Grammar Wall

La voz pasiva

Do you recognize any of these expressions?

     You have seen the form quite a bit in the cultural sections of this course and have possibly seen them outside of your studies, in stores and on packages. Let’s formally introduced this form now. This is called the passive voice.

     Typically, we use the active voice: "I speak Spanish." "I'm selling my car." "I write in Spanish." These are examples of the active voice because someone is doing the action. In the passive voice, the action is being done. The book is written by the author. The songs are sung by the choir.

     En español....es muy fácil expresar la voz pasiva. Se usa el presente del verbo con "se" enfrente.

Se reparan carros aquí.
Se venden libros aquí.
Se comen tacos en México.

     Sometimes in English, we say "people...." or "they....", or even "you...." when we really want to express the passive voice. This is all expressed by "se + el verbo" en español.

Para aprender sobre la voz pasiva haz clic en el siguiente enlace: How to use Impersonal Se / Passive Se in Spanish