Past Participle

Verbs have different forms, called tenses. The tense of a verb tells us when the action happens.

A past participle indicates a completed action.

For most verbs, the past participle is the same as the past tense and is created by adding a d, ed or ied at the end of the word. These are called regular verbs.

However, the past participles of irregular verbs do not end in ed and may not be the same as the past tense of the verb. Since they are irregular, they do not follow any pattern and the best way to learn them would be to repeat and memorize them.

Present Perfect Tense

We join have or has to the past participle of the verb to form the present perfect tense:

have/has + past participle = present perfect tense

Examples:

They have gone to the movies.
I have lost my wallet.
She has done her homework.
Have you found your keys yet?
It has not rained for months.
Martha has been sick.

Past Perfect Tense

We join had to the past participle to form the past perfect tense.

had + past participle = past perfect tense

Examples:

The bus had already left.
Suddenly he remembered where he had hidden the money.

Future Perfect Tense

We join shall have or will have to the past participle to form the future perfect tense.

shall have/will have + past participle = future perfect tense

Examples:

He will not have got up yet.
When you get this message, I shall have left for London.
When do you think that you will have finished that piece of work?

Modal Verbs

We join should have, could have or would have to the past participle to form modal verbs.

should have/could have/would have + past participle = modal verb

Examples:

They should have gone to the movies yesterday.
He could have been more attentive.
It would have been better if she had kept quiet.

Videos

This video will review common past participles. It will show you how they are used in American English, and help you better understand them when they are spoken in fast English. (Part 1)

This video will review common past participles and focus on how they sound in fast speech. (Part 2)

List of commonly used irregular verbs

The following is a list of commonly used irregular verbs: the base form (infinitive), past tense and past participle.

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