Teaching guidelines +/- 15 minutes

This lesson explains how to use past participles as descriptive adjectives in Spanish, focusing on gender and number agreement. Examples include words like agotado, sudado, and lesionado. It helps learners understand how participles describe states or conditions in a noun-adjective relationship.
  1. Past participles function as adjectives when they describe a state or characteristic. Example: "Los niños están cansados."
 Singular (Singular)Plural (Plural)
Masculino (Masculine)

Agotado

Él se siente agotado (He feels exhausted.)

Agotados

Ellos se sienten agotados (They feel exhausted.)

Lesionado

El chico está lesionado. (The boy is injured.)

Lesionados

Los chicos están lesionados. (The boys are injured.)

Femenino (Feminine)

Sudada

Ella está sudada. (She is sweaty.)

Sudadas

Ellas están sudadas. (They are sweaty.)

Cansada

Ella se siente cansada. (She feels tired.)

Cansadas

Ellas se sienten cansadas. (They feel tired.)

Exceptions!

  1. Participles that function as adjectives adapt in number and gender.

Exercise 1: El participio pasado como adjetivo: "-ado, -oso, ..."

Instruction: Fill in the correct word.

Show translation Show answers

relajadas, cansadas, lesionada, sudada, sudados, agotados, cansado, lesionado

1.
Después de correr, ellos están ....
(After running, they are sweaty.)
2.
El hombre está ... en las piernas.
(The man is injured in the legs.)
3.
Ella está ... y no puede ir a la escuela.
(She is injured and cannot go to school.)
4.
Ellas se han relajado y ahora se sienten ....
(They have relaxed and now they feel relaxed.)
5.
Ellos se sienten ... del trabajo.
(They feel exhausted from work.)
6.
Él se siente muy ... porque no ha dormido mucho.
(He feels very tired because he hasn't slept much.)
7.
Las chicas están ... después de correr.
(The girls are tired after running.)
8.
Amalia está ... porque está en el gimnasio.
(Amalia is sweaty because she is at the gym.)

Exercise 2: Multiple Choice

Instruction: Choose the correct solution

1. Después de correr, estoy muy ________ y necesito descansar.

(After running, I am very ________ and I need to rest.)

2. Ella está ________ porque hizo mucho ejercicio.

(She is ________ because she exercised a lot.)

3. Los jugadores ________ no pueden jugar el partido.

(The ________ players cannot play the match.)

4. Me siento ________ después de trabajar todo el día.

(I feel ________ after working all day.)

5. El ________ de cabeza me molesta mucho hoy.

(The ________ headache bothers me a lot today.)

6. Después de meditar, nos sentimos ________ y tranquilos.

(After meditating, we feel ________ and calm.)

Understanding Past Participles as Adjectives in Spanish

This lesson focuses on how past participles function as adjectives to describe states or characteristics. You will learn how to recognize and use these forms properly while paying attention to gender and number agreement.

What You Will Learn

  • The past participle can describe feelings or conditions, for example, "Los niños están cansados" (The children are tired).
  • How past participles change endings based on singular/plural and masculine/feminine forms, such as "agotado" (tired, masculine singular) and "cansadas" (tired, feminine plural).
  • Common past participles used as adjectives including agotado/-a/-os/-as, lesionado/-a/-os/-as, sudado/-a/-os/-as, and cansado/-a/-os/-as.

Examples

  • Él se siente agotado. (He feels tired.)
  • Las chicas están sudadas. (The girls are sweaty.)
  • Los jugadores lesionados no pueden jugar. (The injured players cannot play.)

Gender and Number Agreement

In Spanish, past participles used as adjectives must match the noun they describe in gender and number. For example:

  • Masculine singular: agitado
  • Masculine plural: agitados
  • Feminine singular: agitada
  • Feminine plural: agitadas

Differences with English

Unlike English, where the past participle is often fixed (e.g., "tired" stays the same regardless of the noun), Spanish changes the ending to agree with the noun’s gender and number. Also, Spanish uses the past participle as a direct adjective more commonly to describe states of being. Useful words include cansado/a (tired), agotado/a (exhausted), and lesionado/a (injured). Remember this agreement rule to form correct and natural sentences.

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