Past participle: usage rules, examples, exercises

In the English language, there are verbal forms, among which the past participate. This verb form can function in the sentence either to compose a verb tense or as an adjective, accompanying a noun or noun phrase.

There are two types of verbs in past participate: you regular and irregular. Generally speaking, there are no rules for knowing when a verb is regular or irregular. Furthermore, as an English student, it is common to have doubts about the past participateit's the simple past, but for the avoidance of doubt, we will explore in this text the definition and use of past participate, to later compare it to simple past.

**What is past participate?**

it is understood by past participatethe verb form that makes up verb tenses, such as perfect tenses and the passive voice, and also that it assumes the function of an adjective in the sentences.

Take a look at some examples:

THE broken vase = a vase broken.
Don’t forget that you’re a loved kid! = Don't forget you are a child loved.

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In both examples, brokenand lovedthey are past participants, but they don't work as a verb in any of them. In fact, in both examples, they have the function of adjective.

To have the function of a verb, the past participateit must be preceded by an auxiliary verb, as in the past, present and future perfect tenses or in the passive voice as well. See some examples:

she has changed her hair color. Is it over there has changed the color of your hair.
the letter was written by my teacher. The letter was writing by my teacher.

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The two examples show that the past participateat the perfect gift – changed – and in the passive voice – written – accompany the auxiliary verbs has and was, respectively. Added to this is the idea that they occupy the position of the main verb in both clauses.

Consequently, they will play the role of an adjective when they are part of a nominal group, occupying the position of modifier of the noun of the sentence. Otherwise, it is important to note the presence of an auxiliary verb, which indicates that it is a past participateand with verb function.

Read too: Modal verbs – what they are, examples, how to use, exercises

**When to use the past participate?**

In the previous topic, we presented the two functions that the past participate can assume in a sentence, that is, of adjective or verb. In this part of the text, we will study more specifically the verb tenses that are accompanied by the past participate. Note the following table:

PAST PARTICIPLE To drive from Goiás to Rio de Janeiro = drive from Goiás to Rio de Janeiro To buy a gift to me = buy me a gift
*present perfect*	we have driven* from Goiás to Rio de Janeiro.*	Driven = main verb
*Past perfect*	we had driven* from Goiás to Rio de Janeiro.*	Driven = main verb
*future perfect*	we will have driven* from Goiás to Rio de Janeiro.*	Driven = main verb
*present perfect progressive*	we have been* driving from Goiás to Rio de Janeiro.*	been = one of the auxiliary verbs
*Past perfect progressive*	we had been* driving from Goiás to Rio de Janeiro.*	been = one of the auxiliary verbs
*future perfect progressive*	we will have been* driving from Goiás to Rio de Janeiro.*	been = one of the auxiliary verbs
active voice	Martha bought a gift to me.	There is not past participle.
*passive voice*	the gift was bought* to me.*	Bought = main verb

The progressive perfect times stand out in the table, since the past participateis also a auxiliary verb of the tense, and not the main verb, as in other cases. Keep in mind that auxiliary verbs are not always translated depending on the context. The semantic value of the action is in the main verb of the sentence. In the examples in the table, we have driven/driving/bought.

There is still the problem related to regular and irregular verbs at the past participate, which will be covered in the next topic, when we will compare the past participate with the simple past. Let’s go!

**what is the difference between the simple past it's the past participate?**

First, we need to be clear about the definition of each. O simple pastit is a tense used to talk about actions that started and ended at a specific point in the past. However, the past participateit is one of the components of some verb tenses (perfect and passive voice) or it can even work as an adjective. For these reasons, the past participate it's called verb form.

As for the flexion of the past participate It's from simple past, we have the following rules [1]:

To regular verbs, in both cases, we add the suffix -ed:

Play = played = played Clean = cleaned = cleaned Dance = danced = danced

she played video game last week.
Is it over there it played video game last week.

she has played video game.
Is it over there it played video game.

Although the two clauses have the same translation, there are some differences. In the first one, we have the simple past, the focus being the moment the action took place. The main verb is played. On Monday, we have the gift perfect, formed by the assistant have + main verb in past participate, the focus being the action itself. However, we do not know when it happened in the past. The main verb is also played, but we know that in this case we have a verb form.

Some irregular verbs are similar in both cases:

Cut = cut = cut Make = made = made Find = found = found

he made a cake.
He did a cake.

a cake was made.
a cake was done.

In the first example, we have the simple past; while the second example brings the passive voice formed by the verb to be + past participate. In both cases, the main verb is made.

Other verbs differ in simple past and in the past participate:

drive = drove = driven Choose = chose = chosen Go = went = gone

they began a new book last month.
They started a new book last month.

they had begun to watch a film when you arrived.
They started watch a movie when you arrived.

The first prayer is in the simple past, whose focus is when the action took place. The second prayer is in the past perfect, formed by the auxiliary verb had+ main verb in past participate, and the focus is on two actions in the past, being the prayer with the past perfect the one that happened first.

To efficiently learn irregular verbs from both simple pasthow much of the past participate, how about creating a custom list with different verbs, plus the translation and some examples? See the following table as a model:

Irregular Verbs/Translation	simple past	Past participation
Be (Being/Being)	Was/Were	been
Bring	Brought	Brought
eat (come)	cam	Eats
Do (Do)	Did	Done
Drink	Drank	drunk
eat	Until	Eaten
Feel	Felt	Felt
Find	Found	Found
Forget	Forgot	forgotten
Get	got	Gotten
give	Gave	given
Go	Went	gone
Have (Have)	Had	Had
Know	Knew	Known
Let (Leave)	let	let
Make	made	made
Read	Read	Read
Run	ran	run
Say	Said	Said
See (See)	saw	Seen
sleep	slip	slip
Speak	spoke	Spoken
Spend	Spent	Spent
Swim	Swam	swum
Take	tool	Taken
Teach	Taught	Taught
Think	thought	thought
Tell	Told	Told
Understand	Understood	Understood
Write	wrote	written

solved exercises

question 1

Complete the sentences with the correct forms of the past participle (regular) in English:

I have __________ a lot! (work)
He hasn’t __________ for the test. (study)
They had __________ the sculptures before their boss arrived. (drop)

Resolution

used worked, as the general rule is to add -ed to regular verbs.
used Studied, since the rule is to add -ied to regular verbs ending in y (preceded by a consonant).
used dropped, since the rule for verbs ending in CVC (consonant/vowel/consonant) is to double the last letter and add -ed.

question 2

Complete the sentences with the correct forms of the past participle (irregular) in English: