Download Impersonal “se” (passive voice)

Impersonal “se” (passive voice)
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 (one says) "gelato".
Se dice "gelato".
How do you spell "Valencia"?
¿Cómo se escribe "Valencia"?
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
La heladería vende una gran
cantidad de helado..
Se comió la torta.
English
My friends ate the cake.
The cake was eaten.
Spanish
Los choferes pagan las multas
los lunes.
Se pagan las multas los lunes.
English
Drivers pay the fines on
Mondays.
The fines are paid on Mondays.