Passive Voice: Ser +

In a normal sentence, the subject does the work. "The chef cooks the food." Here, the chef is the hero. In the passive voice, we flip the script. "The food is cooked by the chef." Now, the food is the subject. But the food is not doing anything. It is just sitting there being delicious. The verb ser acts as our helper here. It tells us when the action happens. Then, we add a special form of the main verb. This is called the past participle. It acts almost like an adjective. It describes what happened to the subject. If you have ever used ser to describe a person, you are halfway there. Instead of saying "The girl is tall," you say "The girl is seen." It is a simple shift in perspective. It is like looking at a painting. You can talk about the artist. Or you can talk about the canvas itself. Both are correct, but they feel different.

1. 1Building this is like following a recipe. You need four main ingredients.
2. 2The Subject: This is the thing receiving the action. La pizza (The pizza).
3. 3The Verb ser: Conjugate this to match your subject. La pizza es... (The pizza is...).
4. 4The Past Participle: Take your action verb. Change the ending to -ado or -ido. La pizza es cocinada... (The pizza is cooked...).
5. 5The Agent (Optional): Use the word por to say who did it. La pizza es cocinada por María. (The pizza is cooked by Maria).
6. 6Wait! There is a golden rule here. The past participle is like a mirror. It must match the subject in gender and number. If the subject is feminine, use -ada. If it is plural, use -ados or -adas. It is like matching your socks before you leave the house. No one wants one blue sock and one red sock. If you say Los libros son escritas, people will look at you funny. It should be Los libros son escritos. Keep them in sync!

When should you pull out this fancy grammar? Use it when the "who" is not important. Imagine a news report. "The bank was robbed." We do not know the thief yet. The robbery is the big news. Use it in history class too. "America was discovered in 1492." It sounds grand and official. It is also perfect for formal writing. If you are writing a report for work, use the passive voice. It makes you sound objective and smart. You might use it in a job interview. "The project was completed on time." It focuses on the achievement, not just you bragging. It is also useful when you want to be polite. Instead of saying "You broke the window," you say "The window was broken." It is a bit softer, right? It is the grammar equivalent of a polite cough.

Do not use this for everything! If you use it too much, you will sound like a robot. In daily Spanish, people love the active voice. If you are at a cafe, do not say "The coffee is ordered by me." Just say "I order a coffee." It is much more natural. Native speakers also prefer a different type of passive. They use the word se. For example, Se vende pan (Bread is sold). This is way more common in the street. Think of the ser passive as a tuxedo. You wear it to a wedding or a gala. You do not wear it to buy milk at 11 PM. If you use ser passive while chatting with friends, they might think you are reading from a textbook. Keep it for special occasions.

The biggest trap is the ending of the verb. Many people forget to change it. They say Las casas son vendido. This is a big no-no. It must be Las casas son vendidas. Remember the matching socks rule! Another mistake is using the wrong verb. Do not use estar. Even though estar is for states, the passive voice always uses ser. Think of ser as the glue for the action. Another slip-up is the word "by." In English, we say "by." In Spanish, we use por. Do not use de or para. It is always por. Also, watch out for irregular verbs. Escribir becomes escrito, not escribido. Hacer becomes hecho. These are like the potholes in the road. You just have to learn where they are so you can drive around them.

There are two main ways to be passive in Spanish. We have our friend ser + participle. Then we have the "Passive se." The ser version is for specific actions by specific people. "The book was written by Cervantes." The se version is for general things. "Spanish is spoken here." You do not know exactly who is speaking it. It is just a general fact. Think of ser as a specific event. Think of se as a general rule. Also, do not confuse this with the present perfect. He comido means "I have eaten." Es comido means "It is eaten." One is about what you did. The other is about what happened to the food. They look similar, but they are very different animals.