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Participles as adjectives in Spanish
In Spanish the past participle form of a verb [-ado/-ido form] is not only used with the verb haber to form compound tenses, e.g. El Pretérito Perfecto or El Pretérito Pluscuamperfecto, but they can also act as adjectives.
Have a look at the following examples:
Notice how we are using the same past participle of the verb "obsesionar" but in each sentence it agrees with the specific subject. (Carlos, obsesionado; Andrea, obsesionada; Hijos, obsesionados; Hijas, obsesionadas.)
It is very common to see these adjectives following the verb estar, as shown above, but they can also accompany the noun they are directly modifying.
For example:
Remember that there are irregular past participles (e.g cubierto, dicho, hecho, etc) which don't have the regular endings (-ado/ido).
See Irregular past participles in Spanish and Spanish irregular past participles ending in -to/-cho.
Past participles used as adjectives agree in gender and number with the noun they are referring to.
Important note:
There are common phrases in English where the gerund (-ing form) is used while in Spanish the past participle is used (-ado/-ido). For example:
Los chicos estaban sentados en el borde de la piscina.
Los chicos estaban sentando en el borde de la piscina.
The boys were sitting on the edge of the pool.
Ella estaba tumbada en el suelo.
Ella estaba tumbando en el suelo.
She was lying on the floor.
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