Rusty, crumpled, faded: the participle standing in for the adjective
Half the words about a thing's condition in this unit are not adjectives but participles: oxidado from oxidar, gastado from gastar, arrugado from arrugar, descolorido from descolorir, roto from romper. English does exactly the same — 'a broken window', 'a faded photo' — so the logic transfers; the only work is learning the Spanish verbs they hang from. For example: “Las zapatillas están gastadas, pero las suelas…
How it works
Half the words about a thing's condition in this unit are not adjectives but participles: oxidado from oxidar, gastado from gastar, arrugado from arrugar, descolorido from descolorir, roto from romper. English does exactly the same — 'a broken window', 'a faded photo' — so the logic transfers; the only work is learning the Spanish verbs they hang from.
The form is mechanical: -ar gives -ado, -er and -ir give -ido. Manchar → manchado, torcer → torcido, pulir → pulido. The irregulars are few but frequent: roto, abierto, escrito, puesto, hecho, vuelto.
In this role the participle agrees like an ordinary adjective: la camisa arrugada, los zapatos gastados, las cortinas descoloridas. That is what distinguishes it from the participle inside he hecho, which never changes: he roto la taza, but la taza está rota.
Next — a chain worth seeing whole. One action gives a family: oxidar — to make rust, oxidarse — to rust (of the thing itself), oxidado — rusty, el óxido — rust. The same for manchar, mancharse, manchado, la mancha. Learn the verb and the adjective comes free — and the other way round.
And the last thing: with these words it is almost always estar, because the participle names a result. Está oxidado — it has rusted through. Es oxidado cannot be said: rustiness is never the essence 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 about a thing's condition in this unit are not adjectives but participles: oxidado from oxidar, gastado from gastar, arrugado from arrugar, descolorido from descolorir, roto from romper. English does exactly the same — 'a broken window', 'a faded photo' — so the logic transfers; the…
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.