A Portuguese past participle has a single shape — say, escrito ("written"). That shape stays the same across compound tenses: tenho escrito, tinha escrito, terei escrito. But put that same participle into a passive voice, an adjectival phrase, or a resulting-state construction, and it suddenly starts inflecting for gender and number — escrita, escritos, escritas. The participle's agreement behavior depends entirely on what construction it sits in, not on the participle itself. This page walks through every environment and gives you a clear, memorizable rule for each.
The five agreement environments
| Construction | Role | Agreement? | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| ter / haver + participle | compound tense | NO (always invariant, masculine singular) | ela tinha escrito |
| ser + participle | passive voice | YES (agrees with subject) | a carta foi escrita |
| estar + participle | resulting state | YES (agrees with subject) | a porta está aberta |
| ficar + participle | resultative / becoming | YES (agrees with subject) | ela ficou surpreendida |
| as adjective (modifying a noun) | adjectival | YES (agrees with noun) | uma tarefa feita |
There are really just two buckets: "paired with ter" (no agreement) and "everything else" (full agreement). The rule is clean once you see it that way.
Rule 1: ter + participle — NEVER agrees
In every compound tense (present perfect, pluperfect, future perfect, conditional perfect, compound subjunctives), the auxiliary is ter and the participle stays in the masculine singular form. No matter who the subject is, no matter what the object is, no matter what the gender or number around the verb looks like — the participle is frozen.
A Maria tinha escrito a carta antes de nós chegarmos.
Maria had written the letter before we arrived.
Escrito stays in masculine singular form even though:
- the subject Maria is feminine singular,
- the object a carta is feminine singular.
As professoras têm trabalhado imenso este ano.
The teachers have been working a lot this year.
Trabalhado stays invariant even though as professoras is feminine plural.
Os meus pais já tinham visto aquele filme.
My parents had already seen that film.
Visto stays invariant even though os meus pais is masculine plural.
A Ana e a Rita terão chegado antes das oito.
Ana and Rita will have arrived before eight.
Chegado invariant despite the feminine plural compound subject.
Se as chaves tivessem sido encontradas, já ma tinham entregado.
If the keys had been found, they would have handed them over to me already.
Entregado (or entregue, in modern usage) invariant, even though the object pronoun ma (= me + a) refers to a chave, feminine singular.
Rule 2: ser + participle — agrees with the subject
In the passive voice, ser combines with the past participle, and the participle agrees in gender and number with the grammatical subject (which is the logical patient / receiver of the action).
A carta foi escrita por ela.
The letter was written by her. (feminine singular)
As cartas foram escritas por ela.
The letters were written by her. (feminine plural)
O livro foi escrito por ele.
The book was written by him. (masculine singular)
Os livros foram escritos por ele.
The books were written by him. (masculine plural)
Four forms: escrito, escrita, escritos, escritas. Each matches the subject.
Aquelas casas foram construídas nos anos sessenta.
Those houses were built in the 1960s. (feminine plural)
O relatório foi entregue ontem ao chefe.
The report was handed in yesterday to the boss. (masculine singular)
As bicicletas foram roubadas durante a noite.
The bicycles were stolen during the night. (feminine plural)
Agreement in every compound-of-ser tense
When the passive is itself in a compound tense (tem sido, tinha sido, terá sido…), the ser auxiliary becomes sido (invariant, after ter), but the main participle still agrees with the subject:
As propostas têm sido rejeitadas sem explicação.
The proposals have been rejected without explanation.
Two participles stacked: sido is invariant (it follows ter), but rejeitadas agrees with as propostas (feminine plural). A beautiful illustration of how the two rules coexist in one sentence.
O rei tinha sido deposto antes do fim do ano.
The king had been deposed before the end of the year.
Sido invariant (ter + sido), deposto agrees with masculine singular o rei.
Rule 3: estar + participle — agrees with the subject
Estar + participle describes a resulting state — the condition something is in after an action. The participle agrees with the subject just as a regular predicative adjective would.
A porta está aberta.
The door is open.
As janelas estão fechadas.
The windows are closed.
O trabalho está feito.
The work is done.
As tarefas estão feitas.
The tasks are done.
Os convidados estavam muito satisfeitos com o jantar.
The guests were very pleased with the dinner.
A loja está fechada ao domingo.
The shop is closed on Sundays.
The distinction from ser passive
Ser passive focuses on the event: something was done to the subject. Estar + participle focuses on the state: the subject is in a condition.
A porta foi fechada às dez da noite.
The door was closed at ten at night. (ser passive — narrates the event)
A porta está fechada desde ontem.
The door has been closed since yesterday. (estar state — describes the condition)
The participle (fechada) agrees in both, but the meaning differs. Foi fechada tells you someone closed it; está fechada tells you it's in a closed state, without saying anything about who closed it or when.
Rule 4: ficar + participle — agrees with the subject
Ficar can mean "to become" or "to end up" with a resultative reading. When it takes a participle, the participle agrees with the subject just like with estar.
Ela ficou muito surpreendida com a notícia.
She was very surprised by the news. (feminine singular)
Eles ficaram aborrecidos com a demora.
They got annoyed at the delay. (masculine plural)
Ficámos todos encantados com a tua actuação.
We were all charmed by your performance.
As crianças ficaram assustadas com o trovão.
The children got scared by the thunder. (feminine plural)
Fiquei convencido de que ele estava a mentir.
I became convinced that he was lying. (speaker is masculine)
Ficar + participle is a very productive pattern for emotional and psychological states in Portuguese — ficar feliz, ficar triste, ficar zangado, ficar confuso, ficar preocupado — and all of these agree.
Rule 5: As a bare adjective — agrees with the noun
When a past participle sits next to a noun as an adjective (not combined with any auxiliary), it agrees in gender and number with that noun, exactly like any other Portuguese adjective.
Uma tarefa feita é uma tarefa menos.
A finished task is one less task.
Os conhecimentos aprendidos neste curso são práticos.
The knowledge learned in this course is practical.
Gosto muito da música escrita nos anos setenta.
I really like music written in the seventies.
Aquelas fotografias tiradas em Itália são lindas.
Those photos taken in Italy are beautiful.
Encontrei uma caixa escondida no sótão.
I found a hidden box in the attic.
Comprei dois pães feitos hoje de manhã.
I bought two loaves of bread made this morning.
Masculine singular: feito. Feminine singular: feita. Masculine plural: feitos. Feminine plural: feitas. The pattern is identical to any standard -o/-a adjective.
Putting the rules together in one narrative
Here's a short sequence of sentences using one participle — escrever → escrito — across every environment, so you can see all five rules fire in a single context:
A jornalista tinha escrito o artigo na véspera.
The journalist had written the article the day before. (ter — invariant, escrito)
O artigo foi escrito pela jornalista.
The article was written by the journalist. (ser passive — escrito, masculine singular agreeing with artigo)
O artigo já está escrito, podemos publicá-lo.
The article is already written, we can publish it. (estar state — escrito, masculine singular)
Quando cheguei, o artigo já ficou escrito e pronto.
When I arrived, the article was already written and ready. (ficar resultative — escrito)
É um artigo escrito com grande cuidado.
It's an article written with great care. (adjectival — escrito, masculine singular)
Now the same verbs but with a feminine plural subject (as cartas):
A jornalista tinha escrito as cartas na véspera.
The journalist had written the letters the day before. (ter — STILL escrito, invariant, even though the object is feminine plural)
As cartas foram escritas pela jornalista.
The letters were written by the journalist. (ser passive — escritas, feminine plural, agreeing with cartas as subject)
As cartas já estão escritas.
The letters are already written. (estar state — escritas, feminine plural)
As cartas ficaram escritas num estilo muito formal.
The letters ended up written in a very formal style. (ficar — escritas, feminine plural)
São cartas escritas à mão.
They are letters written by hand. (adjectival — escritas)
Only tinha escrito stays invariant. Every other construction agrees.
Difference from French and from English
English is uniform: the past participle never inflects for gender or number. "The letter was written", "the letters were written", "the books were written" — written is invariant. This is actually simpler than Portuguese for the passive/adjectival uses, but English lacks the fine-grained state/event distinction that ser vs. estar gives Portuguese speakers.
French has elaborate agreement rules for compound tenses with avoir (agree with a preposed direct object only) and with être (agree with subject) — complicated and famously error-prone. Portuguese is much cleaner: never agree with ter, always agree with ser/estar/ficar.
Spanish is almost identical to Portuguese on this front: haber + participle is invariant (ella ha escrito), ser and estar + participle agree. The two Iberian languages share this exact division of labor.
Double-participle verbs: agreement rules are identical
Verbs with two participles (pagar → pagado / pago, ganhar → ganhado / ganho, entregar → entregado / entregue) don't change the agreement logic — they just offer you a different form. The long form with ter is invariant; the short form with ser/estar agrees.
A Ana tinha pagado as contas.
Ana had paid the bills. (ter + long form — pagado invariant)
As contas foram pagas pela Ana.
The bills were paid by Ana. (ser + short form — pagas, feminine plural agreement)
Os prémios foram ganhos pela equipa.
The prizes were won by the team. (ser + short form — ganhos, masculine plural)
O bolo foi feito de manhã.
The cake was made in the morning. (masculine singular)
As tartes foram feitas de manhã.
The pies were made in the morning. (feminine plural)
See the double participles page for the full list.
The "double-edged" case: double participles with ter
Here is a subtle point. When you use the short form with ter — which is the modern, colloquial option for verbs like pago, ganho, entregue — does it agree or not?
Answer: it does not agree. The participle is after ter, so the invariance rule wins regardless of which form (long or short) you used.
Ela tinha pago as contas todas.
She had paid all the bills. (ter + short form pago — still invariant, despite feminine plural object)
Tínhamos ganho todos os prémios.
We had won all the prizes. (ter + short form ganho — invariant, not 'ganhos')
Do not let the short form trick you into agreement. Whether you choose pago / pagado, ganho / ganhado, or entregue / entregado, the form after ter stays in the invariant masculine singular. You can never write tinha pagas as contas or tinham ganhos os prémios — those are errors even though the short forms pagas and ganhos would be correct in a passive (as contas foram pagas, os prémios foram ganhos).
Common mistakes
❌ A Maria tinha escrita a carta.
Incorrect — with ter, the participle is invariant, so it must be 'escrito' regardless of the feminine subject.
✅ A Maria tinha escrito a carta.
Maria had written the letter.
The classic French-speaker error: inflecting the participle for the subject with ter. Portuguese simply refuses.
❌ As cartas foram escrito ontem.
Incorrect — with ser passive, the participle must agree with the feminine plural subject 'as cartas'.
✅ As cartas foram escritas ontem.
The letters were written yesterday.
English-speaker error: forgetting to agree because English never agrees.
❌ A porta está aberto.
Incorrect — with estar (state), the participle must agree with the feminine noun 'porta'.
✅ A porta está aberta.
The door is open.
❌ Os trabalhos estão feito.
Incorrect — with estar + plural subject, the participle must be plural.
✅ Os trabalhos estão feitos.
The works are done.
❌ Ela ficou surpreendido com a notícia.
Incorrect — with ficar and a feminine subject, the participle must be 'surpreendida'.
✅ Ela ficou surpreendida com a notícia.
She was surprised by the news.
❌ Umas tarefas bem feito não precisam de ser repetidas.
Incorrect — as an adjective modifying feminine plural 'tarefas', it must be 'feitas'.
✅ Umas tarefas bem feitas não precisam de ser repetidas.
Well-done tasks don't need to be repeated.
❌ As propostas tinham sidas aceites sem discussão.
Incorrect — *sido* comes straight after *ter* (tinham sido), so it must stay invariant. Only the main participle *aceites* agrees with *as propostas*.
✅ As propostas tinham sido aceites sem discussão.
The proposals had been accepted without discussion.
The compound passive (ter + sido + main participle) catches learners because two participles sit next to each other. The first (sido) follows ter and stays frozen; the second (aceites) is the passive participle and agrees with the subject. Do not inflect both.
Key takeaways
- ter + participle: never agrees. Always masculine singular, invariant.
- ser + participle (passive): always agrees with the subject.
- estar + participle (resulting state): always agrees with the subject.
- ficar + participle (becoming): always agrees with the subject.
- As adjective modifying a noun: always agrees with the noun.
- Double-participle verbs use the long form with ter (invariant) and the short form with ser/estar/ficar (agreeing), but invariance with ter applies even when speakers colloquially use the short form.
- This system is identical to Spanish, cleaner than French, and more visible than English (which never agrees).
- The core rule-of-thumb: paired with ter? Freeze. Everything else? Inflect.
Related Topics
- Past Participle: Regular FormsA2 — How to build regular past participles in European Portuguese — -ar → -ado, -er → -ido, -ir → -ido, with full paradigms and natural examples.
- Past Participle: Irregular FormsA2 — The comprehensive list of Portuguese verbs with irregular past participles — feito, dito, visto, escrito, aberto, posto, vindo, and the whole family of -pôr and -cobrir derivatives.
- Double Participles (Duplo Particípio)B1 — Verbs with two past participles — a regular form for compound tenses with ter, and a short irregular form for passive and adjectival use. Covers pago, ganho, gasto, aceite, entregue, preso, morto, and the rest of the family.
- The Past Participle in Compound TensesA2 — How the past participle combines with ter across every compound tense in European Portuguese — present perfect, pluperfect, future perfect, conditional perfect, and the three compound subjunctives.
- Compound Pluperfect (Mais-que-Perfeito Composto)B1 — The everyday pluperfect: tinha + past participle, for actions completed before another past action
- Forming the Pretérito Perfeito CompostoA2 — Ter in the present + past participle