Participle

Participles are verb forms that do double duty — they help build tenses and voices, but they also work as adjectives and adverbs. Understanding both types of participles is essential for forming correct verb tenses, using the passive voice, and writing more sophisticated sentences.

The Two Participles

English has two participles:

Present participle — formed by adding -ing to the base verb: doing, running, sleeping. It's identical in form to the gerund, but serves a different function (more on that below).
Past participle — for regular verbs, it's the -ed form (walked, boiled). For irregular verbs, it varies widely: done, written, sung, gone.

How the Present Participle Is Used

Progressive tenses: She is reading a book.
As an adjective: The woman sitting by the window is my boss.
As an adverb: Looking up from his phone, he noticed the bus had arrived.
In absolute constructions (with its own subject): The weather being terrible, we cancelled the trip.

Present participles used as adjectives carry an active meaning — an exciting movie is one that excites you.

How the Past Participle Is Used

Perfect tenses: They have finished the project.
Passive voice: The email was sent this morning.
As an adjective: The broken window needs replacing.
Adverbially: Exhausted from the hike, we fell asleep immediately.

Past participles used as adjectives usually carry a passive meaning — the attached file is one that has been attached. However, past participles of intransitive verbs can have active meaning: fallen leaves (leaves that have fallen).

Participle vs. Gerund

Both the present participle and the gerund end in -ing, but they do different jobs. The participle acts as an adjective or adverb; the gerund acts as a noun.

✅ Swimming in the lake, she felt completely free. (participle — describes she)
✅ Swimming is her favourite hobby. (gerund — subject of the sentence)

The famous example Flying planes can be dangerous is ambiguous: flying could be a gerund ("the activity of flying planes") or a participle ("planes that fly").

Self-check: If you can replace the -ing word with a noun like "it" or "the activity," it's a gerund. If it describes a noun or tells you more about an action, it's a participle.

Watch Out: Past Tense vs. Past Participle

For regular verbs, the past tense and past participle look the same (walked, played). For many irregular verbs, they differ:

✅ I went home early. (past tense)
✅ I have gone home early. (past participle)
❌ I should have went home early.

If you're unsure, check whether the verb follows a helping word like have, has, or had — if it does, you need the past participle form.

Ready to practise? Try Gerund vs. Participle: Understanding -ing Word Functions, Participle Clauses: Shortening Sentences with -ing and Having + Past Participle, or Participle vs Gerund.