Spanish Language Blog

Hola ¿Qué tal?

Hoy vamos a ver las oraciones pasivas. Today we are going to look at how to construct passive sentences in Spanish.

The Passive Voice (La voz pasiva) in English is formed by using a form of the verb “to be” followed by a past participle. The same rule applies in Spanish, where a form of El verbo Ser or Estar is followed by a Spanish past participle which is modified if necessary to agree in number and gender with the subject of the sentence.

Probably the best way of understanding what passive sentences exactly are is to contrast them with “active” sentences. For example: “La niña tocó el piano” (The girl played the piano) is an active sentence where “the girl” is the subject of the sentence (the one who does the action of the verb, i.e. the playing). To express this situation using The Passive Voice we would say: “El piano fue tocado por la niña” (The piano was played by the girl) where “the piano” is the subject of the sentence instead of the girl.

Passive sentences = Verbo ser/estar + participio:

When we refer to the action itself: Verbo ser + participio (o/a/os/as):

• Las leyes son escritas por los políticos: The laws are written by the politicians
• Un perro ha sido encontrado en el parque: A dog has been found in the park
• Las joyas fueron encontradas por los exploradores: The jewels were found by the explorers
• Las casas habían sido pintadas por los empleados: The houses had been painted by the employees
• “El Guernica” fue pintado por Picasso: “El Guernica” was painted by Picasso
• El partido es ganado por el equipo que se esfuerza más: The match is won by the team that makes the bigger effort
• Un policía ha sido herido por una bomba : A policeman has been injured by a bomb
• El bicho fue comido por el pájaro: The bug was eaten by a bird

When we refer to the final result and are not interested in the process: Verbo estar + participio:

• La nueva ley está mal redactada: The new law is badly written
• Los ciudadanos estaban expectantes por la llegada del nuevo presidente: The citizens were expectant for the arrival of the new president
• Los problemas están resueltos: The problems are resolved
• Durante el embarazo está permitido viajar por avión: During the pregnancy it is permitted to travel by plane
• El trabajo está hecho: The job is done
• La comida estaba recalentada: The food was reheated
• Las ventanas están rotas: The windows are broken
• La ciudad está destruida: The city is destroyed

You can also make a passive sentence using the word “se”. You use this type of passive sentence when it is not important who does the action and you are not going to name them. The verb is always in the 3rd person (he/she/it, they). We use this type of sentence, for example, in signs and advertisements.

Let´s see some examples of “se” being used in passive sentences:

• Se vende casa
• Se alquilan coches
• Se necesitan camareros para restaurante español.
• Se busca trabajo de secretaria por las mañanas.

There is lots of information in this lesson and lots to get your head around. If this is your first encounter with The Passive Voice you may be feeling a little overwhelmed right now, but don’t worry, take things slowly and give yourself lots of time to let things sink in little by little.

Make sure you are clear, above all, on what exactly is a passive and an active sentence and then write out lots of your own example sentences. Also, try to find time to watch this lesson various times. With repetition you will find that my example sentences start to stick in your head and hopefully my style of pronunciation will start to stick as well.

Have a great day!

¡Hasta luego!

Andaba yo pensando cuales son los dichos que más usamos a fin de mes, cuando me tropecé con este artículo. Real como la vida misma, lo comparto con vosotros.

Tal y como están las cosas, supongo que es común, lamentablemente, decir aquello de “estar sin blanca”, que viene de decir que uno no tiene ni un céntimo en sus bolsillos.

El origen de este dicho se remonta a los tiempos de Felipe II, cuando existía una moneda que se llamaba así, blanca, que valía la mitad de un maravedí. Esta moneda, la blanca, tenía un valor muy bajo, como el céntimo del que hablábamos antes. Por lo tanto, no tener ya ni una blanca significaba estar en la más absoluta de las ruinas.

Cervantes escribió: “Echó mano a la faldriquera la señora Tenienta, y halló que no tenía blanca”. Años y años han pasado desde entonces y hoy es tan cierta esta frase como entonces, los españoles seguimos sin tener ni blanca. Estamos como la señora Tenienta de Cervantes, con la faldriquera vacía. Llegarán tiempos mejores, eso seguro.

Fuente: El porqué de los dichos, de José María Iribarren

I was wondering what are the most tipycal sayings when we are at the end of the month, when I found this article. Real as life itself, I’dd like to share it with you.

As things are, I suppose that it is common, unfortunately, to say that one is “short of cash”, that is to say  that one has not even a cent in his pockets. The origin of this saying goes back to the times of Philip II, when there was a coin that was called “white”, that was half of the old Spanish gold coin “maravedi”. This currency, the white one, had a very low value, like the cent we were talking about. Therefore, not having a white meant  to be in the most absolute  ruin.

Cervantes wrote: ” Lady Tenienta grabbed her purse and found she had no white.” Years and years have passed since then,  and this sentence is nowadays as true as it was in those days, we Spaniards are still without white. We are as Cervantes’ Lady Tenienta, with the empty coin purse. Better times will come, for sure.

Source: The why of sayings, by Jose Maria Iribarren

Hey, there!

Today we have Part 02 of the computing vocabulary en español. Even though some Spanish speakers use some English words all in all we have a Spanish translation for them. So let’s check out some more of them, ok?

Grabar – to save
Copia de seguridad – backup
No te olvides de grabar todos los archivos en disco. Ya sabes lo importante que es tener copias de seguridad. [Don't forget to save all files in a disk. You know how important having backup is.]

Hacer una copia de seguridad – to back up files
No te olvides de hacer una copia de seguridad de los datos antes de apagar la computadora. [Don't forget to back up your data before turning off the computer.]

Borrar / suprimir – to delete
Borra siempre todos los mensajes sospechosos. Pueden contener virus. [Always delete suspicious messages. They may have virus.]

Actualizar – to update
Actualización – update
No podrás ejecutar ese programa si no actualizas en disco duro. [You won't be able to run this program if you don't update the hard drive.]
Hay una nueva versión del programa que estás usando. Puedes descargar una actualización gratis. [There's a new version of the program you're using. You can download a free update.]

Hoja de cálculo – spreadsheet
Hagamos una hoja de cálculo para controlar nuestros gastos mensuales de combustible. [Let's start a spreadsheet to keep track of our monthly fuel expenses.]

Imprimir – to print (out)
Copia impresa – a printout
Necesito una copia impresa del documento. ¿Puedes imprimírmela? [I need a printout of this documente. Can you print it out for me?]

Correo no deseado – spam
Estoy recibiendo mucho correo no deseado últimamente. ¿Conoces algún programa para filtrarlo? [I've been getting a lot of spam lately. Do you know any software that can filter it out?]

Pirata informático – hacker
Detuvieron al pirate informático que invadió varias redes de computadoras. [The hacker was arrested after breaking into several computer networks.]

Por hoy es todo. Nos vemos prontito.