What Is a Past Participle? Definition, Uses, and Examples

A past participle is a verb form that usually ends in -ed, -en, or -t and is used to show a completed action or a resulting state. You see past participles in perfect tenses, passive voice, and as adjectives in everyday sentences.

Sentences like “She has finished the report” or “The broken screen needs replacement” both rely on past participles to communicate meaning clearly. Without them, many common sentence structures would not work.

Past participles often cause confusion because some verbs follow regular patterns while others change form completely. Knowing where and how past participles are used helps you write accurate sentences and avoid tense errors.

What Is a Past Participle?

A past participle is a verb form used to show a completed action or a resulting state. It does not usually work alone as the main verb. Instead, it appears with helping verbs or functions as an adjective.

Most past participles end in -ed, but many common verbs have irregular forms.

Examples:

• She has completed the training.
• The file was sent to the wrong address.
• The damaged package arrived late.

In the first sentence, completed works with has to form a perfect tense.
In the second, sent works with was to form the passive voice.
In the third, damaged describes a noun.

Where Past Participles Commonly Appear

Past participles appear in three main places:

• Perfect tenses
  She has reviewed the policy.
• Passive voice
  The policy was approved yesterday.
• As adjectives
  He fixed the cracked screen.

Even though past participles often look like past tense verbs, they serve a different purpose. The past tense shows when something happened. The past participle helps build verb structures or describe results.

How Past Participles Are Formed

Past participles are formed in two main ways. Some verbs follow a regular pattern. Others change form and must be learned individually.

Regular Verbs

For most verbs, the past participle is formed by adding -ed to the base verb.

Examples:

• clean → cleaned
• finish → finished
• decide → decided

These past participles look the same as the simple past tense form, but their function is different.

Example:

• She finished the task.
• She has finished the task.

Irregular Verbs

Irregular verbs do not follow a single rule. Their past participle forms often end in -en, -n, -t, or change completely.

Examples:

• break → broken
• write → written
• buy → bought
• send → sent

These forms must be memorized because spelling rules do not apply consistently.

Verbs with No Change

Some irregular verbs keep the same form for the base verb, past tense, and past participle.

Examples:

• put → put
• cut → cut
• hit → hit

Context and helping verbs show how the form is being used.

Example:

• She has put the files in order.

Why Form Matters

Using the wrong past participle form leads to tense errors, especially in perfect tenses and passive sentences.

Correct:

• The report has been written.

Incorrect:

• The report has wrote.

Knowing whether a verb is regular or irregular helps you choose the correct past participle every time.

Past Participles in Perfect Verb Tenses

Past participles are essential for forming perfect verb tenses. These tenses show that an action was completed before a certain point in time.

The basic structure is:

have + past participle

The helping verb have changes to show time. The past participle stays the same.

Examples:

• She has submitted the application.
• They have reviewed the proposal.
• I had finished the report before the meeting started.

In each sentence, the past participle shows a completed action, while the helping verb shows when it happened.

Present Perfect

The present perfect connects a past action to the present.

Examples:

• He has updated the system settings.
• We have received your request.

The exact time is not important. The result matters.

Past Perfect

The past perfect shows that one action was completed before another past action.

Examples:

• She had left the office before the call came in.
• The team had completed testing when the issue appeared.

Future Perfect

The future perfect shows that an action will be completed before a future moment.

Examples:

• By Friday, they will have finalized the contract.
• She will have finished the course by next month.

Across all perfect tenses, the past participle never changes. Only the helping verb does.

Past Participles in the Passive Voice

Past participles are a core part of the passive voice. In passive sentences, the focus shifts from who did the action to what happened.

The basic structure is:

be + past participle

Examples:

• The policy was approved by the board.
• The files were deleted during the system update.
• The venue is reserved for the annual conference.

In each sentence, the past participle shows the result of the action, not the doer.

Why the Passive Voice Uses Past Participles

The passive voice is useful when:

• The action is more important than the person doing it
• The doer is unknown or obvious
• The focus is on results or processes

Examples:

• The error was detected during testing.
• Access has been restricted for security reasons.

Here, the outcome matters more than who performed the action.

Passive Voice Across Tenses

The past participle stays the same. Only the form of be changes.

Examples:

• Present passive: The report is reviewed weekly.
• Past passive: The report was reviewed yesterday.
• Perfect passive: The report has been reviewed already.

Understanding this structure helps you write clear, accurate passive sentences without tense errors.

Past Participles Used as Adjectives

Past participles often work as adjectives. In this role, they describe a noun by showing a completed action or a resulting condition.

These adjectives usually answer questions like what kind or which one.

Examples:

• The closed account needs verification.
• She replaced the damaged cable.
• They discussed the approved proposal.

In each sentence, the past participle describes the noun, not the action performed by the subject.

Meaning Focus: Result, Not Action

Past participles used as adjectives focus on the state or outcome, not the process.

Compare:

• a confusing message
• a confused customer

Confusing describes what the message does.
Confused describes the customer’s state after reading it.

This difference helps you choose the correct form when describing people or things.

Placement in a Sentence

Past participle adjectives usually appear before the noun, but they can also come after the noun in longer descriptions.

Examples:

• The locked door blocked the exit.
• The documents, signed by both parties, were archived.

As long as the adjective stays close to the noun it describes, the meaning remains clear.

Past Participle vs Past Tense

Past participles and past tense forms often look similar, especially with regular verbs. The difference is not about spelling. It is about how the verb functions in the sentence.

Past Tense

The past tense shows that an action happened at a specific time in the past. It works as the main verb of the sentence.

Examples:

• She completed the audit last week.
• They sent the invoice yesterday.
• He closed the account after the review.

Here, the verbs stand alone and clearly show when the action happened.

Past Participle

A past participle does not usually stand alone. It works with helping verbs or acts as an adjective.

Examples:

• She has completed the audit.
• The invoice was sent earlier.
• The closed account requires approval.

In these sentences, the past participle helps form a verb structure or describes a noun.

How to Tell the Difference

Ask this simple question:

Is the verb working alone to show past time, or is it helping build a verb structure or describe a noun?

• If it works alone, it is past tense.
• If it works with have or be, or describes a noun, it is a past participle.

Understanding this difference prevents common errors in perfect tenses and passive sentences.

FAQs About Past Participles