Unit 18: Equal rights 259
(also used as present active participle of быть ‘being’); настоя�щий
‘present, real’ (no longer used as a participle). Куря�щий translates as
the noun ‘smoker’.
Example:
Он веду�щий социо�лог ‘He is a leading sociologist’.
Contrast:
Э�то у�лица, веду�щая к це�нтру ‘This is the street leading to the
centre’.Past active participles
Past active participles may be used either from the imperfective or the
perfective verb. They can be used in place of кото�рый clauses con-
taining the imperfective past or the perfective past of an active verb.
Formation of the past active participle
To form the past active participle, remove the -л from the masculine
form of either the imperfective or the perfective past and replace it
with -вший: чита�ть – чита�л – чита�вший; прочита�ть – прочита�л –
прочита�вший.
Where the masculine form of the past tense does not end in -л, add
-ший: нести – нёс – нёсший; понести� – понёс – понёсший.
Stress is the same as in the masculine form of the past tense. Note
the exception: у�мер – у�мерший.
Note the following irregular forms: идти� – ше�дший; произойти� –
произоше�дший; вести� – ве�дший.
Participles from reflexive verbs always end in -ся (never -сь).
Past active participles also decline like хоро�ший and agree in num-
ber, gender and case with the noun they refer to:
Я узна�ла же�нщину, купи�вшую газе�ту ‘I recognised the woman
who bought the newspaper’.
Contrast:
Я узна�ла же�нщину, кото�рая купи�ла газе�ту ‘I recognised the
woman who bought the newspaper’.The past active participle купи�вшую is translated into English in
the same way as кото�рая купи�ла.