Past Participles

01

Forming Regular Past Participles

To form the past participle of regular verbs, you remove the infinitive ending (-ar, -er, -ir) and add a new ending.

• For -ar verbs, add -ado.
• For -er and -ir verbs, add -ido.

• hablar → hablado

  spoken

• cantar → cantado

  sung

• comer → comido

  eaten

• perder → perdido

  lost

• vivir → vivido

  lived

• recibir → recibido

  received

02

Irregular Past Participles

Many common verbs have irregular past participles that must be memorized. Here are some of the most frequent ones:

• abrir → abierto (opened)
• cubrir → cubierto (covered)
• decir → dicho (said, told)
• escribir → escrito (written)
• hacer → hecho (done, made)
• morir → muerto (died)
• poner → puesto (put, placed)
• romper → roto (broken)
• ver → visto (seen)
• volver → vuelto (returned)

• El gerente ha vuelto de su viaje.

  The manager has returned from his trip.

• ¿Qué has hecho hoy?

  What have you done today?

• Ya he visto esa película.

  I have already seen that movie.

03

Past Participles with an Accent Mark

When the stem of an -er or -ir verb ends in a strong vowel (a, e, o), the past participle requires a written accent on the "i" of the -ido ending. This is done to maintain the correct pronunciation.

• caer → caído (fallen)
• creer → creído (believed)
• leer → leído (read)
• oír → oído (heard)
• traer → traído (brought)

• No he oído las noticias.

  I haven't heard the news.

• ¿Has leído el libro que te presté?

  Have you read the book I lent you?

04

Use 1: Compound Tenses with 'Haber'

The most common use of the past participle is to form perfect or compound tenses with the auxiliary verb haber. In this structure, the past participle is invariable; it always ends in -o and does not change for gender or number.

This is similar to English constructions like "I have eaten" or "they had left." The tense of haber determines the tense of the entire verb phrase.

Present Perfect (presente perfecto): haber in present + past participle.

Used for actions that have occurred in the recent past or life experiences. In Mexican Spanish, it's common to use the simple past (pretérito) for recent events, but the present perfect is also widely used.

• Hemos comprado los boletos para el concierto.

  We have bought the tickets for the concert.

• Ella nunca ha viajado a Europa.

  She has never traveled to Europe.

Past Perfect / Pluperfect (pluscuamperfecto): haber in imperfect + past participle.

Used for an action that occurred before another past action.

• Cuando llegamos, la fiesta ya había terminado.

  When we arrived, the party had already ended.

• Yo ya había comido antes de que me llamaras.

  I had already eaten before you called me.

05

Use 2: As an Adjective

When a past participle is used as an adjective, it describes the state or condition of a noun that results from an action. In this case, the past participle must agree in gender and number with the noun it modifies. It will have four possible forms (e.g., cerrado, cerrada, cerrados, cerradas).

It is often used with the verb estar to describe a state.

• La puerta está cerrada.

  The door is closed. (feminine, singular)

• Los museos están cerrados los lunes.

  The museums are closed on Mondays. (masculine, plural)

• La carta fue escrita por mi abuela.

  The letter was written by my grandmother. (feminine, singular)

• Necesito unos pantalones rotos para mi disfraz.

  I need some torn pants for my costume. (masculine, plural)