Passive Voice by Julie Gutin
Passive voice makes it possible to drop the subject of the verb from the sentence by putting the object in its place and substituting the active verb with the correct form of ser (“to be”) and a past participle. To refresh your memory, here's how to conjugate ser in the present indicative:
soy |
somos |
eres |
sois |
es |
son |
Passive voice works the same way in English and in Spanish.
Here is how to turn an active voice sentence into a passive voice one:
Carlos escribió la carta.
Carlos wrote the letter.
La carta es escrita.
The letter is written.
As you can see, the switch to passive voice makes it possible to have the letter, and not Carlos, as the subject of the sentence, even though it's the object of the verb's action. The “real” subject, Carlos, is dropped from the sentence. It's possible to add Carlos back in, as long as it's in the prepositional phrase with por (by):
La carta es escrita por Carlos.
The letter is written by Carlos.
Here's another example:
El trabajo es hecho por Manuel.
The work is done by Manuel.
The Past Participle</h2>
<p>To use the passive voice, you need to know how to form a past participle. The past participle is the same form that is used in compound tenses with <B>haber</B> (to have): <B>he comprado</B> (I have bought); <B>habrían viviendo</B> (they would have lived), and so on. In Spanish, the rule for forming the past participle are pretty simple: drop the infinitive ending and add the correct past participle ending.</p>
<table frame="all" width="100%">
<h2>
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<colspec colname="col3" colnum="3" colwidth="30%" colsep="0" rowsep="0" align="left"/>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><p><B>verb group</B></p></td>
<td><p><B>past participle ending</B></p></td>
<td><p><B>examples</B></p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>-ar verbs</p></td>
<td><p>-ado</p></td>
<td><p><B>hablado (spoken)</B></p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>-er verbs</p></td>
<td><p>-ido</p></td>
<td><p><B>perdido (lost)</B></p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>-ir verbs</p></td>
<td><p>-ido</p></td>
<td><p><B>vivido (lived)</B></p></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</table>
<p>The same verbs that are irregular as present participles (-er and -ir verbs with a stem ending in a vowel) are also irregular as past participles. This time, they gain an accent mark over the end-stem vowel:</p>
<table frame="all" width="100%">
<tgroup cols="3">
<colspec colname="col1" colnum="1" colwidth="35%" colsep="0" rowsep="0" align="left"/>
<colspec colname="col2" colnum="2" colwidth="35%" colsep="0" rowsep="0" align="left"/>
<colspec colname="col3" colnum="3" colwidth="30%" colsep="0" rowsep="0" align="left"/>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><p><B>caer</B></p></td>
<td><p><B>caído</B></p></td>
<td><p>fallen</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p><B>creer</B></p></td>
<td><p><B>creído</B></p></td>
<td><p>believed</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p><B>leer</B></p></td>
<td><p><B>leído</B></p></td>
<td><p>read</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p><B>oír</B></p></td>
<td><p><B>oído</B></p></td>
<td><p>listened</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p><B>traer</B></p></td>
<td><p><B>traído</B></p></td>
<td><p>brought</p></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</table>
<p><B>Other examples of irregular past participles are:</B></p>
<table frame="all" width="100%">
<tgroup cols="3">
<colspec colname="col1" colnum="1" colwidth="35%" colsep="0" rowsep="0" align="left"/>
<colspec colname="col2" colnum="2" colwidth="35%" colsep="0" rowsep="0" align="left"/>
<colspec colname="col3" colnum="3" colwidth="30%" colsep="0" rowsep="0" align="left"/>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><p><B>abrir</B></p></td>
<td><p><B>abierto</B></p></td>
<td><p>opened</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p><B>cubrir</B></p></td>
<td><p><B>cubierto</B></p></td>
<td><p>covered</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p><B>decir</B></p></td>
<td><p><B>dicho</B></p></td>
<td><p>said</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p><B>escribir</B></p></td>
<td><p><B>escrito</B></p></td>
<td><p>written</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p><B>hacer</B></p></td>
<td><p><B>hecho</B></p></td>
<td><p>done</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p><B>ir</B></p></td>
<td><p><B>ido</B></p></td>
<td><p>gone</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p><B>morir</B></p></td>
<td><p><B>muerto</B></p></td>
<td><p>died</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p><B>poner</B></p></td>
<td><p><B>puesto</B></p></td>
<td><p>put</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p><B>romper</B></p></td>
<td><p><B>roto</B></p></td>
<td><p>broken</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p><B>ser</B></p></td>
<td><p><B>sido</B></p></td>
<td><p>been</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p><B>ver</B></p></td>
<td><p><B>visto</B></p></td>
<td><p>seen</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p><B>volver</B></p></td>
<td><p><B>vuelto</B></p></td>
<td><p>returned</p></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</table>
<div class="npsb">
<title> ALERT</h2>
<p>Passive voice is rarely used in good writing because you lose the clarity of who performed the action of the verb, but sometimes that's intentional. For example, saying “the vase is broken” is a nicer way of saying that Janet broke the vase.</p>
</div>
<p>Whereas the past participle only has one form when it's used in compound tenses, in the passive voice it must agree with the subject of the sentence (that is, the object of the action) in gender and number. Compare:</p>
<p><B>El asunto es arreglado por el presidente de la companía.</B></p>
<p>The matter is settled by the company's president.</p>
<p><B>La cuestión es resuelta por el presidente de la companía.</B></p>
<p>The question is resolved by the company's president.</p>
<p><B>Los asuntos son arreglados por el presidente de la companía.</B></p>
<p>The matters are settled by the company's president.</p>
<p><B>Las cuestiones son resueltas por el presidente de la companía.</B></p>
<p>The questions are resolved by the company's president.</p>
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