A “participle” in Esperanto is a word that’s formed by adding one of these endings to a verb:

-ant-, -int-, -ont- (active forms)
-at-, -it-, -ot- (passive forms)

Participles are used constantly in Esperanto. The name “Esperanto” itself is a participle, formed from the verb “esperi”, and means “a person who is hoping”.

Participles can end in -o, -a, or -e. There are some simple rules that determine the meaning of the resulting word.

A participle ending in -o is a person:

kuranto = a person who is running
dungito = a person who has been hired, an employee.

A participle ending in -a is an adjective:

La kuranta knabo falis = The running boy fell.
La dungita kuiristo estas spertulo = The hired cook is an expert.

A participle ending in -e says something about the subject (only the subject) of the sentence when something else occurs:

Kurante, la knabo falis = While running, the boy fell.
Dungite, mi transloĝiĝis al Tanzanio = Having been hired, I moved to Tanzania.