Picture this: you're walking through a beautiful, historic town in Spain. You see a puerta cerradaclosed, a sign that says escrito en españolwritten in Spanish, and some ventanas rotasbroken windows.
You notice something interesting. Cerrada, escrito, rotas... these words look a lot like verbs, but here they're acting like adjectives, describing things. What's going on?
You've just stumbled upon one of the most useful and common features of the Spanish language: using past participles as adjectives. It might sound technical, but it's a simple concept that will make your Spanish sound much more natural.
Let's break it down.
First, What Exactly is a Past Participle?
Before a past participle can be an adjective, it has a day job. Its main role is to form the "perfect" tenses with the verb haber. You've probably seen this before:
- He hablado con mi amigo. (I have spoken with my friend.)
- Hemos comido paella. (We have eaten paella.)
If you want to master tenses formed with haber, check out The Present Perfect Tense.
To form regular past participles, you just drop the ending of the infinitive and add a new one:
| Verb Type | Ending | Example |
|---|---|---|
| -ar verbs | -ado | comprar → comprado |
| -er verbs | -ido | comer → comido |
| -ir verbs | -ido | vivir → vivido |
A Quick Note
When used with haber to form a perfect tense, the past participle never changes. It always ends in -o. This is important for the next step!
The Magic Trick: Turning Verbs into Adjectives
Here's where the fun begins. You can take that same past participle, pair it with the verb estar (or sometimes ser), and use it to describe the state or condition of a noun.
For a deeper dive into these important linking verbs, read our guide on Ser vs. Estar.
The most important rule is: When a past participle is used as an adjective, it must agree in gender and number with the noun it describes.
This means the ending will change from -o to -a, -os, or -as depending on the noun. If you need a refresher, see our guide on Spanish Noun Gender and Articles.
Let's use the verb cerrar (to close) as our example. The participle is cerrado.
- Masculine Singular: El libro está cerrado. (The book is closed.)
- Feminine Singular: La puerta está cerrada. (The door is closed.)
- Masculine Plural: Los libros están cerrados. (The books are closed.)
- Feminine Plural: Las puertas están cerradas. (The doors are closed.)
See the pattern? The adjective cerrado/a/os/as changes to match the noun it's describing.
Let's try another one. Preparar (to prepare) → preparado.
- El desayuno está preparado. (The breakfast is prepared.)
- La cena está preparada. (The dinner is prepared.)
- Los platos están preparados. (The dishes are prepared.)
- Las bebidas están preparadas. (The drinks are prepared.)
Ready to test your skills?
How would you say 'The table is set'?
Watch Out for Irregulars!
Just like in English (speak → spoken, write → written), Spanish has a handful of common irregular past participles. You can't just add -ado or -ido to these.
Unfortunately, you just have to memorize them. But don't worry, you'll see them so often they'll become second nature.
Here are some of the most important ones:
| Infinitive | Irregular Participle | English |
|---|---|---|
| abrir | abierto | opened |
| cubrir | cubierto | covered |
| decir | dicho | said/told |
| escribir | escrito | written |
| hacer | hecho | done/made |
| morir | muerto | dead |
| poner | puesto | put/placed |
| romper | roto | broken |
| ver | visto | seen |
| volver | vuelto | returned |
Remember, these irregulars still have to agree in gender and number when used as adjectives!
Drag the handle to compare
The noun ventana is feminine, so the adjective must be rota, not roto.
Practice Time!
Let's put your knowledge to the test. Unscramble the following sentence.
Arrange the words to form a correct sentence:
Putting It All Together
Using past participles as adjectives is a linguistic superpower. It allows you to be more descriptive and precise by using a verb to talk about the result of an action.
- Instead of "Someone opened the door," you can say, "La puerta está abierta" (The door is open).
- Instead of "My mom made the food," you can say, "La comida está hecha" (The food is made).
It's a subtle shift, but it’s how native speakers talk all the time. Start looking for these verb-adjectives when you read or listen to Spanish, and soon you'll be using them yourself without even thinking about it! Why not practice by reading one of our A2 Spanish stories?