Stem + -ado / -ido
The participio pasado is the Spanish equivalent of English spoken, eaten, lived — the form that follows an auxiliary. You need it above all for compound tenses, starting with the Pretérito Perfecto built on haber: he hablado, has comido.
One structural point. English regular verbs use the same form for the simple past and the participle (I worked, I have worked). In Spanish the participle never works as a tense on its own; it always needs an auxiliary: not yo trabajado, but he trabajado.
Common regular participles
| Infinitive | Participle |
|---|---|
| hablar (to speak) | hablado |
| trabajar (to work) | trabajado |
| comer (to eat) | comido |
| beber (to drink) | bebido |
| vivir (to live) | vivido |
| salir (to go out) | salido |
Look at salir: it is irregular in the present tense (salgo), yet its participle is perfectly regular. Irregularity elsewhere in a verb tells you nothing about the participle.
Both patterns in a sentence
He hablado con mi madre.
I have spoken to my mother.
Han trabajado mucho hoy.
They have worked a lot today.
No he bebido café hoy.
I have not drunk any coffee today.
Hemos vivido en Madrid.
We have lived in Madrid.
The accent on -ído
English never writes accents, so this one has to be learned as a spelling rule. If the stem of an -er/-ir verb ends in a, e or o, a vowel stands in front of the i of -ido. Without an accent you would read leido as one sound (lay-do). The accent on the í keeps the syllables apart: le-í-do.
leer (to read) → leído
creer (to believe) → creído
oír (to hear) → oído
traer (to bring) → traído
caer (to fall) → caído
With the accent, in a sentence
He leído un libro interesante.
I have read an interesting book.
No hemos oído nada.
We have not heard anything.
With haber, or as an adjective
With haber — unchanging
After haber the participle is part of the verb and always ends in -o, whoever the subject or object is. This half behaves like the English participle after have.
María ha cerrado las ventanas.
María has closed the windows.
Ellos han cerrado la puerta.
They have closed the door.
As an adjective — agreeing
Used as an adjective (typically with estar), the participle matches the noun in gender and number: -o / -a / -os / -as. English writes closed in every case; Spanish does not.
El libro está cerrado.
The book is closed.
Las ventanas están cerradas.
The windows are closed.
