The Passive Voice / La voz pasiva

A. SER + PAST PARTICIPLE

The passive voice is formed in Spanish in the same way as in English, with the appropriate form of the verb ser and the past participle (which, as an adjective, must agree in gender and number with the subject). The agent, if mentioned, comes after the preposition por.:

Este libro es leído por todo el mundo. Las rosas fueron compradas por la niña. La ventana fue rota por la policía.

This book is read by everyone. The roses were bought by the girl. The window was broken by the police.

For use of estar with past participle, see §25.
To review the forms of the past participle, see §26.

B. PASSIVE CONSTRUCTIONS USING SE

• Spanish avoids the passive with ser when the agent of the action is unknown or irrelevant. The most common way of expressing a passive idea in Spanish –that something happens, but without expressing who in particular does it–, is by using se with a verb in the third person:

Aquí se habla español. Se necesita tener paciencia. Se come bien en Francia. ¿Se puede viajar sin visa? Ese modelo ya no se usa.

Spanish is spoken here. You need to be patient. One eats / People eat well in France. Is it possible to travel without a visa? That model is not used (in use) anymore.

• When the subject (modelo in the above example) is plural, the verb must be plural:

Esos modelos ya no se usan. Se venden camisas en esta tienda. En América no se conocían los caballos.

Those models are not used anymore. Shirts are sold in this store. Horses were not known in America.

• Similar to English, Spanish can also use an impersonal They..., without the subject pronoun:

Allá no respetan los derechos humanos. Firmaron el acuerdo esta mañana. O: El acuerdo se firmó esta mañana.

They don't respect human rights there. They signed the agreement this morning. The agreement was signed this morning.

 C. SE + INDIRECT OBJECT PRONOUNS (SE ME, SE LES, ETC.)

• The passive se may be followed by an indirect object pronoun indicating the person who undergoes the action of the verb (to whom?):

Se le mandaron flores (a ella). Se les ofreció el trabajo (a ellos). No se me dijo eso (a mí).

Flowers were sent to her. (She was sent flowers) The job was offered to them. (They were offered...) That wasn't told to me. (I wasn't told that).

These examples illustrate the common "false passive" in English, that is, a construction that uses the indirect object (to whom?) as the subject: "She was sent flowers"; "They were offered the job";“I was told”.
 The passive with ser won’t work for this type of constructions. Use se and indirect object pronouns instead, being careful to always use the verb in the third person:
We were given directions. Se nos dieron instrucciones.
You were told what to do. Se te dijo qué hacer.

• The combination of se + indirect object pronoun (se me, se te, se le[s], se nos, etc.) is also used to express ideas such as losing, breaking, forgetting and dropping, when not deliberate, underlying that something happened by accident. The passive se indicates that the event was involuntary; the object pronouns refer to the person(s) affected by the event; and the verb uses the third person singular or plural to agree with the things lost, broken, forgotten, etc. Examples:

By accident	Somewhat deliberate:
Se le rompieron dos costillas. He broke two ribs (by accident).	Rompió su promesa. He broke his promise.
Se les perdió la llave. They lost their key.	Perdieron el partido. They lost the game (match).
Se me cayó el libro. I dropped the book.	Caí en una trampa. I fell into a trap.
Se te olvidó mi dirección. You forgot my address.	Olvidaste tus malos recuerdos. You forgot your bad memories.
Se nos acabó la gasolina. We ran out of gas.	Acabamos el trabajo. We finished the paper (or the job).

Página original y ejercicios online aquí.

Franco y la España Fascista

Documental sobre Francisco Franco Bahamonde y su ascenso al poder en España.
Aquí puedes ver el powerpoint con la presentación y aquí la hoja de ejercicios.(worksheet)

George Orwell, las Brigadas Internacionales y la Guerra Civil

George Orwell´s diary from his participation on the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)

Ken Loach´s film inspired by George Orwell´s experience

BBC series of documentaries on George Orwell, chapter 3; Homage to Catalonia

Todavía, aún, ya (no)

• The adverbs todavía and aún both mean still/yet, and can be placed before or after the verb:
Le parecía imposible que estuviera lloviendo todavía (aún).
It seemed impossible to him/her that it was still raining.
Aún (todavía) no había comenzado a nevar cuando ocurrió el accidente.
It hadn't started snowing yet when the accident happened.

 Note: Only before or after comparisons (más, menor, peor, etc.), can even be translated as todavía or aún:
Es aún mejor de lo que pensaba. It's even better than I thought.

 Keep in mind that English still and yet are also conjunctions meaning however or but. In these cases other Spanish expressions must be used, such as sin embargo, con todo, pero, mas:
She's smart, yet selfish Es lista, pero egoísta.

• Ya has several uses, but its most common meanings are already and now for affirmative sentences, and not anymore for negative sentences. It's usually placed before the verb:

Ya vuelvo / regreso. Ya se les habrá olvidado. Ya han devuelto los libros. Ya almorcé / Ya he almorzado. Ya no les gusta bailar. Ya no nos quejaremos (más).

I'll be right back; I'm coming back right now. They will (may) have forgotten by now. They have returned the books already. I('ve) already had lunch. They don't like dancing anymore. We won't complain anymore.

Ejercicios y página original aquí.

Both, All, Every / Ambos, todos, cada

• Todo/a/s and ambos/as must agree in gender and number with the noun they modify or replace:

Va a llover toda la primavera. Todos los problemas son fáciles. Todos cometemos errores. Ambos días hizo sol. Ambas fueron semanas de lluvia.

It's going to rain all (the whole) spring. All (of the) problems are easy. All of us (we all) make mistakes. It was sunny on both (of the) days. They were both rainy weeks.

• ambos is never accompanied by articles:
ambas ciudades both of the cities

• A common equivalent of ambos is los dos:
Ambos conocemos Panamá y Caracas, y las dos hace calor.
Both of us know Panama and Caracas, and both of them are hot.

• Subject pronouns can be used after todos (not after ambos or los dos):
Todas ellas saben nadar. All of them know how to swim.

 Note that todo/a/s and ambos/as are never followed by the preposition de.

• Todos often translates into "every" in the sense of "all the":

todos los días todas las clases Sé todo lo que hiciste este verano.

every day all of the classes I know everything (that) you did this summer.

• When stressing individuality (each), "every" translates into cada:
Conoce cada detalle del cuento. She knows every detail of the story.
Llamó a cada uno por su nombre. He called each one by their names.
“Every other” is expressed by cada dos: cada dos años, cada dos días.

 Both...and is tanto...como (no gender or number). Never use ambos for both...and:
Tenemos clases tanto los lunes como los miércoles.
We have classes both on Mondays and on Wednesdays.

ejercicios y página original aquí.

Serrat - Machado: Cantares

Haz click aquí para descargar la hoja de trabajo sobre Machado, Serrat y el final de la Guerra Civil.

Pronouns After a Preposition / Los pronombres después de preposición

	pronouns		pronouns
para sin a con por	mí ti usted él ella	contra hacia detrás de sobre entre	nosotros/as vosotros/as ustedes ellos ellas

• Note that, with the exception of mí and ti (no accent mark), these are identical to the subject pronouns (§5):
Voy sin ti. ¡Esto es para nosotros! No quiso salir con ella.

• After a preposition, the English pronoun "it" can be expressed by eso when it refers to an idea, and by él or ellawhen referring to a specific object whose gender is clear:
Quería hablar con usted sobre eso. (about it)
Necesita su sombrero: no puede vivir sin él. (without it)
  never use lo or la as pronouns to express "it" after a preposition; use eso, él or ella.

• The reflexive form is sí, referring back to the subject (see also §40):
Están luchando entre sí. (among themselves)

• Con followed by mí, ti or sí forms conmigo, contigo, and consigo:
Está jugando conmigo.   ¿No quiso ir contigo?   Hablaba consigo (con él mismo)

For original website and online exercises, click here.