A participle describes the result of an action
English turns verbs into adjectives with -ed or -en: a closed door, a broken window. Spanish uses the past participle, ending in -ado or -ido. Used as an adjective, it agrees with the noun like any other adjective.
The windows are closed.
“Closed” never changes form.
Las ventanas están cerradas.
cerradas is feminine plural to match ventanas.
-ar verbs take -ado; -er and -ir verbs take -ido
| Infinitive | Participle | As an adjective |
|---|---|---|
| preparar | preparado | la cena preparada |
| cansar | cansado | unos niños cansados |
| perder | perdido | las llaves perdidas |
| vender | vendido | un coche vendido |
| prohibir | prohibido | una zona prohibida |
Write the accent on -ído after a, e, or o
When the stem ends in a strong vowel, the i needs an accent so it is pronounced separately: leer → leído, creer → creído, traer → traído, caer → caído, oír → oído. Verbs ending in -uir do not take it: construido, incluido.
Memorise these, and their relatives follow
A small group of common verbs has irregular participles. Most verbs built on them share the same irregularity: describir → descrito, devolver → devuelto, descubrir → descubierto, componer → compuesto. Freír accepts both frito and freído.
| Infinitive | Participle | Infinitive | Participle |
|---|---|---|---|
| abrir | abierto | poner | puesto |
| cubrir | cubierto | resolver | resuelto |
| decir | dicho | romper | roto |
| escribir | escrito | ver | visto |
| hacer | hecho | volver | vuelto |
| morir | muerto | freír | frito |
Estar for the result, ser for the action
estar + participle
Describes the state something is in after an action: La tienda está cerrada. Estamos muy cansados. This is the everyday use.
ser + participle
Forms the passive and describes the action itself: La tienda fue cerrada por la policía. It is common in news and formal writing, less so in conversation.
A participle can also follow the noun directly, with no verb: un libro escrito en 1605, las fotos rotas, un problema resuelto.
Posture words: English -ing, Spanish participle
For body positions, English uses “-ing” but Spanish uses a participle with estar: está sentada (she's sitting), están acostados (they're lying down), estaba dormido (he was asleep). The gerund describes the movement instead: se está sentando means she is in the middle of sitting down.
With haber, the participle never changes
The same participle forms the perfect tenses. After haber it is part of the verb, not an adjective, so it always ends in -o. This is one of the most frequent learner errors.
Las cartas están escritas.
He escrito las cartas.
Make each form before you reveal it
La cena ya está ___. (preparar)
Say or form the answer before you check it.
Las ventanas están ___. (romper)
Say or form the answer before you check it.
Ya hemos ___ todas las cartas. (escribir)
Say or form the answer before you check it.
¿Has ___ el periódico de hoy? (leer)
Say or form the answer before you check it.
El problema está ___. (resolver)
Say or form the answer before you check it.
Mi abuela está ___ en el sofá. (sentar, she's sitting)
Say or form the answer before you check it.