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Spanish: AQA A Level, topic 16.25.1
La voz activa y pasiva - Active and passive voice
La voz activa
- In the active voice, the subject of a sentence performs the action of the verb.
- El camarero sirve la comida.
- The waiter serves the food.
- Spanish normally places the subject first, then the verb, then the object.
- El profesor corrige los exámenes.
- The teacher corrects the exams.
La voz pasiva con ser
- In the passive voice, the subject receives the action of the verb.
- Los exámenes son corregidos por el profesor.
- The exams are corrected by the teacher.
- Spanish forms this passive with ser plus a past participle.
- A past participle is the verb form used after 'have', like 'corregido'.
- The agent (the person who does the action) is introduced with por (by).
- La carta fue escrita por Ana.
- The letter was written by Ana.
La concordancia del participio
- The past participle agrees in gender and number with the subject.
- The agreement applies in the passive built with ser.
- La carta fue escrita por Ana.
- The letter was written by Ana.
- Los libros fueron escritos por el autor.
- The books were written by the author.
- Las cartas fueron escritas por Ana.
- The letters were written by Ana.
La pasiva refleja con 'se'
- Spanish often avoids the passive with ser.
- Instead, Spanish uses se plus a verb.
- The se structure sounds more natural in everyday Spanish.
- Se habla español aquí.
- Spanish is spoken here.
- Spanish calls this structure the passive se (pasiva refleja).
- The verb matches the noun that comes next.
- Se venden casas.
- Houses are sold.
- Se necesitan camareros.
- Waiters are needed.
Test yourself on Coming Soon
Decide which statement about Spanish voice is correct.
Which Spanish verb combines with a past participle to form the passive voice, as in la carta fue escrita?
Which sentence correctly applies the rule that the verb in the se passive agrees with the noun that follows it, for a singular noun?