📖LearnModule 7 · Lesson 14 of 30Independent User · CEFR B1, completedUnit 3 · El trabajo y el dinero
La voz pasiva — y el se
Module 7 of the free Spanish course (CEFR B1, completed), lesson 14 of 30: . 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
la voz pasiva
the passive voice
lah bohs pah-SEE-bah
la casa es construida
the house is built
lah KAH-sah ehs kohns-TRWEE-dah
el informe
the report
ehl een-FOHR-meh
el informe es escrito
the report is written
ehl een-FOHR-meh ehs ehs-KREE-toh
por el director
by the manager
pohr ehl dee-rehk-TOHR
construir
to build
kohns-troo-EER
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
ellos construyen casas
they build houses
EH-yohs kohns-TROO-yehn KAH-sahs
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
The passive turns the object into the subject: someone built the house becomes the house was built. Spanish builds it with ser plus the participle, and the participle AGREES: la casa es construida, los informes son escritos. Por names the doer: el informe es escrito por el director.
Y también · And also
But everyday Spanish prefers a shorter tool: the se pasivo. Se venden casas (houses are sold — for sale), se habla español (Spanish is spoken). The verb agrees with the thing: se vende una casa, se venden casas. News and notices use ser; signs and speech use se.
Ojo · Watch out
In the passive the participle agrees with the SUBJECT: la casa es construida, los informes son escritos. With se, the verb agrees with the thing: se vende una casa, se venden casas — never se vende casas.
escribir, voz pasiva — the table
él es escrito · ella es escrita · ellos son escritos · ellas son escritas
construir, presente — the table
yo construyo · tú construyes · él/ella/usted construye · nosotros construimos · ustedes construyen · ellos/ellas construyen
Do it now — on paper
Say all 9 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the Spanish spelling alone — begin with la voz pasiva.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the Spanish.
Write out escribir, voz pasiva and construir, presente 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.