School of Modern Languages & Cultures Department of Hispanic Studies

Avoiding the passive in Spanish

Go straight to >> estar/quedar/verse verb with se active construction

1. Definition

The passive voice in English consists of 'to be' + past participle:

This house was built by Jack. He was paid a huge fee by the contractors.

The difference between 'This house was built by Jack' and the active sentence 'Jack built this house' is that the passive allows the object of the action (the house) to begin the sentence, by turning it into the subject of the verb. This would occur in a situation in which the house is the main point of interest signalled by what has been said before: the existing topic is the house, and the identity of the builder (the agent of the action) is new information added along the way.  The second sentence is the equivalent of 'The contractors paid a huge fee to him': in this case, it is the indirect object ('to him') that is turned into the subject of the passive sentence.

In Spanish, la voz pasiva consists of 'ser' + past participle:

Esta casa fue construida por Juan.

The past participle must agree with the subject of the passive sentence ('casa ... construida'). The second English example ('He was paid a huge fee by the contractors') cannot be converted directly into a passive construction in Spanish, since only the direct object of an active verb can be made the subject of a passive sentence (so 'A huge fee was paid to him' > 'Le fueron pagados unos honorarios enormes' would be possible). Strictly speaking, 'estar' + past participle is not passive: see point 3.(a) below.

2. The problem

English speakers are often tempted to reproduce in Spanish passive structures from English, but need to be aware that the passive is used much less often in Spanish than in English, especially when the agent is not expressed. 'El inglés es hablado' (or 'Es hablado el inglés') is a very unsatisfactory translation of 'English is spoken'. There are three ways of expressing a passive idea in Spanish without using the passive voice.

3. Other verb + past participle

(a) Estar: expresses the result of the action having taken place, whereas the passive expresses the action taking place.

The leaflets are written in Spanish.

Los  folletos están escritos en español (= someone has written them). Los folletos son escritos en español (= someone is writing them, or usually writes them).

(b) Quedar: can function as the equivalent of either ser or estar, so it can be useful as a way of avoiding having to decide between them. Resultar can be used in similar ways.

She was wounded.

Quedó herida (= fue herida) (got wounded). Quedaba herida (= estaba herida).

(c) Verse: does the job of ser + past participle, usually with a human subject.

He'll be forced to resign.

Se verá obligado a dimitir (= será obligado).

4. Verb with se

(a) Working like a true reflexive (i.e., it looks as if it means that the subject does the action to itself), with the verb agreeing with its grammatical subject.

Books are sold in the street.	Se venden libros en la calle (looks like it means that books sell themselves, but it clearly isn't a true reflexive).
The president's bodyguards could be seen everywhere.	Por todas partes se veían los guardaespaldas del presidente (could possibly mean that the bodyguards were seeing themselves or each other).

(b) Impersonal: se acts as the subject of the verb, which is singular. This is not strictly correct, except when used as a way of avoiding the type of ambiguity shown above in the bodyguards example. The person who is the subject of the passive sentence in English can now be the direct object (marked with 'personal a').

Books are sold in the street.	Se vende libros en la calle (not as acceptable as 'se venden').
The president's bodyguards could be seen everywhere.	Por todas partes se veía a los guardaespaldas del presidente (removes the ambiguity).

5. Active construction

(a) With an unspecified subject (verb in 3rd person plural). Only used when the agent is not mentioned.

She was wounded.	La hirieron.
Books are sold in the street.	Venden libros en la calle.

(b) When the agent is expressed, this can be the subject of an active sentence but still appear after the verb.

This house was built by Jack.

Esta casa la construyó Juan.

Spanish achieves the aim of making the existing topic (the house) the focus of the beginning of the sentence by putting the direct object before the verb. The pleonastic pronoun la is added in order to confirm that 'esta casa' is not subject but object.

M.P. Thompson Updated Feb 2007

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