11 Past participle forms

Past Participle form of verbs

A verb has four principal parts:

• The present tense – base verb
• The present participle
• The past tense form
• The past participle form

The base verb is any word which shows the action. When these action words show the time of happening of an event, they are called ‘tenses’ Base verbs or root verbs assume different forms in each of its parts. Present participle form of the verb is the ‘Ing’ form of verb, formed by adding ‘ing’ after the base verb. This was discussed in the earlier chapters.

According to the manner in which they form past tense forms and past participle forms, verbs are categorized into

• Strong verbs: Past tense forms are formed without adding anything, but by changing their body (spelling) are strong verbs. These are also called ‘irregular verbs’
• Weak Verbs: Past tense form of verbs formed by adding ‘d’ or ‘ed’ ot ‘t’ to their base verbs are weak verbs. There may/may not be any change in the inside vowel. These are also called ‘regular verbs’.

The table given below shows the past tense form as well as the past participle form of commonly used strong/irregular verbs.