1. Another Important Verb (Haber) and
a Verb Form (The Past Participle)
E. Siler

2. The Past (aka Perfect) Participle: Facts
• This is an important verb form of ALL verbs in
both English and Spanish.
• It serves (in both English and Spanish) to
create the passive, the perfect (aka
“compound”) tenses, stand alone participle
phrases, and adjectives.
• It is a prominent feature of written, academic
Spanish.

3. English
• In English, the most common way to form this
structure is by taking the infinitive, knocking the
“to” off of it, adding –ed to the end of the simple
form.
• Examples: to walk > walked; to chirp > chirped;
to screech > screeched.
• However, we have a number of irregular forms in
English --- forms that don’t fit this handy dandy
pattern.
• Example: to teach > taught; to sing > sung.

4. Uses
• Notice how versatile these forms are in English!
• In the passive (always with a form of “to be” in front of
it): The dog was walked.
• In the perfect tenses (always with a form of “to have”
somewhere in the verb phrase in front of it): The dog
has walked ten miles.
• As created adjectives (mostly in front of the noun in a
noun phrase): The well walked dog flopped down and
napped.
• As stand alone participle phrases (often at the
beginning of sentences): Walked, the dog stopped
bothering his human companion.

5. Spanish
• As in English, these forms come from the
infinitive.
• Because there are three different groups of
infinitives, the form varies according to the
category of infinitive.
• Hablar + ado = hablado; (-ar infinitives)
• Comer + ido = comido: (-er infinitives)
• Pedir + ido = pedido: (-ir infinitives)

6. Spanish Form (2)
• Just like in English, there are some forms that
are regular and just don’t fit the pattern.
• Example: decir > dicho.
• It’s probably best to learn these cold. Look at
the bottom of p. 78 and p. 79 for a list.
• Fortunately, there aren’t many of these
irregulars --- as there are in English!

7. Spanish Form 3
• And then there is one big difference in the
form between these and their English
counterparts:
• Sometimes they can be plural and sometimes
they can change gender, especially in the
passive and when used as adjectives or stand-
alone participles.

8. Examples in Spanish:
• Cobre martillado (noun phrase --- martillado
is an adjective modifying the masculine
singular noun “cobre.”)
• Harina martillada (noun phrase --- martillada
is an adjective modifying “harina” --- a
feminine noun).
• Coches martillados (noun phrase ---
martillados is an adjective modifying “coches”
– a plural, masculine noun)

9. As Passives
• NOTE: A passive construction will ALWAYS
involve a form of “ser.”
• La misión fue usada como depósito . . .
• Las misiones fueron usadas como depósitos. .
..
• Los animales fueron usados como esclavos. . .
• El caballo fue usado como coche. . .

10. As Stand Alone Participles
• As in English, these will generally occur at the
beginning of a clause.
• They will generally agree in number/gender
with whatever they modify in the clause.
• Cocinada, la comida estuvo muy deliciosa.
• Cooked, the food was delicious.
• Cocinados, los tacos estuvieron deliciosos.
• Cooked, the tacos were delicious.

11. As Perfect (aka “compound”) Tenses
• In this case, the verb phrase will always
involve a form of the verb “haber” which
translates into English as the “helping verb”
“to have.”
• In English we have a present perfect and a
past perfect.
• Spanish has a present perfect and past perfect
in the indicative and a present perfect and
past perfect in the subjunctive as well.

12. English: to have/present tense
PERSON Singular Plural
First I have We have
Second You have You have
Third He/she/it has They have

13. Examples
• I have taught English for thirty long years.
• He has never had much luck with gambling.
• The black cat has sprung upon a mouse!

14. English: to have/past tense
PERSON SINGULAR PLURAL
First I had We had
Second You had You had
Third He/she/it had We had

15. Examples
• We had driven for more than thirty straight
hours.
• He had never known anything but happiness.
• I had told the truth.

16. Spanish: Haber/Present Tense
Person Singular Plural
First Yo he Nosotros/nosotras hemos
Second Tú has/Usted Ha Ustedes han
Third él/ella ha Ellos/ellas han

17. Examples
• La iglesia ha hecho un nuevo museo en el
convento.
• The church has made a new museum in the
convent.
• Hemos visitado a la residencia para viajeros.
• We have visited the travelers’ lodge.
• He visto el huerto.
• I have seen the orchard.

18. Spanish Haber/ Imperfect Past Tense
PERSON SINGULAR PLURAL
First Yo había Nosotros/nosotras
habíamos
Second Tú habías/usted había Ustedes habían
Third él/ella había Ellos/ellas habían

19. Examples
• Yo había visitado al museo.
• I had visited the museum.
• El sacerdote había ido al convento.
• The priest had gone to the convent.
• Habíamos comprado un boleto.
• We had bought a ticket.

20. Spanish Haber/ Present Perfect
Subjunctive
PERSON SINGULAR PLURAL
FIRST Yo haya Nosotros/nosotras
hayamos
SECOND Tú hayas/ usted haya Ustedes hayan
THIRD Él/ella haya Ellos/ellas hayan

21. Examples
• Ese hombre no cree que el edificio se haya
quemado.
• That man doesn’t believe that the building has
burned.

22. Translation notes
• To find the meaning of a given participle, you have to
work backward to the infinitive.
• Example:
• Seis estatuas que fueron traidas de España. . .
• Remove the plural: traidas> traida.
• Then look at the ending of the participle: ida. The “i”
indicates that this was originally from an infinitive that
ended in either –er or –ir: trair/ traer.
• Look those up: you will find: traer (to bring).
• Thus: Six statues that were brought from Spain. . .