The past participle is a verb form that indicates a completed action. It is used in perfect aspects, adverb clauses, and the passive voice.
For regular verbs, the past participle takes the same form as the simple past. Note that the morpheme –ed is added to the base form of the verb. There are some small irregularities concerning this –ed ending that are explained in the lesson on the simple past. Here are some regular verbs in their three forms:
base form | simple past | past participle | ||
talk | talked | talked | ||
listen | listened | listened | ||
stabilize | stabilized | stabilized |
The simple past and past participles of most irregular verbs are formed by a change in spelling, but for some there is no change at all:
base form | simple past | past participle | ||
eat | ate | eaten | ||
think | thought | thought | ||
cut | cut | cut |
For a list of the most common irregular verbs in their base form, simple past and past participle, see irregular verbs.
Related lessons:
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