Spanish verbs with two past participles
I just read that producir has two past participles: producido and producto.
Are there other verbs like this? Is one form preferred?
10 Answers
The regular form is used to form compound tenses and the irregular is an adjective.
The verb "producir" has only one past participle in Spanish: "producido". The word "producto" is a noun, and it cannot be used as a past participle (or as an adjective), so "he producto" is simply incorrect. It comes from the past participle of the Latin verb "producere". The only 3 verbs with two past participles are imprimir, freír, and proveer., which also have the irregular impreso, frito and provisto (the regular "freído", although it is correct, it is rarely used).
Words like "presunto" (related to "presumir"), "suspenso" (cf. "suspender")... come from Latin past participles, not Spanish verbs, so although they are etymologically related to the verbs, they are not past of the verb conjugation, but independent words.
In other words, all these words we are talking about (e.g. presunto) are simply adjectives, not irregular past participles. These words were Latin past participles, but not Spanish ones, because unlike real past participles, they can't be used as verbs.
Spanish linguists were a bit obsessed with Latin tradition, and because they were well aware that these words were Latin past participles, older editions of the RAE grammar used to say that they were past participles, but later editions admitted that it was illogical to call past participle to words that have never behaved like a past participle in Spanish (or were used that way only 8 centuries ago... or more). Some books (and Internet sites) are still stuck with the old conventions, which only makes things more confusing.
Where did you find it? I've checked several conjugation tables and they all give only "producido".
"Producto" is a noun.
Hi Lorenzo,
I am not familiar with this. I always thought that producido was the participle and that producto was the noun. Sorry. I can't help you with your question, but this was an interesting bit of information, nonetheless.
I just checked in the RAE (producir) and it only lists producido as the participle.
It also lists producto as a noun, but the first entry does describe producto as: cosa producida. This seems to describe producto as the thing that is produced (producida).
Weird... it's listed here as an irregular past participle too, but the examples given for it seem to clearly be nouns:
past participle5. Irregular of PRODUCIR. •Productos agrícolas -> agricultural produce •Productos de consumo -> consumer goods
And other Dictionaries I've check (Oxford, Merriam-Webster, Granada Uni) only list noun uses for it.
I think having it listed as past participle might be a mistake?
Found another one: torcer
According to that site, frier and sofrier also have 2
So does cocer.
This is getting confusing.
And it says satisfacer has two forms for the tú imperative.
And this site only lists the irregular form satisfaz.
OK, it's a compound verb, so it picks up the conjugation of hacer. . .
And what's interesting is the inconsistency: reproducir has only one past participle.
