A past participle is the form of a verb that describes a completed action: fechar → fechado (closed), escrever → escrito (written). In English these forms are rigid — "the closed door," "the written letters" never change shape. In Portuguese, the moment a participle stops helping a verb and starts describing a noun, it becomes a full adjective and agrees in gender and number: a porta fechada, as cartas escritas. This page covers how participles work as adjectives — and the distinctly Portuguese twist of double participles, where a verb has two past forms and you must pick the right one.
Participles agree when they describe a noun
When a past participle modifies a noun (directly, or after ser/estar/ficar), it behaves like a four-form adjective: masculine/feminine, singular/plural. This is the same agreement you already know from ordinary -o adjectives (see adjectives/gender-agreement).
Encontrei a porta fechada e ninguém atendeu.
I found the door closed and nobody answered.
Os livros escritos por ela viraram best-sellers.
The books written by her became bestsellers.
As janelas ficaram abertas a noite toda.
The windows stayed open all night.
In a porta fechada, fechada is feminine singular because porta is; in os livros escritos, escritos is masculine plural because livros is. The participle simply joined the adjective system.
Common participial adjectives
| Verb | Participle (m.sg.) | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| cansar | cansado | tired |
| fechar | fechado | closed |
| abrir | aberto | open (irregular) |
| escrever | escrito | written (irregular) |
| fazer | feito | done / made (irregular) |
| quebrar | quebrado | broken |
| perder | perdido | lost |
| sentar | sentado | seated, sitting |
With ser, estar, and ficar
Participial adjectives appear constantly after the linking verbs ser, estar, and ficar, and they still agree with the subject.
As crianças estão cansadas depois da escola.
The kids are tired after school.
A loja está fechada aos domingos.
The store is closed on Sundays.
Quando soube da notícia, ela ficou preocupada.
When she heard the news, she got worried.
With ser the participle often signals a passive ("was written by..."), covered in verbs/passive-impersonal/passive-ser; with estar/ficar it describes a resulting state. Either way, agreement with the subject is automatic.
Double participles: the short form is the adjective
Here is the feature with no English equivalent. A number of Brazilian Portuguese verbs have two past participles:
- a regular form in -ado/-ido, used with the auxiliary ter (and haver) to build compound tenses;
- a short / irregular form, used as an adjective and with ser/estar in the passive.
The rule of thumb: ter takes the long (regular) form; ser/estar take the short (irregular) form. The short form is also the one you use as a pure adjective in front of or after a noun.
| Verb | Regular (with ter) | Short / adjective (with ser/estar) |
|---|---|---|
| pagar | pagado | pago |
| ganhar | ganhado | ganho |
| gastar | gastado | gasto |
| aceitar | aceitado | aceito |
| entregar | entregado | entregue |
| acender | acendido | aceso |
| limpar | limpado | limpo |
| soltar | soltado | solto |
Compare the two slots in real sentences:
Eu já tinha pagado a conta quando ela chegou.
I had already paid the bill when she arrived. (ter → pagado)
A conta já está paga, pode relaxar.
The bill is already paid, you can relax. (estar → paga, agreeing)
Eles tinham aceitado o convite com prazer.
They had accepted the invitation gladly. (ter → aceitado)
A proposta foi aceita pela diretoria.
The proposal was accepted by the board. (ser → aceita, agreeing)
Notice that the short adjectival form agrees (paga, aceita, gastos, limpas), while the regular form after ter stays frozen as -ado/-ido — because after ter it is part of the verb, not an adjective, and never agrees.
A tarefa está feita e a mesa, limpa.
The task is done and the table is clean.
O dinheiro foi todo gasto na viagem.
The money was all spent on the trip.
Brazilian usage notes
A few of these pairs have settled differently in Brazil than the textbook rule suggests:
- pegar in Brazil normally uses pegado in both roles (tinha pegado, and está pegado is rare); the form pego exists but is colloquial.
- ganhar, gastar, pagar very commonly use the short form even with ter in casual Brazilian speech: tenho ganho / tenho pago are widespread (informal), though tenho ganhado / tenho pagado remain the prescriptively "correct" versions. (formal vs. informal)
- entregue and aceito are the everyday short forms; *entregado and aceitado sound stiff and are largely confined to writing with ter.
The fully irregular participles — aberto (abrir), escrito (escrever), feito (fazer), visto (ver), posto (pôr), dito (dizer), vindo (vir) — have only one form, which serves both as the ter-participle and as the agreeing adjective. Tinha aberto a porta and a porta está aberta use the same aberto/aberta stem.
Common Mistakes
❌ A loja está fechado.
Incorrect — the participle must agree; loja is feminine.
✅ A loja está fechada.
The store is closed.
❌ A conta foi pagado pelo cliente.
Incorrect — with ser/estar use the short form, which agrees: paga.
✅ A conta foi paga pelo cliente.
The bill was paid by the customer.
❌ Eu tinha aberta a janela.
Incorrect — after ter the participle never agrees; keep it aberto.
✅ Eu tinha aberto a janela.
I had opened the window.
❌ O pacote foi entregado ontem.
Incorrect — the short form entregue is standard with ser.
✅ O pacote foi entregue ontem.
The package was delivered yesterday.
❌ As cartas escrito por ele.
Incorrect — as an adjective, the participle agrees: escritas.
✅ As cartas escritas por ele.
The letters written by him.
Key Takeaways
- A past participle describing a noun is a four-form adjective and agrees: a porta fechada, os livros escritos.
- After ser/estar/ficar it still agrees with the subject: as crianças estão cansadas.
- Double-participle verbs: use the long -ado/-ido form with ter (no agreement), and the short irregular form with ser/estar or as a standalone adjective (agreement): tinha pagado vs. está paga.
- Fully irregular participles (aberto, escrito, feito, visto, posto, dito) have only one form for both jobs.
- In casual Brazilian speech the short form often invades the ter slot (tenho ganho, tenho pago) — informal but very common.
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Start learning Portuguese→Related Topics
- The Past Participle in BR PortugueseA2 — What the past participle (particípio passado) is, how it's formed, and its three jobs — compound tenses, passive voice, and adjective — including the crucial rule that it agrees in passive and adjectival use but not after ter.
- Ser-Passive (Formal Passive Voice)B1 — How to form the analytic passive with ser plus past participle, why the participle agrees with the subject, and why Brazilians rarely use it in speech.
- Gender AgreementA1 — How Portuguese adjectives change form to match the masculine or feminine gender of the noun they describe — and which ones don't change at all.
- Number AgreementA1 — How Portuguese adjectives form their plural to match plural nouns — using the same rules as nouns, plus the masculine-default rule for mixed groups.
- Adjectives: OverviewA1 — How Brazilian Portuguese adjectives work — they agree with the noun in gender and number and usually follow it, the mirror image of English's invariable pre-nominal adjective.