How To Master Past Participles In English

In this post, you’re going to take a close look at past participles in English.

The past participle is a common verb form in English which you’ll find almost everywhere. That means it's essential to master if you want to get fluent in English.

In this post, you’ll learn what past participles are, how they're formed and when you use them.

By the end of this article, you'll be using past participles in English like a pro.

So let’s get learning.

What Are Past Participles In English?

So what are past participles in English exactly and when do we use them?

Let’s dive into this.

The word “participle” comes from the Latin word “participium” which means “something that shares”. 

This is why you can look at this verb form as a word that shares characteristics of both verbs and adjectives.

Yes, we can use the past participle both as a verb and as an adjective.

You may already know that a past participle is that verb form you always see in the 3rd column of a table of irregular verbs.

Does this look familiar?

Every English verb, both regular and irregular, has a past participle form.

For example:

Before we look at how to use it, let’s see how the past participle is formed. 

How To Form Past Participles In English

Now you know what past participles in English are and what some common ones look like, let's take a closer look at how to form them.

The past participle is typically formed by adding -ed to regular verbs. 

• walk – walked
• jump – jumped
• wash – washed 

Some regular verbs end in -e, so we only need to add -d.

• believe – believed
• decide – decided
• tire – tired

When you have a verb ending in -y, you change the -y to -ied if the verb ends with a consonant.

• study – studied
• carry – carried
• worry – worried

If the verb ends with a vowel, then you only add -ed.

• play – played
• enjoy – enjoyed
• stay – stayed

Irregular verbs in English have their own past participle form and here you can find a simple guide to over 100 irregular verbs in English. 

Now that you’ve seen the form of the past participle, it’s time to have a look at how it’s used. As I said, you can use it both as a verb and as an adjective.

Let’s start with the past participle as a verb.

The Past Participle As A Verb

You can use past participles in English to form verb structures. 

Let’s have a look at some example sentences that contain the past participle as a verb so you can see what it looks like in context:

• I have never visited Rome (“visited” is the past participle of the verb “visit”)
• By 2050 the world's population will have increased (“increased” is the past participle of the verb “increase”)
• When we arrived at the cinema, the film had already started (“arrived” is the past participle of the verb “arrive” and “started” is the past participle of the verb “start”)

• He has broken his leg (“broken” is the past participle of the verb “break”)
• Have you ever met a famous person in your life? (“met” is the past participle of the verb “meet”)
• The TV show was seen by more than 3 million people last night (“seen” is the past participle of the verb “see”)

As you can see, the past participle is used in combination with other verbs to create several verb phrases. 

Which ones can we create with it? Let’s find out.

Verb Structures Formed With The Past Participle

You can use the past participle to make the perfect tenses: the present perfect, the past perfect and the future perfect.

Here are some examples: 

The Present Perfect

• I have walked to work every day this week.
• She has finished her homework.
• I have already seen that movie.

The Past Perfect

• By the time he arrived, I had already left.
• He had broken his leg before he went skiing. 
• We had never been to that city before we moved there.

The Future Perfect

• By next week, I will have read my book.
• He will have graduated by the time he turns 25.
• By the end of the year, we will have saved enough money for our vacation.

You can also use the past participle form of a verb to create other verb structures: the passive voice, the third conditional and modals in the past. 

The Passive Voice

• The bridge was built in 2010 by a famous architect
• I have never been asked to give a presentation in front of so many people.
• I was given the chance to correct my mistakes.

The Third Conditional 

• If he had studied harder, he would have passed the exam.
• She would have been able to come to the show if she hadn't been so busy.
• They would have gone to the concert if they had known about it.

Modals In The Past

• I could have driven you to the party, but I didn’t have a car.
• You should have studied more for the exam.
• You must have told me about it! 

You might have noticed that past participles in English contribute to the formation of many verb constructions. So they can be very useful to express a wide range of meanings.

Pretty handy for communicating in English in a more fluent way right?

So far, however, you’ve seen the past participle used as a verb, but I said before that this is a verb form that shares the characteristics of an adjective too.  

So let’s take a look at this other aspect.

Past Participles In English As Adjectives

In the following sentences, the past participle functions as an adjective because it gives more information about a noun or a pronoun.

• The broken vase on the shelf needs to be fixed (“broken” gives information about the noun “vase”)
• We were all very excited to hear the news (“excited” gives information about the pronoun “we”)
• The written exam will be graded later.
• He is very interested in science.
• The fallen tree blocked the road for hours.

It’s common to use past participle adjectives that describe feelings. 

For example,

• I was exhausted after the run.
• They were worried about the exam.
• She was so confused when she saw him.
• The students looked bored and tired.
• He’s never been so disappointed before.

It’s also common to see past participles in compound adjectives. These are adjectives that contain more than one word.

Here are some examples:

• I love sun-dried tomatoes.
• He’s a highly-skilled chef.
• You can use ready-made templates to build your website.
• “Going to the disco” sounds a bit old-fashioned nowadays.
• Wind-powered boats don’t pollute as much as traditional boats.

Mastering Past Participles In English

Okay, now that you’ve seen a number of example sentences with past participles in English, see if you can notice this useful verb form when you’re watching a movie, listening to music or speaking English with somebody. 

In other words, try to notice it in context. This will make it easier to learn and remember. That's because language learning happens in context.

As for the best context to learn part participles in English, follow the rules of StoryLearning and read short stories in English.

And the past participle is so common that you’ll be surprised by how often you’ll see it around! That means you'll be using past participles in English like a pro in no time.

Olly Richards

Creator of the StoryLearning® Method

Olly Richards is a renowned polyglot and language learning expert with over 15 years of experience teaching millions through his innovative StoryLearning® method. He is the creator of StoryLearning, one of the world's largest language learning blogs with 500,000+ monthly readers.

Olly has authored 30+ language learning books and courses, including the bestselling "Short Stories" series published by Teach Yourself.

When not developing new teaching methods, Richards practices what he preaches—he speaks 8 languages fluently and continues learning new ones through his own methodology.