The Past Participle in European Portuguese

The past participle (particípio passado) is a single verb form that does three different jobs in Portuguese. It combines with ter to form the compound tenses (tenho falado, tinha visto). It combines with ser to form the passive voice (a casa foi vendida). And it stands on its own, or with estar, as an adjective describing a resulting state (a porta está aberta). Each of these uses has different agreement rules, different nuances, and different historical origins — and a learner who confuses them will either produce ungrammatical sentences or correct sentences that mean something different from what was intended.

This page is the master reference: the three uses, the formation rule, the key irregulars, and the rule that trips up learners from Spanish — modern European Portuguese uses ter as its compound auxiliary, not haver.

Three functions, three sets of rules

This table is the most important information on the page. Every other detail on this page refers back to this three-way split. Keep it in mind as you read on.

Same participle, three different agreement behaviors.

Formation rule: -ado, -ido, -ido

The regular past participle is built by replacing the infinitive ending with -ado (for -ar verbs) or -ido (for both -er and -ir verbs). The -er and -ir classes share one participle ending, just as they share imperfect and preterite endings.

These rules cover the vast majority of Portuguese verbs. The short list of verbs that don't follow them — the true irregulars — is in the next section.

Irregular past participles

A small but important group of high-frequency verbs has irregular past participles that must be memorized. Every one of these is a verb you will use constantly, so the investment is worthwhile.

Notice that compounds of these verbs inherit the irregular participle: descrever (to describe) takes descrito, compor (to compose) takes composto, inscrever (to enroll) takes inscrito. Once you know the root irregular, the compounds come for free.

The vindo problem

One irregular participle deserves a specific warning: vir (to come) has the past participle vindo — which is also the gerund of vir. The same form does double duty.

Syntax disambiguates: after ter or haver as auxiliary, vindo is the past participle. In absolute or adverbial clauses, vindo is the gerund. Native speakers never confuse the two because the surrounding structure makes the role obvious. See gerund formation for more on this.

Use 1: compound tenses with ter

When the past participle combines with the auxiliary ter, it builds the Portuguese compound tenses. The participle is invariable in this use — it stays in its default masculine singular form regardless of the subject's gender or number.

The participle stays invariable — critical rule

With ter, the participle does not agree with anything. Not with the subject's gender, not with its number, not with a direct object. It is frozen in the masculine singular form.

Not falada, even though Maria is feminine.

Not comidos, even though miúdos is masculine plural.

Vindo stays invariable even though as minhas primas is feminine plural.

Use 2: passive voice with ser

When the past participle combines with ser (to be, permanent), it builds the passive voice. Here — unlike with ter — the participle agrees with the subject in gender and number.

The agreement pattern is identical to adjective agreement: -o/-a/-os/-as for masculine/feminine/singular/plural. This makes sense because the past participle in its passive use behaves essentially like an adjective predicating a state over the subject.

The agent of the passive is introduced by por (or its contracted forms pelo, pela, pelos, pelas):

Use 3: resultative and adjectival

The past participle can also describe a resulting state — not the action itself but its consequence. This is where EP overlaps closely with English: "the door is open," "the windows are closed." In Portuguese, this is normally built with estar (or, for lasting qualities, ser), and the participle again agrees.

The difference from the passive is meaning, not form. The passive foi fechada says "was closed" (someone performed the action). The resultative está fechada says "is closed" (the state resulting from that action). English distinguishes these with tense/auxiliary choice; Portuguese distinguishes them with ser vs estar.

The participle can also modify a noun directly, functioning as a full adjective:

Here the participle behaves exactly like any other adjective — it follows the noun (as is normal in Portuguese) and agrees in gender and number.

Agreement summary

The only invariable use is with ter. Every other use agrees.

Why Portuguese uses ter, not haver

For learners who know Spanish, the auxiliary choice is a surprise. Spanish uses haber for compound tenses: he hablado, había comido. Older Portuguese also used haver the same way: hei falado, havia comido. But over the 15th–18th centuries, ter (originally "to hold, to possess") pushed haver out of everyday compound-tense use. By the 19th century, ter was the default across all registers.

Today, ter is the normal compound auxiliary in modern EP. Haver survives in compound-auxiliary use only in two marginal contexts:

• Highly formal or archaic written Portuguese: hei de ir ("I shall go"), não há de ser difícil ("it shan't be difficult") — these exist but feel literary or dated.
• The haver de + infinitive construction: a distinct future-ish periphrasis with its own semantics, not a standard compound tense.

For compound tenses, always use ter in modern EP. Spanish speakers should specifically note: he hablado (Spanish) → tenho falado (Portuguese), not hei falado.

Double participles — a preview

A significant subset of Portuguese verbs has two past participles: a regular one used with ter in compound tenses, and an irregular one used with ser (passive) or estar (resultative) or as an adjective. For example:

For some verbs, the "regular" participle has fallen out of use entirely and only the irregular survives (this is true for pagar, gastar, ganhar in modern EP — most speakers say tenho pago, tenho gasto, tenho ganho, even though pagado, gastado, ganhado appear in traditional grammars). The rules for which verb takes which participle in which construction are the subject of double participles.

Negation and adverbs

Nothing sits between ter (or ser or estar) and the past participle. Adverbs, negation, and pronouns live outside the unit.

Object pronouns attach to ter (enclitic in affirmative, proclitic after triggers like não, nunca, já):

Note: the pronoun never attaches to the participle. Tenho visto-o is ungrammatical in both EP and BP.

Common mistakes

Key takeaways

• The past participle has three functions: compound tense with ter (invariable), passive with ser (agrees), resultative/adjectival with estar or as a noun modifier (agrees).
• Regular formation: -ar → -ado, -er → -ido, -ir → -ido.
• Key irregulars: feito, dito, visto, escrito, aberto, coberto, posto, vindo. Their compounds inherit the irregular form (descrito, composto, inscrito).
• With ter, the participle is always invariable (masculine singular form).
• With ser, estar, or as an adjective, the participle agrees in gender and number.
• Modern EP uses ter, not haver, as the compound auxiliary. Haver survives in compound tense-like constructions only in formal or archaic registers.
• Vindo is both the gerund and past participle of vir. Syntax disambiguates.
• Many verbs have double participles: regular with ter, irregular elsewhere (entregado / entregue, aceitado / aceite).

For the full treatment of the compound present perfect, see forming the pretérito perfeito composto. For verbs with two participles, see double participles. For the meaning of the compound perfect (which is NOT the English present perfect), see repeated/ongoing action.