📖LearnModule 11 · Lesson 18 of 30Proficient User · CEFR C1, first halfUnit 4 · La voz pasiva — y cómo el español la evita
El se impersonal — ¿quién habla?
Module 11 of the free Spanish course (CEFR C1, first half), lesson 18 of 30: When nobody in particular is the subject. On this page: 9 words with their genders and respellings, the rule, a watch-out line and the audio — the study notes behind the workbook's QR.
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
When nobody in particular is the subject, Spanish says se + a singular verb: se dice que… (they say that), se vive bien aquí (life is good here), no se puede fumar. Uno also serves: uno nunca sabe.
Y también · And also
The difference from the se-passive is agreement: se venden casas (plural — the houses are the subject) but se vive bien (always singular — nobody is the subject). Both hide the doer; the impersonal hides it completely.
Ojo · Watch out
se vive bien is always singular — no subject exists to agree with. And with a person as object the verb stays singular too: se busca a los culpables, se entrevistó a los testigos.
Do it now — on paper
Say all 9 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the Spanish spelling alone — begin with me dijeron que.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the Spanish.
Write two sentences of your own that get the watch-out line right, then the two practice pages of workbook lesson 18 in Module 11 are the written half of this page.
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.