Passive and Se

Spanish Grammar 4

Course 4 · Chapter 7 · The Passive Voice and Impersonal Se

🔄 Passive and Impersonal — Voz pasiva y se impersonal

English leans heavily on the passive: "The house was built in 1900", "English is spoken here", "Things get forgotten". Spanish has a real passive too, but uses it mostly in writing and the news. In everyday speech it prefers other tools: the reflexive se, an impersonal third person plural, and uno. This chapter covers all of them, plus the useful se me olvidó construction for things that "happen to you".

The rule in one box Passive with ser: ser + past participle (agreeing with the subject) + por + agent: La carta fue escrita por Ana. Passive se: se + 3rd person verb agreeing with the thing: Se venden pisos. Impersonal se: se + 3rd person singular, no subject: Se come bien aquí.

The passive with ser

Active	Passive (ser + participle)
Ana escribió la carta. Ana wrote the letter.	La carta fue escrita por Ana. The letter was written by Ana.
Cervantes escribió Don Quijote.	Don Quijote fue escrito por Cervantes.
La policía detuvo a los ladrones. The police arrested the thieves.	Los ladrones fueron detenidos por la policía. The thieves were arrested by the police.
Muchos turistas visitan el museo.	El museo es visitado por muchos turistas. The museum is visited by many tourists.
Construirán un puente. They will build a bridge.	Un puente será construido. A bridge will be built.

The participle agrees in gender and number with the subject (escrita, escrito, detenidos), and ser can be in any tense: es, fue, será, ha sido, había sido. The agent is introduced by por; if the agent is unknown or unimportant it is left out (La puerta fue cerrada.).

Watch out: ser + participle against estar + participle Ser + participle describes an action (La puerta fue cerrada a las ocho. The door was closed at eight). Estar + participle describes the resulting state (La puerta está cerrada. The door is closed). Spanish rarely uses the ser passive in speech; Cerraron la puerta or Se cerró la puerta is more natural.

The passive se

Passive se	Meaning
Se vende un piso. / Se venden pisos.	A flat is for sale. / Flats are for sale.
Se habla español aquí. / Se hablan varios idiomas aquí.	Spanish is spoken here. / Several languages are spoken here.
Se necesita un camarero. / Se necesitan camareros.	A waiter is needed. / Waiters are needed.
¿Cómo se escribe tu nombre?	How is your name written?
Estos libros se publicaron en 1990.	These books were published in 1990.

How the passive se works The thing acted upon is the grammatical subject, and the verb agrees with it: se vende un piso (singular), se venden pisos (plural). An agent with por is not normally added to a se sentence. The word order is flexible: Se venden pisos = Pisos se venden (the first is more common).

The impersonal se

When there is no specific subject and the sentence is about "people in general" (English "one", "you", "they"), Spanish uses se + the third person singular, which never changes:

Impersonal se	Meaning
Se come bien aquí.	One eats well here. / The food is good here.
En España se cena tarde.	In Spain people have dinner late.
Se vive bien en esta ciudad.	Life is good in this city.
No se puede fumar aquí.	You can't smoke here.
Se busca a una persona responsable.	A responsible person is wanted.

Watch out: passive se or impersonal se? With a thing as object, the verb agrees with it (passive: Se venden pisos.). With a specific person as object, the verb stays singular and the personal a appears (impersonal: Se busca a una persona. · Se busca a los ladrones.). With an intransitive verb (comer, vivir, dormir), there is no object, so the verb is always singular: Se duerme bien aquí.

Impersonal third person plural and uno

Construction	Example
3rd person plural, "they" (unspecified)	Dicen que va a llover. They say it's going to rain. Llaman a la puerta. Someone is knocking at the door. Me han robado la cartera. My wallet has been stolen.
uno / una, "one, you"	Uno nunca sabe qué va a pasar. You never know what will happen. Cuando una está cansada, no piensa bien. When you're tired (said by a woman), you don't think clearly.
tú, general "you"	Si no estudias, no apruebas. If you don't study, you don't pass.

The 3rd plural hides the doer (llaman a la puerta, "someone is knocking"), and it is the most natural way to say a passive in conversation (Me han robado la cartera, not "My wallet was stolen by someone"). Uno is a general "one" that may refer to the speaker, and a woman can say una. Spanish se and uno are close in meaning: Se vive bien aquí ≈ Uno vive bien aquí.

Se with accidents: se me olvidó

Spanish presents unplanned events as things that happen to you, not things you do: the thing becomes the subject and the person becomes an indirect object. The pattern is se + indirect object pronoun + verb, the verb agreeing with the thing:

Pattern	Example	Literally
se me olvidó	Se me olvidó la llave. I forgot my key.	The key forgot itself to me.
se te cayó	Se te cayó el móvil. You dropped your phone.	The phone fell to you.
se le perdió	Se le perdieron las gafas. He lost his glasses.	The glasses lost themselves to him.
se nos acabó	Se nos acabó el pan. We ran out of bread.	The bread finished on us.
se les rompió	Se les rompió el coche. Their car broke down.	The car broke on them.
se me ocurrió	Se me ocurrió una idea. I had an idea.	An idea occurred to me.

Common verbs: olvidarse, caerse, perderse, acabarse, romperse, ocurrirse, quedarse (Se me quedó el paraguas en casa, I left my umbrella at home). The verb agrees with the thing (se me olvidó la llave, se me olvidaron las llaves), and the pronoun me, te, le, nos, os, les says who was affected. For emphasis add a + person: A mí se me olvidó. · A Pedro se le cayó el vaso.

Watch out: the plural A common error is making the verb agree with the person: ✗ Se me olvidé la llave. The thing is the subject: Se me olvidó la llave. (one key) · Se me olvidaron las llaves. (several keys). And use se only for the accident: if you did it on purpose, use a normal verb (Dejé la llave en casa).

Latin America note The passive se, the impersonal se and se me olvidó are used throughout the Spanish-speaking world. In writing and news, the ser passive is more common than in speech. The impersonal third person plural (dicen que…) is used everywhere; the impersonal use of uno is likewise general.

🗣️ In Use — En situación

① In a shop window

A:Mira, aquí se alquilan bicicletas y se venden mapas.Look, bikes are rented and maps are sold here.

B:Perfecto. Se me olvidó el mapa en el hotel, y aquí se habla inglés.Perfect. I left the map at the hotel, and English is spoken here.

② At a restaurant

A:¿Se come bien en este sitio? Dicen que sí.Is the food good in this place? They say it is.

B:Sí, pero hoy se nos acabó el pescado. Uno no siempre tiene suerte.Yes, but today we ran out of fish. You don't always get lucky.

③ Bad day

A:Se me cayó el móvil y se me rompió la pantalla. Y me han robado la cartera.I dropped my phone and the screen broke. And my wallet has been stolen.

B:¡Qué día! La policía fue avisada por el camarero, pero no se encontró nada.What a day! The police were called by the waiter, but nothing was found.

📋 Quick Reference — Resumen

Topic	Summary
passive with ser	ser + participle (agrees) + por: fue escrita por Ana
ser against estar	fue cerrada (action) / está cerrada (state)
passive se	se + verb agreeing with the thing: se venden pisos
impersonal se	se + 3rd singular: se come bien; se busca a una persona
3rd plural	dicen que…, llaman a la puerta
uno / una	"one": uno nunca sabe
accidents	se + me/te/le/nos/os/les + verb agreeing with the thing: se me olvidó la llave

✏️ Try It Yourself — Ejercicios

Say the answer first, then click to check.

1. Make passive with ser: "Ana escribió la carta." · "La policía detuvo a los ladrones."

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La carta fue escrita por Ana. · Los ladrones fueron detenidos por la policía.

2. Ser or estar? "La puerta (fue / estaba) cerrada a las ocho por el portero." · "La tienda (fue / está) cerrada ahora."

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fue (an action, with an agent) · está (a state).

3. Use the passive se: "They sell flats." · "They speak Spanish here."

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Se venden pisos. · Aquí se habla español.

4. Singular or plural? "Se (necesita / necesitan) un camarero." · "Se (necesita / necesitan) camareros."

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necesita · necesitan.

5. Complete with the impersonal se: "En España (cenar) tarde." · "(Vivir) bien en esta ciudad."

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se cena · Se vive.

6. Choose the verb form: "Se (busca / buscan) a una persona responsable." · "Se (busca / buscan) coches usados."

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busca (a person: personal a, singular) · buscan (things: plural agreement).

7. Rewrite with the impersonal third plural: "Someone is knocking at the door." · "They say it will rain."

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Llaman a la puerta. · Dicen que va a llover.

8. Say in Spanish (accident): "I forgot my key." · "She dropped her phone." · "We ran out of bread."

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Se me olvidó la llave. · Se le cayó el móvil. · Se nos acabó el pan.

9. Singular or plural? "Se me (olvidó / olvidaron) las llaves." · "Se te (cayó / cayeron) el vaso."

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olvidaron · cayó.

10. Correct the mistakes: Se vende pisos. · Se me olvidé la llave. · Se buscan a una persona. · La carta fue escrito por Ana. · A Pedro se le cayeron el vaso.

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Se venden pisos · Se me olvidó la llave · Se busca a una persona (a person: singular verb with the personal a) · La carta fue escrita por Ana · A Pedro se le cayó el vaso.

Coming up in Chapter 8: Reported Speech. Dijo que + the shifts in tense, pronouns and time words; reporting questions and commands; the sequence of tenses; decir que + subjunctive (a command) against + indicative (a report).