Past Participles by themselves

Question

This has been bugging me for awhile. I don't usually see it in written speech by my friends will sometimes use a past participle without haber. Eg: te oído, ya lo hecho. What's the rule behind this?

Thanks!!

Answer 1

In Spanish, when one word ends with the same sound that the next starts with, the two are sort of "fused together," and the sound becomes a part of both words. Your friend is saying "te he oído" and "ya lo he hecho," but there's no separation between "he" and the word before or after it, so it sounds as if it isn't there. Occasionally I've heard the vowel get slightly longer, but not very much longer.

For example, you'll hear "va a hacer" as "vacer."

Spanish "fuses" most vowels when one is the last sound of a word and the other the starting one of the next. - lazarus1907, Jul 20, 2011

Answer 2

It´s common to say simply, ie entendido, hecho, etc alone. I´ve never heard this other shortened variation as you describe, so I am guessing it´s regional. As far as a rule is concerned, there can´t be one because these are incomplete sentences, which makes them grammatically incorrect.

Those first examples you gave are when it's functioning as an adjective again though, right? - rabbitwho, Jul 20, 2011

Right - 005faa61, Jul 20, 2011

Answer 3

Past participles are used with auxiliary verbs "haber" and "estar". They can be regular past participles ending in "ado" or irregular past participles like hecho, dicho, visto, roto, etc.

PPs are used with all the perfect tenses (the ones that use haber as the auxiliary or helping verb) - he oído, has comprado, ha hablado, hemos visto , han abierto .

You can make past participles into adjectives when you use the verb "estar" - El pan está comprado. La camisa está comprada. El club está abierto. La puerta está abierta.

So you can make past participles into adjectives, masculine and feminine and singular and plural. Las puertas están abiertas. Los clubes están abiertos.

The only time they would be used alone is as JulianChivi above has said - entendido, hecho (not complete sentences)

Answer 4

Well adjectives can be formed from past participles, just as they can in English. (I'm not sure that's what's happening here though?)

(I could be wrong about this translation)

It is already done Ya lo hecho.

They will agree in gender (you change the last letter where necessary)

Here's a lesson on that: http://www.studyspanish.com/lessons/pastpart.htm

Maybe it's like in English though where colloquially people use past participles where they shouldn't. E.g. "I done it!" Rather than "I did it!"

Right, I understand it as an adjective in that example but I don't see how it works as an adjective in the other. I'm pretty positive it can be used as a verb without haber, I'm just not sure how. - bafalck, Jul 20, 2011

I don't know, but when I google "te oido" there are lots of hits, but none for "te oído" and that's the past participle of oír.. I don't know if it's just slang for "te odio" - rabbitwho, Jul 20, 2011

Anyway I voted you up, hopefully someone who knows better will see! - rabbitwho, Jul 20, 2011

honestly they could just be speaking incorrectly. i wouldn't be surprised. thanks though! - bafalck, Jul 20, 2011