FHUHS Spanish

The Past, or Perfect, Participles

The past participle is used almost identically in Spanish as it is in English, Many past participles in English are formed by adding -ed or -en to the infinitive, but there are a great many irregular forms as well. Some examples of the past participle in English are:

• to lift —> lifted
• to rent —> rented
• to sit —> seated
• to eat —> eaten
• to go —> gone

Formation of the Past Particple of Regular Verbs

To form the regular past participle of -ar verbs, drop the -ar of the infinitive and substitute -ado.

To form the regular past participle of -er and -ir verbs, drop the -er or -ir of the infinitive and add -ido. Thus:

• hablar —> habl —> hablado
• caminar —> camin —> caminado
• comer —> com —> comido
• vivir —> viv —> vivido

Irregular Past Participles

There are 13 fairly commonly used irregular past participles in Spanish. They follow no particular pattern and so must simply be memorized.

In addition to the above irregular past participles, any verb formed with a prefix and one of the above will also be irregular. For example:

• componer —> compuesto
• descomponer —> decompuesto
• describir —> descrito
• descubrir —> descubierto
• deshacer —> deshecho
• devolver —> devuelto
• imponer —> impuesto
• satisfacer —> satisfecho
• refreír —> refrito