Italian Participles

The participle is an impersonal form. There are two forms, the present participle and the past participle.

• The present participle is used as:

a noun (e.g. insegnante),
an adjective (e.g. pesante),
occasionally as an adverb (e.g. mediante).

For regular verbs it is formed in the following way:

amare = amante

credere = credente

dormire = dormiente

• The past participle is used to form certain tenses of verbs. Examples:

Ho letto tantissimi libri.

Ieri siete stati al mare?

I miei genitori sono partiti questa mattina.

Every verb has a past participle and for regular verbs it is formed in the following way.

Mangiare (to eat) mangiato

Credere (to believe) creduto

Partire (to leave) partito

The past participle 

of the verbs essere and avere.

Essere (to be) stato/a

Avere (to have) avuto

Here are some irregular past participles:

Verbi rimanere venire fare leggere mettere prendere vedere

Participio Passato rimasto/a venuto/a fatto letto messo preso visto

See also:

Past Participles of Irregular Italian VerbsItalian Verb Tenses Exercises: Italian Irregular Past ParticiplesItalian Past Participle Video Exercise