Spanish Past Participles

Overview

A regular Past Participle is a verb form that is usually used with Perfect Tenses. In English, the Past Participle is formed by either adding “-ed” or “-en” to the infinitive form, for example, the Past Participle of the verb “to walk” is “walked”. More times than not, however, this just looks like the Simple Past Tense. In order to form the past participle in Spanish, all you have to do is drop the ending (-ar, -er or -ir) from the Infinitive Verb and then add either -ado (if the ending of the verb was -ar) or -ido (if the ending of the verb was either -er or -ir).

Old man remembering past events with photos

July 14, 2023

Stephen Sovenyhazy

A past participle is a very useful verb form that can be used as an adjective or as part of a perfect tense when is used in conjunction with the verb “Haber”

Regular Past Participle Spanish forms:

To form the past participle of a verb, you drop the infinitive ending (ar-er-ir) and add “ado” to the stem of “ar” verbs, and “ido,” to verbs ending in “er-ir.” This is the equivalent of adding “ed,” to many verbs in English.

How to form past participle form with regular verbs:

ar- verb – hablar – habl – hablado

er -verb – Tener – Ten – Tenido

Many verbs that are irregular have past participles, and on the table below are a few of them:

Infinitive Past Participle English

abrir	abierto	opened
decir	dicho	said
escribir	escrito	written
hacer	hecho	done
ver	visto	seen

There are quite a few perfect tenses in Spanish and they all use past participles.

Haber + past participle

These examples show the past participle being used in the present perfect and the future perfect: H H ¿

¿Has viajado mucho a Madrid?

Have you traveled a lot to Madrid?

Past participles are commonly used as adjectives in Spanish. When this is the case, they must agree in number and gender to the nouns they modify.

Me encantan los huevos revueltos

I love scramble eggs.

Highlighted Author:

Stephen Sovenyhazy

Stephen is the President of CORE Languages having founded the company in 2007. His focus is on empowering those with a need for community, culture and communication. For over a decade, CORE has helped businesses achieve their strategic international goals by empowering employees to learn and find joy in communicating in a new language and cultural context. With our online instructor-led courses, we now bring this to community members across the globe. A quote from Stephen. "When I started teaching, I sought to bring that same energy, dedication, and sense of purpose into my own classrooms. I founded CORE Languages to expand that vision, seeing the growing need for language training options designed to meet the unique needs of business environments. For over a decade, CORE has helped businesses achieve their strategic international goals by empowering employees to learn and find joy in communicating in a new language and cultural context. With our online instructor-led courses, we now bring this to community members across the globe. It’s a privilege to do what we do and share what we love with you.”

Private Classes

Meet one or more times weekly with a dedicated Spanish instructor online at a pace and schedule that custom fits your busy life.

Group Courses

Self-Study

Do you like to study on your own when it’s convenient for you? Buy helpful charts, vocabulary lists, and courses.

Additional Topics

Aztec Temple at ruins of Tenochtitlan with the Dome of Metropolitan Cathedral - Mexico City, Mexico

Spanish Passive Voice (all tenses)

Spanish passive voice formation is pretty straightforward. All you need is a subject (which is the object in the active sentence), the verb “ser” followed by the past participle of the active verb. Subject + ser + past participle

Some would call them the social generation

Spanish Conditional Tense

The conditional is a structure that we use to express possibility or probability, wishes, excuses, and even suggestions or requests. It can also be used to talk about things we would do, if a certain action happens (ie. hypothetical situations).

attractive asian girl using virtual reality headset on street in evening, city of future concept

Spanish Future Tense

The Simple Future (Futuro simple), is used to describe actions that will happen in the future, without indicating a specific point in time.

Common European Framework of Reference for Languages

The CEFR is an international standard used to describe language ability. Here are specific details of the CEFR for this topic.

General Explanation:

Can understand sentences and frequently used expressions related to areas of most immediate relevance (e.g. very basic personal and family information, shopping, local geography, employment). Can communicate in simple and routine tasks requiring a simple and direct exchange of information on familiar and routine matters. Can describe in simple terms aspects of his/her background, immediate environment and matters in areas of immediate need.

Specific Capabilities at this Level

Writing:

I can write short, simple notes and messages relating to matters in areas of immediate needs. I can write a very simple personal letter, for example thanking someone for something.

Spoken Production:

I can use a series of phrases and sentences to describe in simple terms my family and other people, living conditions, my educational background and my present or most recent job.

Spoken Interaction:

I can communicate in simple and routine tasks requiring a simple and direct exchange of information on familiar topics and activities. I can handle very short social exchanges, even though I can’t usually understand enough to keep the conversation going myself.

Reading:

I can read very short, simple texts. I can find specific, predictable information in simple everyday material such as advertisements, prospectuses, menus and timetables and I can understand short simple personal letters.

Listening:

I can understand phrases and the highest frequency vocabulary related to areas of most immediate personal relevance (e.g. very basic personal and family information, shopping, local area, employment). I can catch the main point in short, clear, simple messages and announcements.