Spanish Past Participle – Learn and Practice

Welcome 😊 to our grammar lesson on the Spanish Past Participle (“El participio”).

The Past Participle is an important verb form that has several uses.

Two sentences with verbs in past participle (in green)
Two sentences with verbs in past participle (in green)

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to form the Past Participle and use it in sentences.

You will also find a Quiz and Exercises to practice.

How to form the Past Participle

In Spanish, each verb has one Past Participle. Let’s study how we form it.

Regular past participles

Most verbs have a regular Past Participle. We form it this way:

  • For verbs in -ar —> attach -ado to its stem
  • For verbs in -er, -ir  —> attach -ido to its stem


Examples:

VerbPast Participle
hablar

to speak

hablado
comer

to eat

comido
vivir

to live

vivido
llamar

to call

llamado
leer

to read

leído
sentir

to feel

sentido


Irregular past participles

Here are the most frequent verbs with an irregular Past Participle:

VerbPast Participle
hacer

to do

hecho
decir

to say

dicho
ver

to see

visto
escribir

to write

escrito
romper

to break

roto
poner

to put

puesto
volver

to come back

vuelto
resolver

to solve

resuelto
satisfacer

to satisfy

satisfecho
descubrir

to discover

descubierto
morir

to die

muerto

Uses of the Past Participle

Its most important uses are:

As part of perfect tenses

In Spanish, all perfect tenses consist of 2 words:

  • First, is the verb haber conjugated in some tense.
  • Second, the Past Participle of the verb expressing the action.

The perfect tenses in Spanish are:


Examples:

Yo he trabajado mucho hoy.
I’ve worked a lot today. (Present Perfect)

Esta semana no hemos jugado.
This week we haven’t played. (Present Perfect)

Vosotros habíais hecho las camas.
You guys had made the beds. (Past Perfect)


As an adjective

When we use the Past Participle as an adjective, its ending needs to match the gender and number of the noun it is connected with.

Here are some examples using the Past Participle of the verb “cerrar” (cerrado). Notice we adapt its ending to the gender and number of the noun:

El armario está cerrado.
The closet is closed. (masculine singular)

La puerta está cerrada.
The door is closed. (feminine singular)

Los armarios están cerrados.
The closets are closed. (masculine plural)

Las puertas parecen cerradas.
The doors seem closed. (feminine plural)


After “ser” to form the passive voice

To form the passive voice, we place the Past Participle right after the verb “ser”.

Here the Past Participle also needs to match the gender and number of the subject:

La canción es cantada.
The song is sung.

Los edificios son construidos por la compañía.
The buildings are built by the company.

Practice

Quiz

Take this short Quiz about the Past Participle:


Exercise 1

Form the Past Participle of the following verbs. Click on the gray spaces to see the solutions:

1) escuchar – escuchado
2) salir – salido
3) contar – contado
4) tener – tenido
5) hacer – hecho
6) decir – dicho
7) ver – visto
8) romper – roto

Exercise 2

In this exercise, we practice the Past Participle as part of a perfect tense: the Present Perfect.

Fill the gaps with the Past Participle of the verbs in brackets:

1) Nosotros hemos cerrado las puertas. (cerrar)
We have closed the doors.

2) Yo no he repasado la lección. (repasar)
I haven’t reviewed the lesson.

3) Hemos dormido muchas horas. (dormir)
We have slept many hours.

4) Gonzalo ha hecho las tareas. (hacer)
Gonzalo has made the homework.

5) ¿Vosotros habéis visto la película? (ver)
Have you guys seen the movie?

Exercise 3

In this exercise we practice the Past Participle as an adjective.

Fill the gaps with the Past Participle of the verbs in brackets, adapting its ending if needed, so that it matches the gender and number of the noun it is connected with.

1) Las puertas están cerradas . (cerrar)
The doors are closed.

2) Los libros están abiertos . (abrir)
The books are open.

3) La cama está hecha . (hacer)
The bed is made.

4) La televisión está rota . (romper)
The TV is broken.

5) El desayuno está preparado . (preparar)
Breakfast is ready.

Scroll to Top