Breakdown of El trigo molido está empacado en el saco.
en
in / on / at
estar
to be (location/state)
moler
to grind
el trigo
the wheat
Questions & Answers about El trigo molido está empacado en el saco.
How are the words molido and empacado formed from their original verbs?
They are regular past participles. To make them, you drop the infinitive ending of the verb. For -ar verbs like empacar (to pack), you add -ado to get empacado (packed). For -er and -ir verbs like moler (to grind), you add -ido to get molido (ground).
Since molido and empacado are past participles, can their endings change?
Yes! In Spanish, past participles are very often used as adjectives to describe nouns. When they do, they must match the noun in gender and number. Because el trigo (the wheat) is a masculine, singular noun, both words end in -o. If the noun were feminine, like la avena (the oats), they would become molida and empacada.
Why do we use está instead of es for "is packed"?
We use estar with a past participle to describe a physical state or the result of an action. The wheat isn't being packed right this second; the packing is already finished, and now the wheat exists in a "packed" state. If you used es, it would sound like you are describing the passive action of it being packed right now.
Is el saco the same thing as la bolsa?