The form of the verb that goes with “have,” the past participle, can trip up a lot of English-language users. June Casagrande shows us where to find the right word in the dictionary.

Startled, stuffed, baffled, exhausted, risen and humiliated are just a few examples of past participles that can also function as modifiers. These words stem from verbs.

Indeed, languages with three forms for present, past and participle have a way of trying to make two things out of three. Sometimes they marginalize the past form in favor of the participle.