Explicación de la Voz Pasiva

Folkart / 3105 Passive Voice (La voz pasiva)
I. La voz activa vs. La voz pasiva: ¿Qué significan?
An “active voice” sentence simply means that the subject of the verb does the action actively.
Examples: You write letters. Juan designs buildings. They conjugate verbs. The students
closed the door. (Tú escribes cartas. Juan diseña edificios. Ellos conjugan verbos. Los
estudiantes cerraron la puerta.) You, Juan, They, and The students are the subjects of the
verbs, and they all actually do something actively.
In contrast, the “passive voice” means that the subject of the verb is passive; in other words,
it is the subject of the verb but it does not do anything actively. It does the verb passively. In
English, the passive verb is the verb “to be.” Examples: The letters are written. The
buildings are designed. The verbs are conjugated. The door was closed.
How do you get to passive voice from active voice? The passive voice basically takes what
was the Direct Object in the active voice, and turns that active voice Direct Object into the
passive voice Subject. Example: You write letters Æ The letters are written. Juan designs
buildings Æ Buildings are designed. They conjugate verbs Æ Verbs are conjugated. The
students closed the door Æ The door was closed.
II. Passive Voice in Spanish: 3 choices
There are 3 different ways of expressing the English passive voice in Spanish. The way you
choose depends on the nuances you want to communicate with your sentence—each choice
communicates something different! Many of these nuances are lost in the English version of
the passive voice.
As an example, let’s take the sentence “The door was closed” and look at the 3 different
translations and when to use each one.
1. First, ask yourself: Is this sentence describing a resultant condition (as in describing a
condition or state that resulted from a previous action) or focusing on a passive
action?
To describe a resultant condition, use sujeto pasivo + ESTAR + participio
pasado como adjetivo: La puerta estaba cerrada. This sentence just describes the
state or condition of the door as being closed. Notice that the past participle, when
used as an adjective, must agree in number and gender with the noun. (You already
learned this earlier this semester).
2. If you are not describing a resultant condition, then you are focusing on an action that
took place (the door being closed), which requires the passive voice. There are two
types of passive voice in Spanish: The ‘ser’ pasivo and the ‘se’ pasivo. Here’s how
you know whether to choose ‘ser’ pasivo vs. ‘se’ pasivo:
a. Use the ‘ser’ pasivo when the person who did that passive action is
mentioned, or at least implied to be of importance. This person is called
the ‘agent.’ The ‘ser’ pasivo follows the English structure fairly closely.
This ‘ser’ pasivo structure is: sujeto pasivo + SER + participio pasado
como adjetivo + por + agente.
Folkart / 3105 Ej: La puerta fue cerrada por los estudiantes. (Note: even if you don’t
mention “los estudiantes,” the fact that you choose the ‘ser’ pasivo implies
that it matters that the door got closed by somebody).
DETAILS ON HOW TO FORM THE SER PASIVO FROM THE ACTIVE VOICE SENTENCE: Active voice example: Julia compró los vestidos. ‘Ser’ pasivo: Los vestidos fueron comprados por Julia. 1. Take the Direct Object of the original, active voice sentence and make it the passive subject in the new sentence. In the Active Voice example (Julia compró los vestidos), the Direct Object is “los vestidos,” so that will be the subject in the new passive voice sentence. So our new, ‘Ser pasivo’ sentence starts like this: Los vestidos… 2. Check the tense of the original verb; conjugate ‘ser’ in that tense and make ‘ser’ agree with the passive subject. Example: the original, active voice verb “ compró” is in the preterite, so conjugate ‘ser’ in the preterite: Los vestidos fueron… 3. Check the original verb for what vocabulary word it is. Turn that vocab word into a past participle. Ex: The vocabulary word of the original, active voice verb is ‘comprar,’ so we turn it into a past participle, ‘comprado.’ 4. Make the past participle agree in number and gender with the passive subject. Ex: Los vestidos fueron comprados… 5. Find the person who was the subject of the original active voice sentence. This person is now the ‘agent’ in the passive voice sentence. Put the agent after the past participle, following the word ‘por.’ Ex: The active voice subject was “Julia,” so she is now the agent in the passive voice: Los vestidos fueron comprados por Julia. So we use the ‘ser’ pasivo when the agent is stated or implicitly matters. BUT…
b. Use the ‘se’ pasivo when we don’t give a fig who did the passive action
(who the agent was); we only care that the passive action happened.
YOU CAN NEVER USE THE ‘SE’ PASIVO WHEN YOU ARE NAMING
Folkart / 3105 WHO DID THE PASSIVE ACTION! So if you want to mention that the door
was closed by the students, then you must use the ‘ser’ pasivo.
DETAILS ON HOW TO FORM THE ‘SE’ PASIVO
FROM THE ACTIVE VOICE SENTENCE
I. If the Direct Object of your Active Voice sentence is inanimate
(a thing), then follow this formula: SE + verbo + sujeto pasivo.
Active voice example: Julia compró los vestidos.
‘Se’ pasivo: Se compraron los vestidos.
1. Start by writing the pronoun ‘Se.’
2. Skip a space for your verb, then turn the Active Voice direct
object into your Passive Voice subject. The direct object in
the example is “los vestidos,” so this becomes the new passive
subject: Se __________ los vestidos.
3. Conjugate the same, original verb from your active voice
sentence in the same tense as the original verb, making it
agree with the passive subject. The active voice verb was
“comprar” conjugated in the preterite. So we conjugate
“comprar” in the preterite, now making it agree with the
passive subject, los vestidos: Se compraron los vestidos.
II. If the Direct Object of your Active Voice sentence is animate,
then basically you just use the impersonal ‘se’, and keep the Direct
Object as a Direct Object, which still requires the ‘a’ personal. So use
this formula: SE + verbo en tercera persona singular + a + objeto
directo.
Active Voice Example: Adorábamos a los niños.
‘Se’ pasivo: Se adoraba a los niños.
1. Start by writing ‘Se.’
2. Skip a space for your verb, then write the ‘a’ personal and the
direct object: Se ______________ a los niños.
3. Conjugate the original verb in the original tense, but in the
third person singular: Se adoraba a los niños.
PRACTICA: Poner las siguientes frases activas en las tres formas.
1. Lavamos los platos.
•
Condición resultante con ESTAR: ________________________________________
•
SER pasivo: __________________________________________________________
•
SE pasivo: ____________________________________________________________
Folkart / 3105 2. Kevin tradujo la carta al inglés.
•
Condición resultante con ESTAR: ________________________________________
•
SER pasivo: __________________________________________________________
•
SE pasivo: ____________________________________________________________
3. Chelsea apagará las luces.
•
Condición resultante con ESTAR: ________________________________________
•
SER pasivo: __________________________________________________________
•
SE pasivo: ____________________________________________________________
4. Folkart anunció la tarea.
•
Condición resultante con ESTAR: ________________________________________
•
SER pasivo: __________________________________________________________
•
SE pasivo: ____________________________________________________________
5. Todo el mundo admiraba al presidente.
•
Condición resultante con ESTAR: ________________________________________
•
SER pasivo: __________________________________________________________
•
SE pasivo: ____________________________________________________________
6. Folkart preparó a los estudiantes para el examen.
•
Condición resultante con ESTAR: ________________________________________
•
SER pasivo: __________________________________________________________
•
SE pasivo: ____________________________________________________________
7. Josh pondrá la mesa el Día de Acción de Gracias.
•
Condición resultante con ESTAR: ________________________________________
•
SER pasivo: __________________________________________________________
•
SE pasivo: ____________________________________________________________