<p> Impersonal “se” (passive voice)</p><p>In English, you'll hear statements like</p><p> "You shouldn't smoke in a hospital"  "They say she is very pretty"  "One never knows when he will turn up."</p><p>These are "impersonal expressions". In other words, we don't really have anyone specific in mind when we say "They say..." or "One" or " You". We mean people in general. This is what we mean by "impersonal".</p><p>Spanish has a slightly different format for expressing this Impersonal voice. Spanish adds the pronoun se in front of verbs to make general statements. Impersonal voice using se will use a singular verb since the se can be replaced by uno ("one").</p><p>Here are some examples:</p><p>How does one say "icecream" in Italian? ¿Cómo se dice "helado" en italiano?</p><p>You say (one says) "gelato". Se dice "gelato".</p><p>How do you spell "Valencia"? ¿Cómo se escribe "Valencia"?</p><p>Notice that the Plural Impersonal (unknown "they") does not use the se :</p><p>They say that vegetarian pizza is Dicen que la pizza vegetariana es healthy. saludosa.</p><p>Abren las tiendas a las nueve de la They open the stores at 9:00am. mañana.</p><p>The "Passive se" is what we call in English "the passive voice".</p><p>An Active voice is when you have a subject doing something with an active verb. In English a Passive voice has an object having something done to it with or without an identified subject. The Passive Voice in English uses a form of "to Be" with a Past Participle.</p><p>Let's look at some examples in English:</p><p>An Active Voice Construction A Passive Voice Construction</p><p>Sra. Verde teaches me Spanish. Spanish is taught to me (by Sra. Verde)</p><p>I purchased the dress. The dress was purchased (by me)</p><p>I drove my father's new car. My father's new car was driven (by me)</p><p>The Passive Voice in Spanish is normally formed by using se + the third person singular or plural conjugation of a verb, similar to what we did with the Impersonal se. In Spanish there is not a subject - identified or not! </p><p>Let's look at some examples in Spanish and English:</p><p>An Active Voice Construction A Passive Voice Construction</p><p>Los dependientes del almacén Spanish Se habla ruso en el mercado. hablan ruso.</p><p>The department store clerks Russian is spoken in the shopping English speak Russian. center.</p><p>David escribe el libro en Spanish Se escribe el libro en italiano. italiano.</p><p>David is writing the book in English The book is written in Italian. Italian.</p><p>La heladería vende una gran Se vende una gran cantidad de Spanish cantidad de helado. helado.</p><p>The ice cream store sells a large A large quantity of ice cream is English quantity of ice cream. sold.</p><p>La heladería vende una gran Spanish Se comió la torta. cantidad de helado.. English My friends ate the cake. The cake was eaten.</p><p>Los choferes pagan las multas los Spanish Se pagan las multas los lunes. lunes.</p><p>English Drivers pay the fines on Mondays. The fines are paid on Mondays. </p>