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Past participles

The participle is the building block of every compound tense. It also works as an adjective, and only then does it change for gender and number.

Quick answer

hablado · comido · escrito

-ado for -ar verbs, -ido for -er and -ir verbs. A short list of irregulars covers the rest.

The two regular endings

InfinitiveParticiple
hablarhablado
trabajartrabajado
comercomido
beberbebido
vivirvivido
salirsalido

After a vowel the -ído of -er and -ir verbs takes a written accent: leer → leído, oír → oído, traer → traído.

He trabajado todo el día.I have worked all day.
¿Has leído el contrato?Have you read the contract?

The irregular participles

This is the whole list you need. Learn it once and every compound tense is covered.

InfinitiveParticipleEnglish
abrirabiertoopened
decirdichosaid
escribirescritowritten
hacerhechodone, made
morirmuertodied, dead
ponerpuestoput
romperrotobroken
vervistoseen
volvervueltoreturned
cubrircubiertocovered
resolverresueltosolved
imprimirimpresoprinted

Compounds of these verbs follow their base: describir → descrito, devolver → devuelto, deshacer → deshecho, componer → compuesto.

Han abierto una tienda nueva.They have opened a new shop.
No he dicho nada.I have not said anything.

With haber it is frozen, as an adjective it agrees

After haber the participle never changes. Used with ser, estar or a noun it behaves like a normal adjective.

Hemos escrito las cartas.We have written the letters. — frozen after haber.
Las cartas están escritas.The letters are written.
una ventana abiertaan open window
Los platos están rotos.The plates are broken.

Memory trick

After haber the participle is a fixed block ending in -o. Anywhere else it is an adjective and must agree.

Typical mistakes

He escribido tres correos.

He escrito tres correos.

Escribir has an irregular participle, escrito. The regular ending does not exist here.

Hemos hechas las camas.

Hemos hecho las camas.

After haber the participle never agrees with the object.

La puerta está abrido.

La puerta está abierta.

With estar the participle is an adjective, so it takes the feminine singular form.

Check yourself

Todavía no he ___ la película. (ver)

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