In the previous quiz we studied regular and irregular verbs and their simple past forms. Now we look at past participles.
For regular verbs the past participle form is the same as a simple past form. However, for irregular verbs such as TAKE, the past form is TOOK and the past participle form is TAKEN. Past participles are used as part of the present perfect tenses. The present perfect of any verb comprises an auxiliary verb and the past participle of the main verb. Look at these examples:
‘I TALKED to my sister.’ In this sentence, TALKED is a verb in the simple past tense, telling us something that happened in the past.
‘I HAVE TALKED to my sister.’. This sentence tells us that an action started in the past continues at the time of speaking. HAVE is an auxiliary verb and TALKED is the past participle.
Just as we saw in the previous quizzes, verbs depend on singular or plural form and also tense, and this includes auxiliary verbs. In the example sentences above the verb TALKED has not changed with the use of SHE or THEY. It also does not change when I is used. Now look at this sentence:
‘She HAS talked to my sister.’ You will notice the change in the auxiliary verb from HAVE to HAS. However, for the plural form HAVE is used just as in the first person singular form:
'They HAVE talked to my sister.'
For regular verbs, since the past participle form is the same as a simple past form, the use of the auxiliary verb is as follows:
‘The children WATCHED the animals in the zoo.’
'The children HAVE WATCHED the animals in the zoo.’
‘He WATCHED the animals in the zoo.’
‘He HAS WATCHED the animals in the zoo.’
You will notice that WATCHED has remained the same throughout as WATCH is a regular verb. By playing the quiz that follows you will learn more about such verbs.