Past Participles in Spanish
The term “past participle” in Spanish is a fancy word for the difference between “to write” and “written”.
A past participle is an adjectival form of the verb. It is typically used in three different ways:
Used with haber = haber pintado “to have painted”
Used as a regular adjective = la pared es pintada “the wall is painted” / la ventana está abierta “the window is open”
Used with the passive voice = la pared fue pintada por mí “the wall was painted by me”
The good news is that past participles are very easy in Spanish. Most of the verbs in Spanish have completely regular past participles. In fact, many of the most irregular verbs have completely regular past participles.
-ar verbs turn to -ado | cantado [cantar “to sing”], hablado [hablar “to speak”], estado [estar “to be”], dado [dar “to give”]
-er verbs turn to -ido | comido [comer “to eat”], aprendido [aprender “to learn”], conocido [conocer “to know/to meet”], sabido [saber “to know”]
-ir verbs turn to -ido | salido [salir “to exit”], ido [ir “to go”], venido [venir “to come”]
The list of totally irregular verbs is much smaller
Irregular Past Participles
hacer = to do/make | hecho
escribir = to write | escrito
abrir = to open | abierto
cubrir = to cover | cubierto
volver = to turn/return/revolve | vuelto
resolver = to resolve | resuelto
And by extension, these past participles can affect words that use the above words as root words [minus decir and romper]
revolver = to revolve | revuelto
envolver = to involve/to wrap | envuelto
devolver = to return, give back | devuelto
componer = to compose | compuesto
exponer = to expose | expuesto
deshacer = to unmake/to get rid of | deshecho
satisfacer = to satisfy | satisfecho
descubrir = to discover | descubierto
describir = to describe | descrito*
prever = to foresee | previsto
entrever = to glimpse/to suspect | entrevisto
sofreír = to sauté | sofrito*
What’s more likely is that you’ll end up with a past participle with an accent. These are pretty common. The reason they exist is because of words ending in -aer, -eer, and -ír. They don’t exist for -ar verbs.
The reason these stressed past participles exist is to preserve the sound. Because if you have creer “to believe”, you only take off the final -er… which would leave you with “creido”. In Spanish, ei is a diphthong… meaning “creido” would be pronounced like reina “queen”… making it sound like “creydo”. To preserve the cre- sound, an accent is added. Thus making it creído. The same exists with oído from oír “to hear”… because oído would be pronounced like hoy making it sound like “oydo” instead of its proper sound of oído.
The accent is just there to make it easier for people to pronounce it when they see it.
Stressed Past Participles
creer = to believe | creído
sonreír = to smile | sonreído
poseer = to possess | poseído
traer = to bring | traído
In fact, there are actually more verbs with secondary participles than there are totally irregular ones. MOST OF THE TIME, the preferred participle is the one that looks most like a regular verb’s [-ado, -ido, -ido]… even if they come from irregular verb.
But occasionally, they are used in informal conversation.
[verb = definition] | preferred, secondary
describir = to describe | descrito, descripto
prescribir = to prescribe | prescrito, prescripto
inscribir = to inscribe | inscrito, inscripto
sofreír = to sauté | sofrito, sofreído
bendecir = to bless | bendecido, bendito
maldecir = to curse | maldecido, maldito
absorber = to absorb | absorbido, absorto
dividir = to divide | dividido, diviso
convencer = to convince | convencido, convicto
corromper = to corrupt, to eat away | corrompido, corrupto
producir = to produce | producido, producto
conducir = to guide, to conduct, to drive (Spain) | conducido, conducto
confesar = to confess | confesado, confeso
imprimir = to stamp/to print | imprimido, impreso
confundir = to confound, to confuse | confundido, confuso
elegir = to choose, to elect | elegido, electo
prender = to apprehend, to arrest | prendido, preso
presumir = to presume | presumido, presunto
poseer = to possess | poseído, poseso
proveer = to provide, to arrange for | proveído, provisto
despertar = to awaken, (despertarse) to wake up | despertado, despierto
suspender = to suspend, to leave hanging | suspendido, suspenso
soltar = to release, to let loose | soltado, suelto
*An odd thing with imprimir is that while it has the secondary participle impreso it doesn’t exist that way for a word like exprimir “to squeeze”; there’s no “expreso” in Spanish as a past participle. But expreso can refer to “an express train” or for el expresso which is an Italian loanword.
The thing about secondary participles is that they’re usually very irregular because they come from diverging phonemes [sound particles of a word]. The morphology tends to exist because of how the word is typically used. For instance, conducir is related to “conduct” and “conducive”; producir is related to “product” and “produce”; elegir is related to “election”, and suspender to “suspension”.
Other times, the irregular secondary participle is used as an adjective, or even a noun.
soltado [past participle] = released
proveído [past participle] = provided
provisto/a = supplied, provided for, stocked
confundido [past participle] = confounded, left stumbling
confuso/a = confused, confusing
bendecido [past participle] = blessed, received a blessing
bendito/a = blessed, holy
maldecido [past participle] = cursed
maldito/a = cursed, hexed, damned, doomed
despertado [past participle] = awoken
absorbido [past participle = absorbed
absorto/a = engrossed, captivated, fascinated, lost in thought
poseído [past participle] = possessed
poseso/a = someone under the effects of possession, swept away by one’s own feelings, crazy, amok
conducido [past participle] = conducted, guided, driven (Spain)
el conducto = the conduit
producido [past participle] = produced
el producto = the product
imprimido = stamped, printed
el impreso = leaflet, form, paper with something printed on it, sheet from a printer
prendido [past participle] = arrested, imprisoned
el preso / la presa = prisoner
la presa = reservoir [water being “held”], prey [as in “predator and prey”]
And because a past participle can be used as an adjective (or a noun in some cases), these past participles can help you identify words and improve your vocab, provided you remember that the words become gendered as adjectives.
el paracaídas = parachute [lit. “for falls”]
dicho/a ___ = aforementioned ___
el dicho = a saying, proverb
los dados = dice [because dar can mean “to toss”]
Querido/a ___, = Dear ____, [informal]
Estimado/a ___, = Dear ___, [formal]
corrompido = corrupted, eaten away
inscripto/a = enrolled, enlisted
el inscripto, la inscripta = someone who is enrolled or enlisted
visto/a = seen OR approved
la vista = the view OR sight / eyesight
por lo visto = apparently [lit. “from what is seen”]
el hecho = a fact OR incident
And many, many… many other words.
