THE PASSIVE - a voice not a tense (a construction to you and me).

In English the passive consists of any tense of the verb ‘to be’ and a past participle

it was stolen

they will be sold

the jewels are kept

You can test for a past participle by checking that it can follow ‘I have …….’

E.g. I have stolen/sold/kept

When you spot a passive in English, stop and think because there are 4 possible ways of tackling it in Spanish.

Method 1: If you know who did it, say so!

This turns a passive into an active sentence and avoids the construction totally (which is what Spaniards tend to do).

E.g. The novel was written by Cervantes.

TURN IT ROUND: Cervantes wrote the novel.

Now translate the new version of the sentence:

Cervantes escribió la novela.

(This uses the ordinary preterite tense - and only one verb instead of two!)

¡Te toca a ti!

1. The exam was passed by Alice

2. The cake was eaten by Ollie3. The work was done by Fran

4. Los caramelos fueron comidos por los estudiantes

5. Los deberes fueron perdidos por Carlos

6. La profesora fue molestada por los alumnos

1. Alicia aprobó el examen2. Ollie comió el pastel3. Fran hizo el trabajo

4. Los estudiantes comieron los caramelos

5. Carlos perdió los deberes

6. Los alumnos molestaron a la profesora

Method 2 : The reflexive

If you don’t know “who did it”, then use the reflexive to imply “it did itself”. Very weird to our English brains - but totally normal in Spanish.

E.g. The books are kept in the cupboard.

(We don’t know who keeps them)

…… The books keep themselves in the cupboard (!!)

Los libros se guardan en el armario.Spanish is spoken in many areas of New York.

(We are not told who speaks it)

…… Spanish speaks itself in many areas of New York (!!)

Se habla español en muchas zonas de Nueva York.

NB. the tense of the verb ‘to be’ tells you which tense to put the Spanish verb into.

¡Te toca a ti!En pizarras de plástica...

• (The) cake is eaten on Tuesdays

• The students were found in the countryside

• The sweets will be put on the table

• Se come el pastel los martes

• Se encontraron a los alumnos en el campo

• Se pondrán los bonbones en la mesa

Method 3 “The anonymous they”

The previous method (the reflexive) could be misleading in certain sentences, and if this is so, the ‘they’ form of the verb is used instead. Just say “They did it”!The prisoners were released last night.

(If we use the reflexive, we would be saying ‘The prisoners released released themselves last night’ and create a chaos of misunderstanding!)

So instead, we say ‘They released the prisoners last night’

Libertaron a los presos anoche

(which uses the preterite).

¡Te toca a ti!Escribid una pequeña historia evitando la

voz pasiva con las frases siguientes

• The students were allowed (permitir – irreg.) to dance

• The teachers were given (dar – irreg.) a ball

• The parents were told (decir – irreg.) to surf the internet#

• One of your choosing!!

Method 4: The literal passive

I call this the literal passive because it is simply a literal, word for word translation of the English version. It is just ONE of the versions used by Spaniards - it is important to be able to manage the others too.In English we use a tense of the verb ‘to be’ and the past participle

In Spanish we use a tense of the verb ‘ser’ and the past participle.

THE PAST PARTICIPLE MUST AGREE WITH THE SUBJECT.The passengers were greeted at the airport

Los pasajeros fueron saludados en el aeropuerto

The passengers were greeted at the airport

Method 4 cont’d

The wool will be exported abroad.

The wool will be exported abroad.

La lana seráexportadaal extranjero.

The vegetables are bought at the market.

The vegetables are bought at the market.

Las legumbres

son compradasen el mercado.

Once again, the tense of ‘to be’ will indicate the tense to choose for ‘ser’