A Guide to Helping Verbs Past Participle

There are many types and forms of verbs. And each of these plays a different role in a sentence. Grammar rules change depending on the verbs you use in the construction of sentences. In this article, we’ll focus more on helping verbs past participle and their verb tenses.

Many people get confused about how to use the past participle. But by the time you finish this article, you’ll find it easier to understand them. You’ll also discover how to use it properly to sound more natural in your writing.

What are Helping Verbs?

Helping verbs are verbs that are placed before the main verb. It helps describe additional information about the action of the main verb. When combined, the helping verb and the main verb create a verb phrase. This is known as an auxiliary verb.

For example: “Amy can swim faster than anyone.”

In this sentence, Swim is the main verb. This is the action of Amy. And because this action describes something she can do, the word can is the helping verb.

You can use more than one helping verb in your sentence.

For example: “Amy could have worked harder.”

The main verb is worked. Whereas the helping verbs are could and have.

There are instances wherein helping verbs are separated by a negative particle like “not”.

For example: “She could not hide her excitement.”

Notice how the word “not” separates the helping verb could from the main verb, hide.

English Helping Verbs

Here are some examples of common English helping verbs:

• Am, is, are
• Was, were
• Shall, will
• Do, does, did
• Have, has, had
• Be, been, being
• May, can, must, might
• Should, would, could

How to Form Helping Verbs Past Participle

A helping or auxiliary verb is generally used with the past participle. Common examples are has, have, or had. These express the perfect aspect.

The perfect aspect refers to a verb construction that describes events occurring in the past that are still connected to upcoming events. Every verb has three perfect aspects or tenses that can be formed with helping verbs. These are:

• Present Perfect Tense: formed with has and have
• Past Perfect Verbs: formed with had
• Future Perfect Verbs: created with shall have or will have

You can use present participles in passive voices or adjectives in addition to the perfect aspect or tense.

Past Participle of Regular Verbs

The past participle of regular verbs is formed by getting the main verb’s past tense and coupling it with a helping verb. For regular verbs, the past tense can be formed by placing -ed, -d, or -t to the base form of the verb.

Main Regular Verb – Past Participle

• Jump – have jumped
• Kick – have kicked
• Walk – have walked

Past Participle of Irregular Verbs

The past participle forms of irregular verbs are much more challenging to form. Past tense of irregular verbs can have different endings, like -d, -t, and -n.

Main Irregular Verb – Past Participle

• Sleep – have slept, has slept
• Go – have gone, has gone
• Freeze – have frozen, has frozen

To Wrap Up

Helping verbs past participle are widely used both in oral and written communication. Understanding how to use these properly is key to helping you communicate more effectively. Hopefully, this guide has helped you understand past participle and how to use it!