Download In English, you`ll hear statements like "You shouldn`t smoke in a

In English, you'll hear statements like



"You shouldn't smoke in a hospital"
"They say she is very pretty"
"One never knows when he will turn up."
These are "impersonal expressions". In other words, we don't really have anyone specific
in mind when we say "They say..." or "One" or " You". We mean people in general. This
is what we mean by "impersonal".
Spanish has a slightly different format for expressing this Impersonal voice. Spanish adds
the pronoun se in front of verbs to make general statements. Impersonal voice using se will
use a singular verb since the se can be replaced by uno ("one").
Here are some examples:
How does one say "icecream" in Italian?
¿Cómo se dice "helado" en italiano?
You say "gelato".
Se dice "gelato".
You pay the fines on Mondays.
Se paga las multas los lunes.
Notice that the Plural Impersonal (unknown "they") does not use the se :
They say that vegetarian pizza is healthy.
Dicen que la pizza vegetariana es saludosa.
They open the stores at 9:00am.
Abren las tiendas a las nueve de la mañana.
The "Passive se" is what we call in English "the passive voice".
An Active voice is when you have a subject doing something with an active verb. In English a
Passive voice has an object having something done to it with or without an identified subject.
The Passive Voice in English uses a form of "to Be" with a Past Participle.
Let's look at some examples in English:
An Active Voice Construction
A Passive Voice Construction
Sra. Verde teaches me Spanish.
Spanish is taught to me (by Sra. Verde)
I purchased the dress.
The dress was purchased (by me)
I drove my father's new car.
My father's new car was driven (by me)
The Passive Voice in Spanish is normally formed by using se + the third person singular or
plural conjugation of a verb, similar to what we did with the Impersonal se. In Spanish
there is not a subject - identified or not!
Let's look at some examples in Spanish and English:
An Active Voice Construction
A Passive Voice Construction
Spanish
Los dependientes del almacén hablan
ruso.
Se habla ruso en el mercado.
English
The department store clerks speak
Russian.
Russian is spoken in the shopping
center.
Spanish
David escribe el libro en italiano.
Se escribe el libro en italiano.
English
David is writing the book in Italian.
The book is written in Italian.
Spanish
La heladería vende una gran cantidad de
helado.
Se vende una gran cantidad de helado.
English
The ice cream store sells a large
quantity of ice cream.
A large quantity of ice cream is sold.
Spanish
Mis amigos comieron la torta.
Se comió la torta.
English
My friends ate the cake.
The cake was eaten.