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<\/span><\/p>\nWhat is the passive voice?<\/h2>\n
First of all, it\u2019s important to remember that the passive is a voice, not a tense. The passive construction we\u2019re looking at today is \u2018ser\u2019 + past participle.<\/p>\n
When we\u2019re forming phrases in Spanish, we can use the active voice, where the subject performs an action upon an object, like \u2018A hugged B.\u2019 Or we can turn it around and use what we call the passive voice. <\/p>\n
The recipient of the action then becomes the subject. All that means is that the focus will be on B, and what happened to him\/her\/it. \u2018B was hugged.\u2019 If we want to, we can also add who did it: \u2018B was hugged (by A).\u2019<\/p>\n
It can also help to look at it like this: imagine you went out last night and lost your mother\u2019s expensive watch, and now you\u2019re telling her. You want to keep the focus on the watch\u2019s whereabouts, not on the fact that it was you who lost it!<\/p>\n
You might not want to say, \u2018Perd\u00ed tu reloj anoche.\u2019 (\u2018I lost your watch last night.\u2019). It\u2019s safer to say, \u2018Tu reloj fue perdido anoche.\u2019 (\u2018Your watch got lost last night.\u2019). That way, the focus is on the watch and not on you.<\/p>\n
Sometimes it\u2019s best avoided \u2026<\/h2>\n
Although \u2018ser\u2019 + past participle can be a useful construction, using the passive voice in this way is much less common in Spanish than it is in English. In fact, your Spanish will often sound more natural if you avoid it.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s look at an example of someone getting arrested. We can avoid the passive voice by using the \u2018se<\/a> pasiva,\u2019 (\u2018se detuvo a Ra\u00fal\u2019), the impersonal third person plural construction (\u2018detuvieron a Ra\u00fal\u2019), or by keeping it active (\u2018la polic\u00eda detuvo a Ra\u00fal.).<\/p>\n When we can\u2019t avoid it, we use the passive voice by conjugating the verb \u2018ser\u2019 and adding a past participle. Let\u2019s look at some examples in various tenses.<\/p>\n\n\u2018Ser\u2019 + past participle<\/h2>\n
El primer acto siempre es seguido<\/Strong> por el segundo acto.<\/i><\/td>| The first act is always followed<\/Strong> by the second act.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Millie fue encontrada<\/Strong> en el restaurante. <\/i><\/td> | Millie was found<\/Strong> in the restaurant.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Durante su enfermedad, el gato era examinado<\/Strong> cada d\u00eda por la veterinaria.<\/i><\/td> | During his illness, the cat was examined<\/Strong> every day by the vet.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | La obra ser\u00e1 grabada.<\/Strong><\/i><\/td> | The performance will be recorded.<\/Strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | En aquel zoo, los animales ser\u00edan maltratados.<\/Strong><\/i><\/td> | In that zoo, the animals would get mistreated. <\/Strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n | \u2018Ser\u2019<\/h3>\nNow let\u2019s look at forming the verb \u2018ser\u2019 in more detail. We\u2019re going to give you the conjugations for the present, preterite, imperfect, future, and conditional tenses.<\/p>\n That way you\u2019re ready for anything, although \u2018ser\u2019 + past participle isn\u2019t actually used much with the present or imperfect!<\/p>\n Present:<\/p>\n\n
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