📖LearnModule 11 · Lesson 17 of 30Proficient User · CEFR C1, first halfUnit 4 · La voz pasiva — y cómo el español la evita
La pasiva con se — el escape favorito
Module 11 of the free Spanish course (CEFR C1, first half), lesson 17 of 30: Where English reaches for the passive. On this page: 8 words with their genders and respellings, the rule, a watch-out line, the conjugation table and the audio — the study notes behind the workbook's QR.
The words
Spanish
English
Say it
se venden casas
houses for sale (are sold)
seh BEHN-dehn KAH-sahs
se habla español
Spanish is spoken
seh AH-blah ehs-pah-NYOHL
este libro se lee en una tarde
this book reads in an afternoon
EHS-teh LEE-broh seh LEH-eh ehn OO-nah TAR-deh
se sirve frío
served chilled
seh SEER-beh FREE-oh
la norma
the rule (regulation)
lah NOHR-mah
el uso
usage
ehl OO-soh
el aviso
the notice, the sign
ehl ah-BEE-soh
el manual
the manual
ehl mah-NWAHL
Respellings follow the course’s say-it key; the stressed syllable is in capitals. Print this lesson’s flashcards (PDF) — the words on the front, the English and respelling on the back.
La regla · The rule
Where English reaches for the passive, Spanish reaches for se: se venden casas (houses for sale), se habla español, este libro se lee en una tarde. The verb agrees with the thing: se vende una casa, se venden casas.
Y también · And also
It is the most natural way to state a rule, an offer or a habit about things, and it is everywhere on signs, in recipes and in manuals. When the agent matters, the ser-passive returns; when it does not, se wins.
Ojo · Watch out
The verb agrees with the THING in the se-passive: se venden casas, never se vende casas. And a person as object takes a and a singular verb: se busca a los responsables — that is the impersonal se of the next lesson.
vender, pasiva con se — the table
él/ella se vende · ellos/ellas se venden
Do it now — on paper
Say all 8 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the Spanish spelling alone — begin with se venden casas.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the Spanish.
Write out vender, pasiva con se in full from memory, every person, and check each form against the table above.
This free course is the reading half. The writing half — write-in lessons, daily practice pages with built-in review, self-checks and a full answer key — is the companion workbook series, The Spanish Ladder: one workbook per module, fifteen in all, released band by band with the Basic band (Modules 1–5) first.
Keep these words
Turn this lesson’s words into flashcards, then space your reviews — the two habits the research behind our study guides backs hardest.