In Portuguese, there are three types of past participles:
- Particípios passados regularesRegular past participles ,
- Particípios passados irregularesIrregular past participles , and
- Duplos particípios passadosDouble past participles
In this lesson, we’ll have a look at regular past participles, that is to say, past participles which behave in a predictable way. These participles depend on the verb’s ending, i.e. they have a specific ending depending on whether they’re the past participle of an -AR, -ER or -IR verb.
-AR Verbs
For -AR verbs – andarto walk , falarto speak , amarto love , for instance – the regular ending of the past participle is ‘-ado’, which is added to the root of the verb. Examples:
Os alunos tinham andado até ao instituto.The students had walked up to the institute.
Ela já tinha falado com os pais.She had already spoken with her parents.
Era o verão em que Pedro fora amado por Inês.It was the summer that Pedro had been loved by Inês.
-ER/-IR Verbs
For both -ER and -IR verbs, the regular ending of the past participle is ‘-ido’, also added to the root of the verb. Examples:
Essa janela ficou partida durante a tempestade.That window was broken during the storm.
Nós tínhamos comido antes de sair.We had eaten before leaving.
O castelo foi construído pelos Templários.The castle was built by the Templars.
You’ll notice that, in Portuguese, the past participle always agrees in gender and in number with the subject of the sentence when you use any auxiliary EXCEPT the verb terto have . Examples:
O castelo foi construído pelos Templários.The castle was built by the Templars.
A torre foi construída pelos Templários.The tower was built by the Templars.
Because the auxiliary verb used in the above examples is serto be (permanent) , the participles agree with the subject (o castelo – construído; a torre – construída).
O rei tinha dado o castelo aos Templários.The king had given the castle to the Templars.
A rainha tinha dado o castelo aos Templários.The queen had given the castle to the Templars.
Here, because we used the verb terto have , the endings remain the same, even though reiking and rainhaqueen are different in gender.
It’s not so scary once you grasp the pattern, right?
In your example above of the ER/IR verbs, having the ending -ido, you used partir in the first example. But the word you used was partida, which is not the construction you showed. Is it partida because you are talking about the janela, which is feminine?
Marilyn Chakroff
That’s correct, Marilyn 🙂 As the Learning Note says, the past participle agrees with the gender and number of the respective subject except when the auxiliary verb is ter (or haver, rarely used in everyday life). Since janela is feminine, so is the past participle: partida.
the example with fora amado translated as had been loved confuses, was loved I think would be betteras far as tenses go.
“Foi amado” translates to “was loved”, but “fora amado” is a different tense – we call it pretérito mais-que-perfeito (pluperfect in English). The most accurate translation is indeed “had been loved”, but the practical difference in this context is small!
Desculpe-me enquanto vou bater com a cabeça contra a parede! 🙂
This section had the exercise
Eles têm-nos ajudado imenso
Is it grammatically correct to say this instead?
Eles têm ajudado-nos imenso
It’s not grammatically correct, because the main verb is in the past participle (ajudado). Clitic pronouns can’t be linked to past participles, which is why it’s connected to the auxiliary verb instead. However, if you had the main verb in the infinitive form, it would be fine to place the clitic pronoun after it. For example:
– Eles podem ajudar-nos imenso (correct)
– Eles podem-nos ajudar imenso (correct)
Is there a tense we are learning here? For example the present or infinitive of ter with the past participle? If so where can I get more details?
Olá, Brian. The past participle is a verb form that can be used in a number of different ways:
– as an adjective
– combined with the past tense of ser when using passive voice (e.g. foi construído)
– combined with the auxiliary verb ter to form different compound tenses
The latter does involve new verb tenses, such as:
– Pretérito perfeito composto (present perfect continuous): eu tenho falado – I have been talking
– Pretérito mais-que-perfeito composto (past perfect): tu tinhas estudado – you had studied
– Condicional perfeito (conditional perfect): ele teria tentado – he would have tried
This is not yet actively covered on Practice Portuguese, but it’s on our list of future content ideas.
Era o verão em que Pedro fora amado por Inês.
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It was the summer that Pedro had been loved by Inês.
Porque é que não usamos ‘era’ em vez de ‘fora’ nesta frase?
Olá. “Fora” is in a tense called Pretérito Mais-que-Perfeito (Pluperfect past), which literally refers to a ‘past before the past’. So, by saying “fora” instead of “era”, we’re showing that the love of Pedro and Inês was in a very distant past.
If “the past participle always agrees in gender and in number with the subject of the sentence” then this applies only to -er and -ir verbs, right? Looking at all the examples it seems the -ar verbs always end in -ado but the -er and -ir verbs change to either -ido or -ida. Is this correct?
Olá! The full sentence notes that the past participle agrees in gender/number with the subject “when you use any auxiliary EXCEPT the verb ter”. This applies to all types of verbs, including -AR verbs. So, you have to see which auxiliary verb is being used in each example, and also what are the features of the subject.
The 3rd example with -AR verbs has the verb ‘ser’ as auxiliary (so, not ‘ter’), but the subject is masculine singular, so the verb is agreeing with it:
– Era o verão em que Pedro fora amado por Inês (amar – amado)
If we switch the subjects, you’ll see that the verb also changes to feminine then:
– Era o verão em que Inês fora amada por Pedro (amar – amada)
Hope this helps 🙂
Olá, I don’t understand “fora”? I can’t find it in any verb book or app. Is there an infinitive “forar”? Thanks.
“Fora” comes from the irregular verb “ser”. It’s in a tense called Pretérito Mais-que-Perfeito (Pluperfect past), which literally refers to a ‘past before the past’. So, by saying “fora” instead of “era”, we’re showing that the love of Pedro and Inês was in a very distant past.
Not to be confused with the adverb fora, which means out/outside.
Thank you for the reply…great, another tense to look forward to — I’m just starting to wrap my home around Pretérito Mais-que Perfeito Composto. Again, thanks for the. answer.
For the example “nos tínhamos comido” the gender of comido matches nos (masculine by default) since there isn’t any other subject like the examples have, such as janela, correct?
Olá! As noted in the article, the past participle always agrees in gender and in number with the subject of the sentence when you use any auxiliary EXCEPT the verb ‘ter’ 🙂 With the auxiliary verb ‘ter’, the past participle forms a compound tense and is always invariable (like verbs are). With other auxiliary verbs, such as ‘ser’, the past participle is used more like an adjective than a verb, which makes it variable in those contexts.