Severn Spanish

Passive voice III

 

Introduction

Perhaps you have written a lab report and been told that it should be in the passive voice—“The bacteria were added to the petri dish and the dish was placed in the incubator for twenty four hours.” Aside from sounding pretty boring, the passive voice is a construction in which the subject of the sentence is being acted upon, rather than performing the action. Other English examples:

The treaty was signed by all twelve countries.

Seafood is eaten primarily in the coastal regions of the state.

The position was filled by a college student.

The ice cream was served in a glass dish.

 

Formation and usage

In Spanish and in English, the passive voice is generally something people try to avoid, as it can quickly result in very dull writing. However, like with science reports, it can come in handy and is something you should be aware of and able to use if you want.

There are several passive-type constructions in Spanish (see the advanced box below for more on those). This section will focus on what is considered the “true” passive voice, which is a compound construction.

The basic formula for the passive voice is a conjugated form of ser + the past participle (-ado/-ido form).  Note that, unlike with the perfect tenses, the past participle must be changed to reflect the number and gender of the subject. For example:

La comida fue preparada. (The food was prepared.)

El helado fue servido en una fuente de vidrio. (The ice cream was served on a glass dish.)

El teléfono fue roto por el niño. (The telephone was broken by the child.)

Los libros fueron destruidos en el fuego. (The books were destroyed in the fire.)

 

There are some important rules to be aware of when using the passive voice:

• The passive voice is not used for one-time actions in the present or imperfect. In those tenses, the passive voice indicates that the action is repeated or habitual.

Examples:

1. El pan es preparado por el chico. (The bread is prepared by the boy. The implication is that the boy always prepares the bread.)

2. Los libros del profesor famoso eran vendidas aquí. (The famous professor’s books were/used to be sold here. Again, it is implied that the books were sold there continuously, not on just one occasion. If you wish to say something like, “After his death, the famous professor’s books were sold here,” you would say, Después de su muerte, los libros de profesor famoso fueron vendidos aquí to denote a one-time occurrence.)

• Usually, you shouldn’t use this type of passive voice with subjects that do not have an article. Notice that all of the sentences above have subjects with articles.

• If the subject of your passive sentence would be an indirect object in the active construction, you should not use the passive voice. For example, Le mandó un email al profesor cannot be written in the passive as El profesor fue mandado un email. It can be expressed as Le fue mandado un email, but at that point, the active construction is just better.

 

Some notes on participles

You may have noticed that some paticiples are also adjectives that you have been using for years in a different context, perhaps with estar. One that comes to mind as a particularly excellent example is abrir—abierto, meaning "opened." You have probably heard or used this participle before: La puerta está abierta. But it is also correct to say La puerta es abierta or La puerta fue abierta. What, exactly, is the difference between a participle with estar and a participle with ser? A participle used in conjunction with estar denotes a state of being, not an action. La puerta está abierta means "The door is open" as a condition; there is no motion implied. La puerta es abierta, on the other hand, or La puerta fue abierta indicate action: the door is being or was being opened. For this reason, one might say La puerta fue abierta por Louisa (The door was opened by Louisa) but not La puerta está abierta por Louisa.

 

 

 

 

 

Next topics:

Advanced: Constructions with se