Need the rule behind this exercise? Read Participles. For the bigger picture, explore Russian grammar.
Participles and Gerunds 1
Practise participle voice and tense, short passive participles, and aspect and subject rules for gerunds.
This is a preview of the drill content. Interactive practice loads automatically when JavaScript is available.
Browse Verbs practiceQuestion 1
Студент, ___ статью у окна, не слышал звонка.
English context
Choose the present active participle: “The student reading the article by the window did not hear the bell.”
Options
- читающий
- читаемый
- прочитавший
- прочитанный
Accepted answers and explanation
Accepted answers
- читающий
Correct feedback
Correct. «Читающий» is a present active participle: the imperfective reading is ongoing relative to the scene, not necessarily at the moment of speaking.
Grammar rule
Present active participles are formed from imperfective verbs and describe an action simultaneous with the participle's reference time; that time need not be the present moment of speaking.
Question 2
Письмо, ___ редактором, скоро будет опубликовано.
English context
Choose the present passive participle of «редактировать»: “The letter being edited by the editor will soon be published.”
Options
- редактирующее
- редактируемое
- отредактировавшее
- отредактированное
Accepted answers and explanation
Accepted answers
- редактируемое
Correct feedback
Correct. «Редактируемое» is a present passive participle agreeing with neuter «письмо».
Grammar rule
Present passive participles describe an ongoing action received by a noun and agree with that noun.
Question 3
Студент, ___ письмо вчера, получил хорошую оценку.
English context
Choose the past active participle: “The student who wrote the letter yesterday received a good grade.”
Options
- Написанный
- Пишущий
- Написавший
- Писавший
Accepted answers and explanation
Accepted answers
- Написавший
Correct feedback
Yes. «Написавший» is a past active participle of perfective «написать», marking a completed action by the student.
Grammar rule
Past active participles identify a noun as performer; perfective verbs commonly form them with -вш-/-ш-.
Question 4
___ перевод уже проверили два редактора.
English context
Choose the past passive participle: “The translated text has already been checked by two editors.”
Options
- Переведший
- Переводящий
- Переводимый
- Переведённый
Accepted answers and explanation
Accepted answers
- Переведённый
Correct feedback
Correct. «Переведённый» is a past passive participle agreeing with masculine «перевод».
Grammar rule
Past passive participles describe completed actions received by a noun and agree with that noun.
Question 5
Все документы уже ___ и готовы к отправке.
English context
Identify the plural short passive participle form («краткое страдательное причастие») agreeing with «документы»; here it describes their completed signing and resulting state.
Options
- подписанные
- подписаны
- подписан
- подписав
Accepted answers and explanation
Accepted answers
- подписаны
Correct feedback
Right. «Подписаны» is the plural short passive participle form agreeing with «документы»; in this context it reports completed signing and the resulting state.
Grammar rule
Short passive participles agree with the subject in gender and number. Their forms may also describe a resulting state; here the context identifies the completed signing.
Question 6
___ отчёт, Марина отправила его начальнику.
English context
Choose the perfective gerund: “After finishing the report, Marina sent it to her manager.”
Options
- Заканчивая
- Законченный
- Закончив
- Заканчивающий
Accepted answers and explanation
Accepted answers
- Закончив
Correct feedback
Correct. Perfective «закончив» marks the completed report-writing before the next action.
Grammar rule
Perfective gerunds typically express a completed or preceding action; imperfective gerunds often express simultaneous or ongoing action.
Question 7
___ по вечерам, он слушал подкасты.
English context
Choose the imperfective gerund: “While walking in the evenings, he listened to podcasts.”
Options
- Погуляв
- Гуляющий
- Гуляя
- Прогулянный
Accepted answers and explanation
Accepted answers
- Гуляя
Correct feedback
Yes. Imperfective «гуляя» presents walking as ongoing/simultaneous with listening.
Grammar rule
Imperfective gerunds often express an action simultaneous with the main verb; perfective gerunds more often mark a prior completed action.
Question 8
Выберите предложение с правильным употреблением деепричастия.
English context
Choose the sentence meaning “Walking home, I met a colleague,” with the same subject performing both actions.
Options
- Возвращаясь домой, я встретил коллегу.
- Возвращаясь домой, у меня зазвонил телефон.
- Возвращаясь домой, дождь застал меня врасплох.
- Возвращаясь домой, мне встретился коллега.
Accepted answers and explanation
Accepted answers
- Возвращаясь домой, я встретил коллегу.
Correct feedback
Correct. The implied subject of «возвращаясь» is «я», the same person who met the colleague.
Grammar rule
A Russian gerund's understood doer normally must be the subject of the finite main clause; when those doers differ, the gerund dangles.
Question 9
Выберите предложение с правильным употреблением деепричастия.
English context
Choose the sentence meaning “Having checked the documents, the secretary put them in a folder,” with the same subject performing both actions.
Options
- Проверив документы, секретарь положила их в папку.
- Проверив документы, папка была закрыта.
- Проверив документы, у секретаря освободилось время.
- Проверив документы, список был отправлен начальнику.
Accepted answers and explanation
Accepted answers
- Проверив документы, секретарь положила их в папку.
Correct feedback
Correct. The secretary both checked the documents and put them in the folder.
Grammar rule
The gerund's doer must be the main clause subject; a noun object inside the gerund phrase does not change this.
Question 10
Дверь, ___ сторожем, оставалась закрытой.
English context
Choose the past passive participle: “The door locked by the guard remained closed.”
Options
- заперевшая
- запирающая
- запираемая
- запертая
Accepted answers and explanation
Accepted answers
- запертая
Correct feedback
Right. «Запертая» is a past passive participle agreeing with feminine «дверь».
Grammar rule
Past passive participles denote a completed action received by the noun; their full forms decline like adjectives.