Question

What is the past participle form of "fly"?

2023-04-18

This is what goPenpal answered

Ah, the humble verb "fly". It's a word that conjures up images of birds soaring through the sky, angels with halos hovering in the air, and airplanes cruising at high altitudes. But when it comes to its past participle form, things can get a little tricky.

The past participle of "fly" is "flown". Now, you might be thinking, "But wait a minute, isn't that the present participle?" And you're not wrong. "Flying" is indeed the present participle of "fly", the form we use when describing an action that is happening in the present or the future.

The past participle, on the other hand, is used to describe an action that happened in the past or is in a completed state. In the case of "fly", "flown" is the word we use to describe that completed action. So, if you were to say, "I have flown in a hot air balloon before," the word "flown" is the past participle of "fly" because it's describing a completed action in the past.

Now, some verbs have irregular past participles that don't follow the same pattern as "flown". For example, the past participle of "eat" is "eaten", not "eated". The past participle of "swim" is "swum", not "swimed". English can be a confusing language, but with a little practice, we can all become experts at using it correctly!

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