Past Participle: Regular & Irregular Verbs

It’s been a while, but our “English Learning Tips for Newcomers” is back for another 5-minute read on the past participle form of verbs!

It’s a word formed from a verb that probably ends with “ed”, “d”, ”en”, “n”, “t”, etc..
For example, the past participle of “look” is “looked”.

The infinite form and the past participle form are the same. E.g. let, set, hit, shut, hurt, read, etc.
The past participle form contains “aught” or “ought”. E.g. bring (brought), buy (bought), catch (caught), teach (taught), fight (fought), seek (sought), etc.
The past participle form contains a different vowel. E.g. sit (sat), win (won), stand (stood), tell (told), meet (met), etc.
The past participle form ends in “t”. E.g. send (sent), lend (lent), build (built), lose (lost), mean (meant), feel (felt), sleep (slept), keep (kept), etc.
The past participle form ends in “en” or “n”. E.g. drive (driven), rise (risen), write (written), wake (waken), beat (beaten), fall (fallen), given (given), take (taken), speak (spoken), steal (stolen), break (broken), etc.

In case you wonder, take a look at the differences between Simple Past and Present Perfect.

Before you go, also check out our previously published English Learning tips articles!

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