llevar + Past Participle

Llevar Resultative

Level 6

Use llevar + agreeing participle for the amount completed so far or a result maintained over time. More activity may follow, but the construction does not guarantee it.

How It Works

Llevar + past participle often presents an accumulated result by the present or another reference point: Llevo leídas cincuenta páginas means “I have read fifty pages so far.”

Form: A common order is conjugated llevar + agreeing participle + object. Object placement can vary: ¿Cuántos episodios llevas vistos? The participle agrees with the object in gender and number: leídas tres novelas, gastados doscientos euros.

Reference point: Llevaba corregidos diez exámenes gives a total reached by a past point. Further work may be expected in context, but is not guaranteed by the construction.

Maintained result: In Mi madre lleva preparada la cena desde las siete, the result is dinner being ready since seven. This is not a count of repeated acts of preparing dinner.

Compare:

  • Haber + participle: He leído dos capítulos y todavía estoy leyendo el libro is grammatical. It does not mean the whole book is finished. Its participle stays invariable.
  • Llevar + participle: Llevo leídos dos capítulos y todavía estoy leyendo el libro. highlights the total reached so far while explicitly saying the reading continues.
  • Estar + participle: La ventana está rota describes the resulting state of the subject.
  • Tener + participle: Tengo escritas dos cartas presents a result held or available; llevar often highlights accumulation.

The recommended agreeing pattern is taught here. Invariable participles are also documented with llevar, but agreement is the recommended choice in careful usage. With a partitive object such as la mitad de los exámenes, plural corregidos can refer to the exams being counted. The documented invariable pattern can give Llevo leído tres novelas este año.; the recommended agreeing version is Llevo leídas tres novelas este año.

Examples (5)

  1. Llevo leídas cien páginas de la novela.

    I have read a hundred pages of the novel (so far).

    Word by Word: I carry read (fem. pl.) one hundred pages of the novel.

    leídas is feminine and plural to agree with cien páginas.

  2. Ya llevamos gastados más de doscientos euros.

    We have already spent more than two hundred euros.

    Word by Word: Already we carry spent (masc. pl.) more of two hundred euros.

    gastados is masculine and plural to agree with doscientos euros.

  3. Para el mediodía, ya llevaba corregidos la mitad de los exámenes.

    By noon, he had already corrected half of the exams.

    Word by Word: For the midday, already he carried corrected (masc. pl.) the half of the exams.

    Here, llevar is in the imperfect tense (llevaba) to describe accumulation in the past. corregidos agrees with los exámenes.

  4. ¿Cuántos episodios llevas vistos de esa serie?

    How many episodes of that series have you watched (so far)?

    Word by Word: How many episodes you carry seen (masc. pl.) of that series?

    vistos is masculine and plural to agree with episodios.

  5. Mi madre lleva preparada la cena desde las siete.

    My mother has had dinner ready since seven o'clock.

    Word by Word: My mother carries prepared (fem. sing.) the dinner since the seven.

    preparada is feminine and singular to agree with la cena.

Common Mistakes

  • Forgetting to make the past participle agree with the direct object.

    Llevo leídos tres novelas este año.
    Llevo leídas tres novelas este año.

    In the agreeing construction taught here, novelas is feminine plural, so use leídas, not masculine plural leídos.

  • Using an infinitive instead of a participle in the accumulated-result construction.

    Llevo ver tres películas de esa directora.
    Llevo vistas tres películas de esa directora.

    To express the completed total, use the past participle vistas, agreeing with tres películas. The infinitive ver cannot fill this participle position.

How It Connects

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llevar + Past ParticipleLevel 6Llevar Resultative

Learn This First

To understand the 'llevar + past participle' resultative construction, a learner needs to be comfortable forming both regular and irregular past participles. Additionally, because the participle in this specific construction functions adjectivally (describing the state of a quantity of things), knowledge of gender and number agreement is essential.

Words in This Pattern

llevar