In Brazilian Portuguese, the past participle is a form of a verb that generally ends in -ado or -ido, as in falado(talked) or bebido(drunk). Past participles are used as adjectives, in the passive voice, and to form the perfect tense.
Past participles can function as adjectives or as verbs in the passive voice or in compound tenses, but more generally they represent a completed or finished action.
Pedro é muito calado.
Pedro is very quiet.
O bolo foi feito ontem.
The cake was made yesterday.
Ele tem aprendido muito.
He has learned a lot.
In this post we’ll first go through the forms of the past participle, then we’ll cover how to use this form of the verb. Are you curious about why some verbs, like pagar(to pay), have two past participles, one regular, one irregular? Keep reading this post to find out more!
The past participle is formed by removing the -ar / -er / -ir ending from the infinitive of the verb and adding -ado or -ido in its place. Take a look at the chart of past participles below:
Verb Group | Rule | Infinitive | Participle |
|---|---|---|---|
-ar verbs | -ar → -ado | cantar(to sing) | cantado |
estudar(to study) | estudado | ||
-er verbs | -er → -ido | comer(to eat) | comido |
viver(to live) | vivido | ||
-ir verbs | -ir → -ido | partir(to leave) | partido |
dividir(to divide) | dividido |
As you can notice, all participles of -ar verbs end in -ado, and the -er and -ir verbs end in -ido. However, there are some verbs in Brazilian Portuguese that have participles. Let’s take a look at them below.
Some -er and -ir verbs in Brazilian Portuguese have irregular past participles, and the most common of these are:
Infinitive | Participle |
|---|---|
dizer(to say) | dito |
fazer(to do, to make) | feito |
escrever(to write) | escrito |
pôr(to put) | posto |
ver(to see) | visto |
vir(to come) | vindo |
abrir(to open) | aberto |
cobrir(to cover) | coberto |
All the derivatives from these verbs follow the same irregular pattern. For example:
desfazer(to undo) → desfeito(undone)
In addition, there are some verbs that have two participles, one regular and one irregular. Let’s see more below!
Some other verbs in Brazilian Portuguese have a double participle, meaning that these verbs have both a regular and an irregular participle:
Infinitive | Regular Participle | Irregular Participle |
|---|---|---|
aceitar(to accept) | aceitado | aceito |
entregar(to deliver) | entregado | entregue |
gastar(to spend) | gastado | gasto |
eleger(to elect) | elegido | eleito |
suspender(to suspend) | suspendido | suspenso |
exprimir(to express) | exprimido | expresso |
extinguir(to extinguish) | extinguido | extinto |
Check out this chart of verbs with double participles for more examples of verbs like these.
So when should you use the regular form and when should you use the irregular one?
When a Brazilian Portuguese verb has a double past participle:
The regular participle is used with the auxiliaries ter or haver(to have).
Emanuel tinha aceitado o acordo.
Emanuel had accepted the agreement.
The irregular participle is used in other cases, such as with the auxiliaries ser(to be), estar(to be), ficar(to be, to stay), etc., or when the participle is not accompanied by any auxiliary.
O acordo foi aceito.
The agreement was accepted.
Aceito o acordo, Emanuel pode começar o trabalho.
Once the agreement was accepted, Emanuel could start the job.
In informal Brazilian Portuguese, native speakers often use the short irregular forms, such as aceito(accepted), eleito(elected), and entregue(delivered), even with the auxiliaries ter and haver.
Eles já tinham entregue o trabalho.
They had already delivered the work.
Are you curious to know more about the uses of the past participles? Keep on reading this post, because we will talk about this below.
The past participle in Brazilian Portuguese is used in three main ways:
as an
in the passive voice
in compound perfect tenses
Let’s take a look at each.
The past participle can work as an adjective that describes a that the action of the verb has affected:
Eu conheço a Maria. Ela é uma menina muito animada.
I know Maria. She is a very lively (lit. cheered) girl.
When the past participle functions as an adjective, it needs to in gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural) with the noun it refers to. Compare:
Masculine | Feminine | |
|---|---|---|
Singular | Carlos é um rapaz muito animado. Carlos is a very lively guy. | Maria é uma menina muito animada. Maria is a very lively girl. |
Singular | Carlos e Maria são muito animados. Carlos and Maria are very lively. | Maria e Rebecca são muito animadas. Maria and Rebecca are very lively. |
Let’s look at some common constructions in which you will use the past participle as an adjective in Brazilian Portuguese.
The past participle can be used after depois de(after) and além de(besides/in addition to).
Depois de terminado o trabalho, os funcionários receberam folga.
After finishing the work, the employees were given time off.
Além de concluída, a tarefa também já foi entregue.
In addition to being completed, the task has also been delivered.
In these cases, the participle is an adjective, so it agrees in gender and number with the nouns trabalho(work) and tarefa(task, homework).
The past participle of the verb is used in reduced clauses, which can sometimes replace :
A chuva levou toda a sujeira deixada no quintal.
The rain washed away all the dirt left in the yard.
In the example above deixada no quintal(left in the yard) is a reduced clause, replacing the full subordinate clause, que foi deixada no quintal(that was left in the yard). In this sentence deixada works as an adjective agreeing with the feminine and singular noun sujeira(dirt).
Past participles are also used in absolute constructions, which is a type of subordinate clause that acts like an . Past participles in an absolute construction are typically placed before the and have to agree with the noun that follows, as in the example below:
Terminada a tarefa, os funcionários receberam folga.
The task finished, the employees were given time off.
The participle terminada(finished) agrees with the noun it describes, tarefa(task) and the whole phrase terminada tarefa and it is used to express an event prior to that of the main clause.
The passive voice in Brazilian Portuguese is formed with the auxiliary verb ser followed by a verb in its past participle form. In this case the past participle has to agree in gender and number with the noun it refers to:
Minha prima foi chamada para uma entrevista.
My cousin was invited to an interview.
O bolo foi comprado pelo Carlos.
The cake was bought by Carlos.
All compound perfect tenses in Brazilian Portuguese are formed by combining the auxiliaries ter or haver(to have) with a past participle. In this case, the past participle is invariable, and always occurs in the masculine singular form.
Não se preocupe, eles terão chegado a tempo de te encontrar.
Don't worry, they will have arrived in time to see you.
Eles já deveriam ter chegado.
They should have already arrived.
Eu espero que você tenha gostado do jantar.
I hope that you liked the dinner.
In this post, we talked about the form and use of the past participle. We saw that…
Regular past participles are formed by removing the -ar, -er, -ir from the infinitive form of the verb and adding -ado or -ido:
comprar(to buy) → comprado(bought)
Irregular past participles have an unpredictable form and must be memorized:
dizer(to say) → dito(said)
Some verbs have “double participles,” meaning that they have two participle forms: one regular and one irregular:
salvar(save) → salvado / salvo(saved)
Past participles can be used:
as adjectives → here the participle agrees with the noun it describes
O jardim do meu vizinho é muito bem cuidado!
My neighbor's garden is very well maintained!
in the passive voice → here the participle agrees with the subject
A casa foi comprada há muito tempo.
The house was bought a long time ago.
in compound perfect tenses → here the participle is invariable
Ele tinha comprado uma bela casa.
He had bought a pretty house.
Now that you’ve read this post, why don’t you practice how to form and use the past participle in Brazilian Portuguese with some activities?
