16.5 Passive Voice Language Lesson

16.5 Passive Voice
Language & Culture Lessons
La Voz Pasiva
¡Hola! And welcome to our lesson on the Passive Voice. La voz pasiva.
I want to talk about 2 different ways to use the Passive voice in Spanish:
1. Using the verb SER with the Past Participles
2. Using the SE form of the passive.
Are you ready? ¿Estás listo? ¿Estás lista?
Language Lesson
La Voz Pasiva
First, let's talk about what the Passive voice is...
The Passive voice of a verb is used to speak of the subject being on the receiving end of the action instead of doing the
action.
In English, we often use the Active voice, such as in:
"Mario stole the secret message."
Here, "Mario" is the subject, "stole" is the verb and "the secret message" is the object.
Subject → Object → Verb
This is the typical order of an English sentence. "Mario" is also called the Agent - the person carrying out the action.
Now, let's try saying this in the Passive voice – it would look like this:
"The secret message (now becoming the subject) was stolen by Mario."
Notice that the Agent "Mario" comes at the end. The verb compound "was stolen" is the passive form of the active verb
"stole." Notice the verb "was" in there? That's where the verb SER in Spanish comes in with the Past Participle.
Passive with SER and Past Participle
Remember that the Past Participles are those words that end in -ado, or -ido.
So, let's look at the same sentence above in Spanish.
The Active voice sentence: "Mario stole the secret message" would be...
Mario robó el mensaje secreto.
Mario stole the secret message.
As in English, 'Mario' is the subject, 'robó' is the active verb, and 'el mensaje secreto' is the direct object.
How do we change this sentence into 'La Voz Pasiva' using the verb SER?
1. Place the direct object in the front : El mensaje secreto.
2. Combine the past form of SER and our verb 'robar' in the past participle: fue + robado
3. Add por (for) - to introduce the agent.
4. End with the agent who was our subject: Mario.
El mensaje secreto fue robado por...
The secret message was stolen by...
The secret message was stolen by Mario.
El mensaje secreto fue robado por Mario.
¡ATENCIÒN!
The Past Participle and the object receiving the action (also called Recipient) must agree in number and gender. In
other words, the form of the Past Participle will match the item that has been affected.
In this case, 'El mensaje secreto' is a masculine, singular noun and 'fue robado' is also in the masculine, singular verb
form.
The pattern is as follows:
[recipient] + SER + [past participle] + POR + [agent]
All tenses of the verb SER are conjugated normally:
Recipient
Action
'SER'
singular
present
es
plural
present
son
singular
past
fue
plural
past
fueron
singular
future
será
plural
future
serán
Por ejemplo:
ACTIVE VOICE
PASSIVE VOICE
El autor escribe el libro.
El libro es escrito por el autor.
In this sentence, the object receiving the action (Recipient) is a masculine-singular noun: 'El libro' (the book). The Past
Participle must agree in gender and number to the Recipient - so it takes the masculine-singular form of 'escribir'
which is 'escrito'. Also, the form of SER must agree in number with the Recipient 'El libro' - so we end up with the
following combination:
[recipient] +
El libro
The book
Otro ejemplo:
SER
es
is
+
[past participle]
escrito
written
+
POR +
[agent]
por
el autor.
by
the author.
El niño será regañado por la maestra.
The boy will be scolded by the teacher.
ACTIVE VOICE
The teacher will scold the boy.
La maestra regañará al niño.
PASSIVE VOICE
The boy will be scolded by the teacher.
El niño será regañado por la maestra.
Here, the object receiving the action (Recipient) is a masculine-singular noun: 'El niño' (the boy).
The Past Participle must agree in gender and number to the Recipient - so it takes the masculine-singular form of
'regañar': 'regañado' (scolded)
The form of SER must agree in number with the Recipient 'El niño' - and, since the Active verb 'regañará' (will scold)
refers to the future, we end up with the following combination:
[recipient] +
El niño
The boy
SER +
será
will be
[past participle] +
regañado
scolded
POR +
[agent]
por
la maestra.
by
the teacher.
Más ejemplos:
ACTIVE VOICE
María preparará la cena.
María will prepare the dinner.
PASSIVE VOICE
La cena será preparada por María.
The dinner will be prepared by María.
ACTIVE VOICE
Todos aman a Amy.
Everyone loves Amy.
PASSIVE VOICE
Amy es amada por todos.
ACTIVE VOICE
Amy is loved by everyone.
The father punished his son.
El padre castigó a su hijo.
PASSIVE VOICE
The son was punished by his father.
El hijo fue castigado por su padre.
Voz pasiva refleja con SE
If no "doer" is specified, that is, when the subject is inanimate and there is no specified agent of the action, the Passive
SE construction is used. This is also know as as the Passive reflexive or Voz pasiva refleja. This type of passive is used
when the agent is unimportant, unknown, or indefinite.
Check out the following construction:
[recipient] + SE + [3rd person singular or plural]
Se + verb conjugated in the 3rd person singular or plural pattern for passive voice is much more frequently used in
conversations. The verb appears in the third person, singular or plural, according to the subject.
Here's an active Spanish sentence:
El empleado abrió la tienda a las nueve.
The employee opened the store at nine.
Let's change this sentence into the passive voice using the SER + Past Participle construction - following the steps that
we've learned above:
[recipient] +
La tienda
The shop
SER +
fue
was
[past participle]
abierta
opened
+
POR +
[agent]
por
el empleado.
by
the employee.
The shop was opened by the employee
La tienda fue abierta por el empleado.
Now, when the agent or 'El empleado' (the DOER of the action) in not important or can be left out – that is, if the point
you want to get across is that “the store opened at 9” regardless of who opened it, you can use the Voz pasiva refleja
construction with SE:
[recipient] +
La tienda
The shop
La tienda se abrió a las nueve.
SE +
se
was
[3rd person singular] + [rest of sentence]
abrió
a las nueve.
opened
at nine.
The store was opened at nine.
The verb 'se abrió' agrees in number and gender with the third person singular, 'la tienda'. The SE is like an
"indefinite subject" so it ends up meaning something like, "Someone did the action (of opening the store at 9)."
Let's take a look at another example:
Juan rompió la ventana ayer.
Juan broke the window yesterday.
Suppose you only wanted to focus on "the window" being broken yesterday. You can drop the agent "Juan" from the
sentence making "the window" the recipient, or subject of our sentence:
La ventana se rompió ayer.
The window was broken yesterday.
*Note that there is an agreement of the verb, being in the third person singular 'se rompió' with the new subject,
which is also in the third person singular 'la ventana'.
If we are speaking of more than one window breaking, we use a plural verb:
Las ventanas se rompieron ayer.
The windows were broken yesterday.
Once again, there is an agreement of the verb, being in the third person plural 'se rompieron' with the new subject,
which is also in the third person plural 'las ventanas'.
¡ATENCIÒN!
When you use the SE passive, you can't use POR (for). So, if you want to name the agent, stick with the SER + Past
Participle passive pattern.
Culture
Food in the Latin world
Latin American cuisine is a mixture of Spanish inheritance with local ingredients and adaptations, where casseroles,
doughs and potatoes are widely consumed.
It's not difficult to find dishes of Mayan origin made with corn based products in Central America , or traces of Inca
flavors in Peru, capital of the empire of Tupac Humaru.
Perhaps it is the knowledge that comes with the background of a great empire that makes Peruvian cookery
renowned worldwide. Peru can boast being the country with the most traditional dishes in the world - having an
impressive number of nearly 500 traditional dishes!
The fast food that Latin America offers is a combination of international and well known dishes, like hamburgers and
pizzas, with local cuisine elements, like empanadas, burritos and arepas - a circular filled pastry or corn flour cake
that can be steamed, baked, fried or boiled. And don't expect any Asian noodles at shopping malls, they barely exist at
all!
If you are a meat lover, Argentina and Uruguay are the places to go.
Spicy? Mexico is the winner, with dangerous dishes for untrained stomachs.
Slow baked dishes, the kind you would expect your granny to cook? Venezuela, Colombia and Chile.
A taste of international flavors? Buenos Aires, the most European and fashionable city in Latin America.
And for homesick stomachs, you can always get a burger with ketchup, but don't miss out on the exquisite cuisine
experience on this side of the world - the Latin world.
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