The Passive and Impersonal Verbs

The Passive Voice

The passive voice is used in Spanish to describe actions where the person or thing that does the action is not important or not specified.
In the passive voice, the object of the action becomes the subject of the sentence.
The passive voice in Spanish has a similar structure to that in English, using the verb ser (to be) followed by the past participle of the verb.
It includes por (by) if the person or thing that does the action is mentioned.
For example, La puerta fue cerrada (The door was closed). If we add who did the action: La puerta fue cerrada por Juan (The door was closed by Juan).

The Impersonal ‘Se’

The impersonal ‘se’ is a common feature of Spanish used to express an action without specifying who performed it.
It is often equivalent to English passive constructions with ‘one’, ‘you’, or ‘they’, or to the general ‘we’.
For example, Se vive bien en esta ciudad (One lives well in this city).

Impersonal Constructions with ‘Uno’

‘Uno’ can also be used to form impersonal constructions, similar to ‘one’ in English.
For example, Uno no puede entender todo (One cannot understand everything).

Reflexive Verbs

Reflexive verbs in Spanish can sometimes give a passive feeling by focusing the action back on the performer.
Reflexive forms of verbs are often used in place of the passive voice.
For example, Se vendieron todas las entradas (All the tickets were sold).

Remember when using ‘se’ for impersonal or passive constructions, the verb must agree with the noun in the sentence. Also, ‘se’ comes before the verb in the sentence. Make sure the verbs in your passive sentences match the subjects in gender and number.