Rusty, crumpled, faded: the participle standing in for the adjective
Half the words for the state of a thing are not adjectives but participles, forms made from a verb. Oxidado comes from oxidar, gastado from gastar, roto from romper. For example: “Las zapatillas están gastadas, pero las suelas siguen enteras” — The sneakers are worn out, but the soles are still intact. A rule from the Spanish course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
Half the words for the state of a thing are not adjectives but participles, forms made from a verb. Oxidado comes from oxidar, gastado from gastar, roto from romper.
The form is made mechanically: -ar gives -ado, -er and -ir give -ido. Manchar → manchado, torcer → torcido. The irregulars are few but frequent: roto, abierto, escrito, hecho.
In this job the participle agrees like any adjective: la camisa arrugada, los zapatos gastados. Inside he hecho it never changes: he roto la taza, but la taza está rota.
And these words almost always take estar, because a participle names a result. Está oxidado is 'it has rusted'. Es oxidado cannot be said: rust is not a property of a thing.
Table
| verb | participle | noun | phrase |
|---|---|---|---|
| oxidar | oxidado | el óxido | la llave está oxidada |
| manchar | manchado | la mancha | el mantel está manchado |
| arrugar | arrugado | la arruga | la camisa está arrugada |
| gastar | gastado | el gasto | las ruedas están gastadas |
| romper | roto | la rotura | el plato está roto |
| torcer | torcido | la torcedura | el cuadro está torcido |
By example
- Las zapatillas están gastadas, pero las suelas siguen enterasThe sneakers are worn out, but the soles are still intact
- Encontré una foto descolorida y arrugada en el cajónI found a faded and crumpled photo in the drawer
- He manchado el mantel y ahora el mantel está manchadoI stained the tablecloth, and now the tablecloth is stained
How the rule settles in your head
A rule is not memorized from an explanation. It is memorized from an attempt to use it and a mistake — that is why the app delivers it mixed in with words, not as a separate lesson: it resurfaces exactly where you forgot it.
Frequently asked
Rusty, crumpled, faded: how does it work in Spanish?
Half the words for the state of a thing are not adjectives but participles, forms made from a verb. Oxidado comes from oxidar, gastado from gastar, roto from romper.
What does it look like in an example sentence Spanish?
“Las zapatillas están gastadas, pero las suelas siguen enteras” — The sneakers are worn out, but the soles are still intact. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.