📖LearnModule 13 · Lesson 9 of 30Proficient User · CEFR C2, first halfUnit 2 · Las construcciones impersonales
Se, nosotros, el pasivo — ¿quién habla?
Module 13 of the free Spanish course (CEFR C2, first half), lesson 9 of 30: Spanish has four ways to avoid naming an agent. On this page: 9 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 decidió
it was decided (someone)
seh deh-see-DYOH
la decisión fue tomada
the decision was taken
lah deh-see-SYOHN fweh toh-MAH-dah
ha sido decidido
it has been decided
ah SEE-doh deh-see-DEE-doh
el agente
the doer
ehl ah-HEHN-teh
esconder
to hide
ehs-kohn-DEHR
firmar una decisión
to sign off a decision
feer-MAR OO-nah deh-see-SYOHN
vago en cuanto al sujeto
vague about who
BAH-goh ehn KWAHN-toh ahl soo-HEH-toh
el anonimato
anonymity
ehl ah-noh-nee-MAH-toh
nosotros decidimos ayer
we decided yesterday
noh-SOH-trohs deh-see-DEE-mohs ah-YEHR
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
Spanish has four ways to avoid naming an agent, and choosing between them is a C2 decision. Se decidió (somebody, vaguely). Decidimos (us, and I include myself). La decisión fue tomada (nobody). Ha sido decidido (nobody, formally).
Y también · And also
Notice what each one costs. Se hides the decider; the passive hides them more; ha sido decidido hides them completely and is the sentence a report writes when nobody wants to sign it.
Ojo · Watch out
se decidió, la decisión fue tomada, ha sido decidido: each hides the decider a little more. Choosing between them is the C2 decision — none of them is neutral. decidir keeps its stem: decidí, decidió, decidido.
decidir, voz pasiva en pretérito — the table
él fue decidido · ella fue decidida · ellos fueron decididos · ellas fueron decididas
decidir, pretérito — the table
yo decidí · tú decidiste · él/ella/usted decidió · nosotros decidimos · ustedes decidieron · ellos/ellas decidieron
Do it now — on paper
Say all 9 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the Spanish spelling alone — begin with se decidió.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the Spanish.
Write out decidir, voz pasiva en pretérito and decidir, pretérito 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.