Past Participles & Auxiliary Verbs

In this lesson we’re going to tackle past participles in Portuguese, i.e. particípios passadospast participlesCommunity Slow audio Play audio Noun, Plural, Masculine
So what is a past participle? A past participle is a verb form that can…

• function as an adjective – porco assadoroasted porkCommunity Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine
• combine with the past tense of ser to use passive voice – Quando é que a casa foi construída?When was the house built?, When is it that the house was built?Community Slow audio Play audio
• combine with other auxiliary verbs (such as ter) to form different compound tenses, such as the pretérito mais-que-perfeito composto – Ela já tinha falado com os paisShe had already spoken with her parentsCommunity Slow audio Play audio Aquele filme? Já o tinha visto, sim.That film? I had already seen it, yes.Community Slow audio Play audio Tínhamos escrito ao professor para lhe pedirmos as notas.We had written to the professor to ask for our grades.Community Slow audio Play audio

Past Participles and Auxiliary Verbs

Just as in English, you typically can’t use a past participle without a verbo auxiliarauxiliary verbCommunity Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine . Auxiliary verbs are sometimes called “helping verbs” because they help express the tense, mood, or voice of the sentence’s main verb.
In the examples above, the verb terto haveCommunity Slow audio Play audio Verb is one auxiliary verb.
Sound complicated? Worry not! When it comes to past participles, there are only five auxiliary verbs you need to know. You’ll probably recognize these from previous lessons:

terto haveCommunity Slow audio Play audio Verb serto be (permanent)Community Slow audio Play audio Verb estarto be (temporary)Community Slow audio Play audio Verb ficarto become, to stayCommunity Slow audio Play audio Verb haverto have, to existCommunity Slow audio Play audio Verb

Learning More

Next, we’ll explore the rules for using these auxiliary verbs with regular past participles. Then, you’ll have the opportunity to practice within the lessons of this unit before we move on to irregular past participles and double past participles.