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Spanish 101A

Spanish 101B

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When Past Participles are used in Spanish in the Perfect tenses, they do not change form. That is, they don't change according to gender or number. This is because the Past Participle is functioning as the second verb in a verb phrase.

But we can use Past Participles separately from verbs. We can use them as adjectives.

For example, in English, we can say a book is "illustrated", a window is "broken". We use a Past Participle to describe the "written" section of a test or the "sworn" testimony of a witness.

Past Participles used as Adjectives in Spanish

The most important thing to remember about the use of Past Participles as adjectives in Spanish is that they must, as all adjectives in Spanish must, agree in number and gender with the noun they are modifying.

Since the Past Participle always ends in "o", there will always be four (4) forms: masculine singular, masculine plural, feminine singular and feminine plural.

Masc. sing.

Masc. plural

Fem. sing.

Fem. plural

El libro ilustrado Los libros ilustrados La revista ilustrada Las revistas ilustradas

Most Past Participles are formed by simply removing the last two letters of the infinitive and adding -ado for -Ar verbs and -ido for -Er and -Ir verbs. Click here for more information on forming the Present Perfect.