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All compound tenses (such as the
present perfect, the pluperfect, the future perfect, the conditional
perfect, and their subjunctive equivalents) are composed of two
parts: a form of the auxiliary verb haber
plus a past participle. Past participles usually derive from verb
infinitives by dropping the -ar, -er and -ir verb
endings and adding the respective -ado, -ido and -ido
endings:
-ar verbs:--> habl + ado = hablado
--> cerr + ado = cerrado
--> despert + ado = despertado
-er verbs:
--> com + ido = comido
--> beb + ido = bebido
--> perd + ido = perdido
-ir verbs:
--> viv + ido = vivido
--> repet + ido = repetido
--> ped + ido = pedido
The following common verbs and their many variations (e.g. cubrir/descubrir, volver/devolver, have irregular past participles, the forms of which one should memorize:
- abrir > abierto
- cubrir > cubierto
- decir > dicho
- freír > frito
- escribir > escrito
- hacer > hecho
- morir > muerto
- poner > puesto
- ver > visto
- volver > vuelto
1. Verbal uses.
- One of the primary uses of the past participle is as an
element of a compound tense. The
pattern of all compound tenses is a form of the auxiliary verb
haber + participle.
- He visto esa película. (I have seen that movie.)
- Ella lo había traído. (She had brought it.)
- Él los habrá devuelto para el lunes. (They had returned it by Monday.)
- Habríamos vuelto a la playa si hubiera hecho sol. (We would have returned to the beach if it had been sunny.)
- Espero que hayan pagado la cuenta. (I hope they've paid the bill.)
Note that the past participle, when used as part of a compound tense, does not change its form to reflect either the gender or number of the verb's subject.
- The past participle is also used together with the verb
ser to form the passive
voice.
- La casa fue construida por mi amigo. (The house was built by my friend.)
- Las tiendas serán cerradas durante la huelga. (The stores will be closed during the strike.)
Note that the past participle, when used as part of a passive voice construction, agrees in gender and number with the subject of the verb.
- Past participles are often used as adjectives,
and as such they reflect the number and gender of the word they
modify.
- una composición escrita (a written composition)
- dos hombres muertos (two dead men)
- un caso perdido (a lost cause)
- The verbs estar and quedar are often used with
past participles as adjectives.
- Estamos cansados. (We're tired.)
- El dictador quedó derrotado. (The
dictator was toppled.)
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