfect verb that denotes a process or an incomplete action.

Читая книгу, студент заснул.
The student fell asleep while reading the book.
Он сидел на работе, думая об отпуске.
He was sitting at work, while thinking about vacation.
Идя по дороге, я споткнулся.
While walking down the road, I stumbled.
Говоря это, он вышел из комнаты.
While saying that, he left the room.

If you are not sure whether your use of adverbial participles is correct, you can always check yourself. Remember that the adverbial participle that denotes process can be replaced by the words когда, в то время как.

Below are sentences with the same meaning, but without adverbial participle:

Когда студент читал книгу, он заснул.
Когда он сидел на работе и думал об отпуске.
Когда я шел по дороге и споткнулся.
Когда он говорил это, он вышел из комнаты.

By using imperfective verbs you can form the adverbial participle:

думать - думая
курить - куря
идти - идя
говорить - говоря
любить – любя
сидеть - сидя

Also by using reflexive verbs:

Интересоваться – интересуясь
Увлекаться – увлекаясь
Тренироваться – тренируясь

2. How to Form Adverbial Participle Denoting Result

Tip: use an perfective verb that denotes a result.

Подумав о еде, студент пошел в магазин.
After the student had thought about food, he went to the shop.
Решив найти работу, он составил резюме.
After he had decided to find a work, he wrote a CV.
Дочитав книгу, я лёг спать.
After I had finished the book, I went to bed.
Сказав это, он вышел из комнаты.
Having said that, he left the room.

If you are not sure whether your use of the adverbial participle is correct, you can always check yourself. You can replace the adverbial participle that denotes a result with a perfect verb followed by constructions like после того, как or сначала … потом which imply that actions take place consecutively. Below are sentences with the same meaning but without the adverbial participle:

После того как студент подумал о еде, он пошел в магазин.
После того как он решил найти работу, он составил резюме.
После того как он дочитал книгу, он лёг спать.
После того как он сказал это, он вышел из комнаты.

By using perfect verbs you can form the adverbial participle:

Дочитать - дочитав
Помечтать - помечтав
Подумать - подумав
Покурить - покурив
Посмотреть – посмотрев

Also by using reflexive verbs:

Вернуться - вернувшись
Заинтересоваться – заинтересовавшись
Помыться - помывшись

N.B. Some verbs cannot form participles: мокнуть (to get wet), печь, пить, ждать и др.

N.B. Some verbs have special forms of gerunds: прийти – придя, быть – будучи, давать – давая и др.

3. Common Mistake

Подъезжая к синей станции и глядя на природу в окно, у меня слетела шляпа.

Today, we use the phrase cited (usually not literally) to indicate the error in the use of adverbial participle phrases. Unlike Tolstoy, Chekhov knew how to use verbal participle phrases: here it is not the author's speech, but character's speech (obviously illiterate).

In this example, the intention was to show that while sitting in the train near the blue station, the author lost his hat (while he was looking at the window). But the meaning, because of the use of adverbial participles referring to the author instead of the hat, (which here is the subject) leads to the following conclusion:

A hat was sitting in the train and near the blue station flew away. And during all of this the hat was looking at the nature through the window!

That, of course, is not what the author meant.

Here, adverbial participles refer to the person who is on the train and who is looking to the window, but the second part of the sentence refers to the hat which flew away.

Adverbial participles are a way to reduce the relative clause, which uses the same subject as in the main. For example:

Когда я проснулся, я пошёл умываться. - Проснувшись, я пошёл умываться.

When I woke up, I went to wash. - I woke up and went to wash.

Adverbial participles answers the question, "What has been done?" Or "What is there to do?" In this case, we do not name the subject of the action: it is the subject of the main clause. It is clear that "waking up" refers to the "me"; there is nothing else.

Thus it is impossible to reduce the relative clause, which uses a different subject: