Passive Voice in Spanish

In Spanish, the passive voice helps us emphasize the subject or object of a sentence.

Passive Voice in Spanish - Usage

Rule 1. The passive voice in Spanish tends to be used more in written language than spoken. It has two main functions.

1. It can be used to emphasize who performed the action:

In the example above, it is very important to signify the creator of this important painting.

2. It can also be used when the person who performed the action is unknown or irrelevant.

In this example, who will deliver the package is not included, because it is probably unknown or because the focus is more on the package.

Phrases to Use with the Passive Voice

To use the passive voice, you need the verb ser and the participle form to use as an adjective. The verb ser and the adjective must agree with the object. Below, we will show you how you can use the passive voice to talk about the present, past, and future, with three very easy and useful constructions.

To Talk About the Present

Rule 2. When the object of the sentence is more important than who is performing the action, use the following construction.

object + es/son + participle

Rule 3. On the other hand, if it is important to mention who performs the action, simply add 'por + subject'.

object + es/son + participle + por + subject

To Talk About the Past

Rule 4. When the object of the sentence is very important, use the following construction. If it is important to mention who performs the action, remember to add 'por + subject.'

object + fue/fueron + participle + (por + subject)

To Talk About the Future

Rule 5. Lastly, use the following construction to talk about the future. Now, you know that if the who performs the action is not relevant, you can omit it.

object + será/serán + participle + (por + subject)

What About the Other Tenses?

Rule 6. You can conjugate the verb ser in any of its tenses and leave the rest of the construction without modification. For example, when talking about the past, perhaps the preterite is not the best tense to express what you want to say, but the present perfect.

As you can see, using the passive voice is very easy, especially if you learn it through chunks rather than thinking about conjugations. Just remember that the verb ser and the adjective must always agree in number and gender (respectively) with the object being spoken about.