Learn the Passive Voice in Spanish Using Ser

Learn the Passive Voice in Spanish Using Ser

man at a forked road with signs indicating active and passive directions

Today, we’ll talk about the Spanish passive using the verb ser. Let’s begin!

In general, we refer to the passive voice as a form of speech in which the action relapses on the object instead of the subject. Let’s recognize this structure across English and Spanish with the following example:

English

  • Active voice: The author wrote the fifty-two-thousand-page book in less than three weeks.            
    [Subject] [Main Verb in Past Tense] [Object] [Complements]
  • Passive voice: The fifty-two-thousand-page book was written by the author in less than three weeks.                        
    [Verb “to be” in Past Tense + Past Participle]

Spanish (literal translation)

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The main difference between active and passive voice is that the subject and the object switch places. The verb keeps its place in the sentence, but its structure changes to “to be” / ser conjugated in the same tense as the main verb in the active voice. We also always add the past participle of the main verb, followed by the preposition “by” / por when the subject is explicit. 

Note: We must bear in mind that the verb ser (to be) is an irregular verb, therefore its conjugations in the different verb tenses will alter its spelling in Spanish. 


The past participle

In Spanish, the verbs have three different conjugations according to their ending. Because of this, we find three distinct “past participles” (participios) endings for regular verbs:

First Conjugation (-ar)Second Conjugation (-er)Third Conjugation (-ir)
Alquilar – Alquil-ado(To rent – Rent-ed)Proteger – Proteg-ido(To protect – Protect-ed)Corregir – Correg-ido(To correct – Correct-ed)

Remember that in the passive voice the participles act as adjectives, so in Spanish they must agree in gender and number with the main object (noun/pronoun). 

Let’s go through some examples:

Structure: [Object] [Verb] [by] [Subject] [Complements]

In the above example, we can identify the past participle editado (edited) as its Infinitive verb form belongs to the first conjugation editar (to edit). Also, you can notice that the main object libro is a singular and masculine noun, so the participle has to agree with it as well.

a black board with the words so many books, so little time against a library background with a multitude of books
So many books written, edited, read, and loved!
Image by Pretty Sleepy Art from Pixabay

Note: The main verb escribir (to write) is an irregular verb, and its past participle form escrito (written) agrees in gender and number with the object libro

The verb “to be” is conjugated in the third-person singular of the present perfect (ha sido / “has been”), which hints that this should be the verb tense of the main verb in the active voice (ha escrito / “has written”).

Note: The past participle of the main verb invitado (invited) belongs to the first conjugation, as its infinitive form is invitar (to invite).

We can guess that the main verb in the active voice should be conjugated in the present tense as follows: La academia invita el autor (The academy invites the author).

And there you have it: the passive voice in Spanish! You can also check out our article on how to form the passive using the verb estar.


Written by Nicole Oliveira