Reference · module 29
When the doer is not named
Everything this module explains, on one page.
Se venden pisos
Use the se passive, which is the one Spanish prefers.
- The ordinary Spanish passive is se plus a verb agreeing with the thing: Se vende un piso. Se venden pisos.
- Nobody can be named in it. The moment you want to say by whom, this construction is no longer available.
- It is everywhere: on signs, in recipes, in instructions, in the news. Se habla español. Se ruega silencio.
The mistake you are about to make
Se vende pisos.
Se venden pisos.
Se vende on a sign sticks in the memory. The verb agrees with the thing sold: se venden pisos.
Fue construido en 1900
Use the ser passive where it belongs.
- The literal passive is ser plus a participle: El puente fue construido en 1900. It belongs to writing and to the news.
- The participle agrees with the subject: La casa fue vendida. Las casas fueron vendidas.
- The doer, when there is one, takes por: La novela fue escrita por Cervantes. This is the one passive that allows it.
The mistake you are about to make
La casa fue vendido.
La casa fue vendida.
The perfect never changes its participle, and that habit carries over. After ser it agrees: vendida.
Se dice, dicen
Report what people say without naming them.
- se dice que reports common opinion: Se dice que va a dimitir. The verb stays singular whatever follows.
- The plain ellos form does the same in speech: Dicen que va a dimitir. Nobody is named and nobody is meant.
- To attribute more carefully: según él, según el periódico, al parecer, por lo visto.
The mistake you are about to make
Se dicen que va a dimitir.
Se dice que va a dimitir.
Lots of people are saying it, so a plural looks right. Se dice que stays singular.
Turning verbs into nouns
Write the denser sentences that formal Spanish uses.
- Formal Spanish prefers a noun where speech uses a verb: La construcción del puente rather than Construyeron el puente.
- An infinitive can be a noun straight off, with an article: El fumar es malo. Nadar me relaja.
- lo plus an adjective makes an abstract noun: lo importante, lo difícil, lo mejor. It means the thing that is.
The mistake you are about to make
El importante es llegar.
Lo importante es llegar.
"The important thing" has an article, so el comes out. An abstract idea takes lo: lo importante.