present tense - When is "loved" a past participle and when is it simple past?


Some one asked this question: He is loved. This is something that I've always kind of wondered.


In a sentence like this, is loved a verb or an adjective? Can it be considered either?


The simple answer was this: Loved is still a verb, but it's the past participle, so it plays a similar role to an adjective.


My question is why is loved here classified as a past participle and not simple past. If the sentence was: He was loved. In that sentence would loved still be a past participle or would it be simple past?


Thank you.




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