Some Brazilian Portuguese verbs have two past participles: a regular one ending in -ado or -ido (e.g. pagado, aceitado), and a shorter, irregular one (pago, aceito). These are called abundant verbs (verbos abundantes). The classic rule decides which to use based on the auxiliary, but in modern Brazilian Portuguese that rule is breaking down in a very specific, predictable direction — and knowing both the rule and the drift will keep your Portuguese from sounding either wrong or stiff.
The prescriptive rule
The traditional, grammar-book rule:
- Use the regular participle (-ado/-ido) with the auxiliary ter (and haver) — the compound/perfect tenses.
- Use the irregular (short) participle with ser and estar — the passive voice and adjectival uses.
A handy memory aid: ter takes the long one, ser/estar take the short one.
O cliente tinha pagado a conta. (prescriptive: ter + regular)
The customer had paid the bill.
A conta foi paga ontem. (ser + irregular = passive)
The bill was paid yesterday.
A conta já está paga. (estar + irregular = state)
The bill is already paid.
This rule is the logic English speakers should anchor to, because English has nothing like it — we use one participle ("paid") everywhere regardless of "have" vs "be."
The Brazilian reality: the short forms are winning
Here is the part no textbook will tell you plainly. In modern spoken and even much written Brazilian Portuguese, the irregular short forms are spreading into the compound tenses where the rule says you should use the long form. Tinha pego, tinha ganho, tinha pago are everywhere — far more common in real Brazilian speech than the "correct" tinha pegado, tinha ganhado, tinha pagado.
Eu tinha pego o ônibus errado. (everyday BR — short form with ter)
I had taken the wrong bus.
A gente já tinha ganho o jogo quando começou a chover.
We had already won the game when it started to rain.
For a few verbs — pagar, ganhar, gastar, pegar — the short form with ter is now so dominant in Brazil that the long form (pagado, ganhado) sounds almost archaic in conversation. For others — aceitar, imprimir — both still circulate. A small number have effectively lost the regular form entirely as a participle: nobody says matado or morrido; the participle is morto in every register.
Reference list
| Verb | Regular (with ter) | Irregular (with ser/estar) | BR usage note |
|---|---|---|---|
| aceitar | aceitado | aceito | both common; aceito spreading |
| entregar | entregado | entregue | entregue dominant in all uses |
| expressar | expressado | expresso | expresso mostly adjectival |
| ganhar | ganhado | ganho | ganho dominant, incl. with ter |
| gastar | gastado | gasto | gasto dominant, incl. with ter |
| imprimir | imprimido | impresso | both common; impresso for documents |
| matar | matado | morto | morto only; matado effectively dead |
| morrer | morrido | morto | morto only |
| pagar | pagado | pago | pago dominant, incl. with ter |
| pegar | pegado | pego | pego dominant, incl. with ter |
| prender | prendido | preso | preso dominant |
| salvar | salvado | salvo | salvo for "saved" (files, lives) |
A note on matar and morrer sharing morto
A genuinely odd corner of the language: both matar (to kill) and morrer (to die) use morto as their short participle. So morto can mean "killed" or "dead/died" depending on the verb and the auxiliary. Context — and especially the auxiliary — disambiguates.
O soldado foi morto na batalha. (ser + morto, from matar = was killed)
The soldier was killed in the battle.
O cachorro tinha morrido na semana anterior. (ter + morrido, from morrer = had died)
The dog had died the week before.
Notice the asymmetry: with morrer, the compound tense actually does keep the regular morrido (tinha morrido), because morto there would clash with the matar reading. This is the one place where the long form still firmly holds.
The short forms as adjectives
The short participles double as adjectives, and here they agree in gender and number like any adjective:
As contas estão pagas.
The bills are paid.
Os documentos foram impressos e entregues hoje.
The documents were printed and delivered today.
A porta estava presa por dentro.
The door was stuck/locked from the inside.
Common Mistakes
❌ A conta foi pagada no caixa.
Incorrect — passive (ser) requires the short form.
✅ A conta foi paga no caixa.
The bill was paid at the register.
❌ Eu tinha aceito o convite. (in a formal essay)
Frowned upon by purists in formal writing — the rule wants ter + long form.
✅ Eu tinha aceitado o convite. (formal) / Eu tinha aceito o convite. (everyday BR)
I had accepted the invitation.
❌ O ladrão foi prendido pela polícia.
Incorrect — passive needs the short form preso.
✅ O ladrão foi preso pela polícia.
The thief was arrested by the police.
❌ As contas estão pago.
Incorrect — as an adjective the short form must agree: feminine plural pagas.
✅ As contas estão pagas.
The bills are paid.
❌ O homem foi morrido no acidente.
Incorrect — if someone is killed by an external cause, use morto (from matar), not morrido.
✅ O homem foi morto no acidente. / O homem morreu no acidente.
The man was killed / died in the accident.
Key Takeaways
- Abundant verbs have a long participle (with ter) and a short one (with ser/estar).
- The mnemonic: ter → long, ser/estar → short.
- In modern Brazilian speech, the short forms (pego, ganho, pago, gasto) have invaded the ter slot too — tinha pego is everywhere.
- As adjectives, the short forms agree in gender and number (contas pagas).
- matar and morrer share morto; only morrer keeps a living long form (morrido) in compound tenses.
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- Irregular Past Participles: Quick ReferenceA2 — A scannable reference table of the most common irregular past participles in Brazilian Portuguese, with usage notes.
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- PagarA1 — How to conjugate and use pagar (to pay) in Brazilian Portuguese — a regular -ar verb with a g→gu spelling change (paguei, pague) and a double participle (pago / pagado) — plus the preposition split: pagar a alguém, pagar por algo, pagar a conta.
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