Past Participle

Verbs have different forms, called tenses. The tense of a verb tells us when the action happens. The past participle is a verb form that signals completed actions and can function as a powerful adjective to add detail and precision to your sentences.

The following table gives a summary of the forms and uses of past participles. Scroll down the page for more examples.

 

List of Past Participles of Regular Verbs
List of Past Participles of Irregular Verbs

How to Form the Past Participle
The way a past participle is formed depends on whether the verb is regular or irregular.

Regular Verbs: The past participle is the same as the simple past tense. You simply add “-ed” to the end of the base verb.
walk → walked
clean → cleaned
love → loved (just add “-d”)

Irregular Verbs: These verbs do not follow the “-ed” rule. Their past participle forms are unique and must be memorized. They can have various endings, such as “-en,” “-n,” “-t,” or can even stay the same.
break → broken
go → gone
sing → sung
cut → cut

The Three Main Uses of the Past Participle
The past participle is a versatile verb form with three primary functions:

1. To Form Perfect Verb Tenses
This is one of the most common uses. The past participle is used with an auxiliary verb (a form of “to have”: have, has, or had) to indicate a completed action.
Present Perfect: “I have finished my work.” (The action is completed but is relevant to the present.)
Past Perfect: “They had already eaten before we arrived.” (An action completed before another action in the past.)
Future Perfect: “By the time the sun sets, we will have driven for six hours.” (An action that will be completed by a specific time in the future.)

2. To Form the Passive Voice
In a passive voice construction, the past participle is used with a form of the auxiliary verb “to be” (am, is, are, was, were, been) to show that the subject is receiving the action, rather than performing it.
Active: “The dog chased the ball."
Passive: “The ball was chased by the dog."
Active: “The artist painted the masterpiece."
Passive: “The masterpiece was painted by the artist.”

3. As an Adjective
A past participle can be used as an adjective to describe a noun. In this role, it typically indicates that the noun has been affected by an action or is in a particular state.
“The broken vase was a family heirloom.” (The vase received the action of being broken.)
“He showed me his written report.” (The report received the action of being written.)
“The hikers were exhausted after the long climb.” (The hikers received the effect of exhaustion.)

The following table gives some examples of past and present participles. Scroll down the page for more examples.

 

Past Participle

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.

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)

• Show Video Lesson

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

• Show Video Lesson

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.

Base Form	Past Tense	Past Participle
arise	arose	arisen
awake	awoke	awoken
be	was, were	been
bear	bore	born/borne
beat	beat	beaten
become	became	become
begin	began	begun
behold	beheld	beheld
bend	bent	bent
bet	bet	bet
bid	bade	bidden
bid	bid	bid
bind	bound	bound
bite	bit	bitten
bleed	bled	bled
blow	blew	blown
break	broke	broken
breed	bred	bred
bring	brought	brought
build	built	built
burst	burst	burst
bust	bust	bust
buy	bought	bought
cast	cast	cast
catch	caught	caught
choose	chose	chosen
clap	clapped	clapped
cling	clung	clung
come	came	come
cost	cost	cost
creep	crept	crept
cut	cut	cut
dare	dared	dared
deal	dealt	dealt
dig	dug	dug
dive	dived	dived
do	did	done
draw	drew	drawn
dream	dreamt	dreamt
drink	drank	drunk
drive	drove	driven
dwell	dwelt	dwelt
eat	ate	eaten
fall	fell	fallen
feed	fed	fed
feel	felt	felt
fight	fought	fought
find	found	found
flee	fled	fled
fling	flung	flung
fly	flew	flown
forbid	forbade	forbidden
foresee	foresaw	foreseen
foretell	foretold	foretold
forget	forgot	forgotten
forgive	forgave	forgiven
forsake	forsook	forsaken
freeze	froze	frozen
frostbite	frostbit	frostbitten
get	got	gotten
give	gave	given
go	went	gone
go	went	gone/been
grind	ground	ground
grow	grew	grown
handwrite	handwrote	handwritten
have	had	had
hear	heard	heard
hide	hid	hidden
hit	hit	hit
hold	held	held
hurt	hurt	hurt
inlay	inlaid	inlaid
input	input	input
interlay	interlaid	interlaid
keep	kept	kept
kneel	knelt	knelt
know	knew	known
lay	laid	laid
lead	led	led
learn	learnt	learnt
leave	left	left
lend	lent	lent
let	let	let
lie	lay	lain
light	lit	lit
lose	lost	lost
make	made	made
mean	meant	meant
meet	met	met
pay	paid	paid
quit	quit	quit
read	read	read
ride	rode	ridden
run	ran	run
say	said	said
see	saw	seen
seek	sought	sought
sell	sold	sold
send	sent	sent
shake	shook	shaken
shine	shone	shone
sing	sang	sung
sit	sat	sat
sleep	slept	slept
speak	spoke	spoken
spend	spent	spent
spring	sprang	sprung
stand	stood	stood
steal	stole	stolen
swim	swam	swum
swing	swung	swung
take	took	taken
teach	taught	taught
tear	tore	torn
tell	told	told
think	thought	thought
throw	threw	thrown
understand	understood	understood
wake	woke	woken
wear	wore	worn
win	won	won
write	wrote	written

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