States and conditions with estar
To describe the physical state or condition of something resulting from an action, use the verb estar followed by a past participle.
When used this way, the past participle acts as an adjective and must agree in gender and number with the noun it describes.
| The bridge is destroyed. The army has not arrived yet. | El puente está destruido. El ejército todavía no ha llegado. |
| The army is here, but the base is destroyed. | El ejército está aquí, pero la base está destruida. |
| Have you already seen the base? The soldiers are equipped. | ¿Ya has visto la base? Los soldados están equipados. |
| The weapons are hidden there. Do you see anything? | Las armas están escondidas allí. ¿Ves algo? |
Irregular past participles
Some verbs have irregular past participles, like romper (to break), which becomes roto.
Note: The word arma (weapon) is feminine, but uses the masculine article el in the singular to avoid blending the a sounds. Because the noun is feminine, its past participle must also be feminine (rota).
| The soldier's weapon is broken. | El arma del soldado está rota. |
Describing military readiness
Use this structure with verbs like armar (to arm), equipar (to equip), and reparar (to repair) to talk about military readiness.
| The captain has arrived. The soldiers are already armed. | El capitán ha llegado. Los soldados ya están armados. |
| The army boss is happy because the vehicles are repaired. | La jefa del ejército está contenta porque los vehículos están reparados. |
Just done: recién + participle
Recién means just, freshly. In Spain it goes only before a past participle: el pan está recién hecho, la pared está recién pintada, están recién casados. To say I have just arrived, use acabar de: acabo de llegar.
