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Past participle

Formation

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:

Uses

1. Verbal uses.

2. Adjectival uses.

See also

Adjectives
Verbs

Index