As in English, several past participles may be used with an active meaning, as:

• Un hombre leído: A well-read man (a man who has read much).

The following are some examples:

agradecido - grateful
atrevido - bold, daring
bien hablado - a courteous speaker
callado - taciturn
cansado - tiresome
comedido - thoughtful, considerate
corrido[1] - acute, artful
divertido - amusing
entendido - experienced, conversant
experimentado - experienced, expert
sufrido - patient

The periphrastic or progressive conjugation: "I am buying," "I was selling," "I shall be buying," etc., exists in Spanish with the following differences from English:

In the present and the past it is used, but only when the action embraces a certain length of time, otherwise the simple form "I buy," "I sold" (imperf. indic.) must be used, as:

• Fulano se arrojaba por la ventana (not se estaba arrojando).

The Spanish Academy gives this example as of an action more or less instantaneous: So-and-So was throwing himself out of the window.

The periphrastic form is inadmissible unless one is actually engaged in the action, as:

• Hoy como con mi amigo (not "estoy comiendo," because not actually engaged in the action): To-day I am dining with my friend.

In the future this construction is permissible only in such cases as:

• Cuando venga mañana, yo estaré escribiendo: To-morrow when he comes, I shall be writing.

The periphrastic form never happens with the verb ir (to go), and seldom with venir (to come).

The English present perfect (preterite compuesto) "I have done" is often used in Spanish for the past definite "I did," when the period of time in which the action took place is not specified.

The Spanish Academy gives:

• Siempre que he ido á Madrid he visitado el Prado for Whenever I went to Madrid I visited the Prado.

We even find "ayer he hecho esto ó aquello" for "yesterday I did this or that," and this is accounted for by the "nearness" of the period elapsed. Although colloquially this does not sound at all so badly as in English, well-educated Spaniards will take care to avoid it.

The second or bye-form of the imperfect subjunctive may be used also for the conditional mood, as:

• Se lo diera si lo tuviese instead of se lo daría, etc.: I should give it to him if I had it.

It is also found (in books, not in conversation) for the compound imperfect indicative, especially after que, as:

• Los consejos que le diera (for que le había dado): The advice which I had given him.

In old Spanish, and even now in poetry, we find it used for every one of the compound past tenses.

The verb "to come" should be rendered in Spanish by ir when the person is not in the place in question at the time of speaking or writing, as:

• ¿Quiere V. venir aquí á mi casa mañana? Will you come here to my house to-morrow?
• Hoy estoy indispuesto pero mañana iré á verle: To-day I am unwell (out of sorts), but to-morrow I shall come to see you.
• La vi escribir: I saw her writing; viz., I saw her write.
• La vi escribiendo: I saw her writing; viz., whilst she was writing.

The emphatic word in an English sentence is often and more elegantly translated by a paraphrase in Spanish:

• ¿Es verdad que ha comprado los géneros? Has he bought the goods?
• ¿Es él quien ha comprado los géneros? Has he bought the goods?
• ¿De veras ha comprado los géneros? Has he bought the goods?
• ¿Pues son los géneros lo que ha comprado? Has he bought the goods?
• Esta transacción hubo de arruinarle: This transaction was within an ace of ruining him.

"I believe myself to be clever," etc., is not translated "Yo me creo ser hábil," but "Yo me creo (or considero) hábil," or "Yo creo ser hábil," or "Creo que soy hábil."