How to use the passive voice in Spanish?

Active voice sentences have a verb, a subject that performs the action of the verb, and, sometimes, a direct object that is affected by the action of the verb. However, in the passive voice, the focus is shifted away from the “doer,” and the direct object (of the active sentence) now becomes the subject (of the passive sentence). The original subject moves after the verb and becomes the object of por (meaning by), and the verb becomes a past participle introduced by the verb ser (meaning to be):

The passive voice is used much more often in English than in Spanish. Spanish prefers the use of active sentences or the Spanish passive se instead.

Are you ready to learn more about how to form the passive voice? Do you want to know when to use the passive voice? Keep on reading to find answers to these questions.

I’m sure most of the sentences you have learned and uttered in Spanish have used the active voice. This means that the agent (the thing or the person performing the action of the verb) is the subject. Conversely, the thing or person being affected by the action described by the verb is the direct object:

However, when we use the passive voice, the direct object in an active sentence becomes the subject. The agent, normally the subject, becomes the object of the preposition por (meaning by):

The verb in the active sentence (escribió (meaning wrote)) undergoes the following changes:

1. The verb becomes a past participle, which agrees in gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural) with its new subject: novela → escrita (meaning written).

2. The past participle is preceded by a form of the verb
   ser (meaning to be) in the same tense as the original active verb (in this case, escribió is in the preterite tense) which agrees with the new subject: fue “it (the novel) was”.

For a reminder on how to form the past participle in Spanish, click the link!

Finally, the agent preceded by por is optional. In some cases, where the agent could be either irrelevant or obvious, we can just get rid of it without affecting the meaning of the sentence.

To sum up this section so far, the passive voice has the following components:

The passive voice is used much more frequently in English than in Spanish. The passive voice in Spanish is used in very formal written styles and in the written journalistic style. On the other hand, the following cases show how the passive voice is typically used in English, whereas other types of sentences are preferred in Spanish.

To replace absent or irrelevant subjects, we can also use the following options:

• The ellos, ellas, usted form of a verb, but without the subject pronoun:

  Hablan español. (meaning (They) speak Spanish.)

• La gente (meaning people):

  La gente habla español. (meaning The people speak Spanish.)

• Uno (meaning one):

  Uno habla español. (meaning One speaks Spanish.)

Despite the previous strategies, the use of passive se is the most natural and, therefore, the preferred way to express sentences with an absent or irrelevant agent.

Although passive sentences in Spanish are possible, they are rarely used. Active sentences and sentences containing the passive se are preferred instead. The passive voice in Spanish is formed in the same way that it is in English:

Here are some activities for you to practice! (answer keys are provided!)