When using present perfect verbs, should i make them agree with gender?
I know they shouldn't agree with the noun (ex. he pagado la cuenta) but since i am a girl, would i say, "he pagada la cuenta?" Or "él me ha obligada a hablar."
3 Answers
Verbs are not conjugated to gender.
He pagado la cuenta (either gender).
No the past participle is invariable when used with haber.
It is altered when it is functions as an adjective, or is used with ser to form true passive, but then only to noun it is describing, never the speaker, unless the speaker is directly being described.
He pagado la cuenta.
La cuenta fue pagada.
Example with speaker being one it matches:
Yo fui descubierta(female speaker) Yo fui descubierto (male speaker). But normally true passive is avoided in Spanish and you would say me descubieron. They (that generic they) discovered me rather than I was discovered.
In addition to what bosque said, with passive ser, the past participle should agree with the passive subject (the former direct object of an active sentence) in number as well as gender.
Las casas fueron pintadas por mi hermana.
The houses were painted by my sister.
No verbs of any conjugation, tense or mood reflect the gender of the speaker or this listener. Unless you consider what occurs with ser passive. In this case, it is best to think of the verbs as only the ser part (or sometime haber + ser) and consider the past participle as an adjective. Since adjectives have to agree in number and gender, it makes more sense if you think of them as adjectives in this case.
The thing that I used to mess up on was possessive adjectives. In English, some possessive adjectives have gender hers, his, etc. In Spanish, the gender and number of the possessive adjective agrees with the gender and number of the thing possessed, not the possessor.
