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