In Spanish, you can turn a verb into an adjective to describe the completed state of something (like "packed" or "frozen"). These are called past participles.
Forming Regular Past Participles
To form a regular past participle, drop the ending of the infinitive verb and add a new suffix:
- For -ar verbs, add -ado.
- For -er and -ir verbs, add -ido.
For example, procesar (to process) becomes procesado, and moler (to grind) becomes molido.
| The coffee bean is roasted and ground. | El grano de café está tostado y molido. |
| The fish is frozen. | El pescado está congelado. |
Matching Gender and Number
When you use a past participle as an adjective, it must match the noun it describes in both gender and number. This means the ending will change to -o, -a, -os, or -as to agree with the noun.
| The wheat is packed in the sack. | El trigo está empacado en el saco. |
Notice how the ending changes to -a when describing feminine nouns like comida (food) or carne (meat):
| The supermarket has processed and packed food. | El supermercado tiene comida procesada y empacada. |
| The cans have frozen meat. | Las latas tienen carne congelada. |
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