As we know, participles are an essential part of Past Tense and Future Tense. If the participle, which is “root of verb + L_“, is regular, then it is very simple, but if the participle falls into the irregular group, then you will have to remember. Also, keep in mind that irregular verbs in Present Tense don’t always equal irregular participle.
Past and Future Tense
A quick reminder of the Past Tense and Future Tense “formula”.
Past Tense = To Be (Present Tense) + Root of Verb + L_
Future Tense = To Be (Future Tense) + Root of Verb + L_
| Regular participles of verbs ending with -ti, such as kuhati (to cook), -ti becomes l_, ∴ sem / bom kuhal. |
Verbs ending with -iti (to go)
- iti (šel) – to go
- priti (prišel) – to come
- oditi (odšel) – to leave
- preiti (prešel) – to go over
- uiti (ušel) – to escape
- zaiti (zašel) – to stray
- raziti se (razšel se) – to break up
Verbs ending with -jesti (to eat)
- jesti (jedel) – to eat
- pojesti (pojedel) – to eat up
- najesti (najedel) – to appease one’s hunger
Verbs ending with -pasti (to fall)
- pasti (padel) – to fall
- napasti (napadel) – to assault
- odpasti (odpadel) – to be cancelled
- propasti (propadel) – to collapse
- razpasti (razpadel) – to disintegrate
- zapasti (zapadel) – to lapse
Verbs ending with -nesti (to carry)
- nesti (nešel) – to fall
- obnesti se (odnešel) – to be effective
- odnesti (odnešel) – to carry away
- prinesti (prinešel) – to bring
- vnesti (vnešel) – to insert
- nanesti (nanešel) – to apply
Verbs ending with –reti (not a verb!)
- odpreti (odprl) – to open
- zapreti (zaprl) – to close
- zavreti (zavrl) – to brake
- scvreti (scvrl) – to fry
- umreti (umrl) – to die
- zadreti se (zadrl) – to yell
Verbs ending with –či
- reči (rekel) – to say
- peči (pekel) – to bake
- teči (tekel) – to run
- obleči se (oblekel) – to get dressed
- odreči (odrekel) – to give up
- vleči (vlekel) – to pull
- vreči (vrgel) – to throw
- streči (stregel) – to serve
- doseči (dosegel) – to reach
- leči (legel) – to lie down
- moči (mogel) – to be able to
- preseči (presegel) – to exceed
And others…
- najti (našel) – to find
- gristi (grizel) – to bite
- krasti (kradel) – to steal
- tepsti (tepel) – to fight
- zmesti (zmedel) – to confuse
- bosti (bodel) – to sting
- splesti (spletel) – to knit
- zebsti (zeblo) – to feel cold
- vesti se (vedel se) – to behave
- navesti (navedel) – to quote
I’m sure you are already familiar with some of the irregular participle. As you can see, they follow a certain pattern, but not always. Most of them you will still need to memorize, but same as always, the more you will use them, the easier you will remember! 🙂 If you have any questions or any that you would like me to add, let me know!
| Good thing to note is that the irregular verbs biti and imeti have regular participle; bil and imel. — And remember that biti in Past Tense is sem bil, but in Future Tense, it is just bom. |
Discover more Slovene “lessons” that might interest you: Slovene Numbers & Numerals, Slovene Nouns & Pronouns, Slovene Verbs, Slovene Adjectives, Slovene Syntax, Slovenian Idioms, Slovene Adverbs.
Let’s learn,
Anna.
Anna in Slovenia 