Sometimes the doer of an action is unknown, obvious, or simply beside the point — you care that houses are sold here, not who sells them. English leans hard on the passive voice for this; Spanish has that option too, but it far more often reaches for the little word se. At B2 this is a make-or-break distinction: master it and your Spanish stops sounding translated and starts sounding native.
Spanish can build a true passive just like English: a form of ser plus the past participle. The key twist is that the participle behaves like an adjective — it agrees in gender and number with the subject.
| Subject | Passive with ser | English |
|---|---|---|
| la casa (f. sg.) | La casa fue construida en 1990. | The house was built in 1990. |
| los puentes (m. pl.) | Los puentes fueron construidos por los romanos. | The bridges were built by the Romans. |
| las cartas (f. pl.) | Las cartas fueron enviadas ayer. | The letters were sent yesterday. |
| el informe (m. sg.) | El informe será revisado mañana. | The report will be reviewed tomorrow. |
Notice how the participle shifts: construida, construidos, enviadas, revisado — one for each combination of gender and number. Get that agreement right and the sentence clicks into place.
When you do want to name the doer (the "agent"), introduce it with por:
El cuadro fue pintado por Velázquez. — The painting was painted by Velázquez.
La ciudad fue fundada por los griegos. — The city was founded by the Greeks.
The ser-passive is mostly formal and written — you meet it in the news, in history books, in reports. In everyday speech it sounds stiff, and Spanish speakers usually prefer the passive se (next section) or simply an active sentence. Where English happily says "The house was sold," a Spaniard is far more likely to say Se vendió la casa or Vendieron la casa.
This is the everyday workhorse. When the doer is unknown or unimportant and the subject is a thing, Spanish uses se + a verb in the third person. The crucial rule: the verb agrees with the thing — singular thing, singular verb; plural things, plural verb.
| Thing (subject) | Passive se | English |
|---|---|---|
| español (sg.) | Aquí se habla español. | Spanish is spoken here. |
| casas (pl.) | Se venden casas. | Houses are sold / for sale. |
| camareros (pl.) | Se necesitan camareros. | Waiters are needed / wanted. |
| un piso (sg.) | Se busca un piso céntrico. | A central flat is wanted. |
Compare the singular and plural side by side — the verb tracks the noun, exactly as it would if that noun were an ordinary subject:
Se vende coche. (one car) vs. Se venden coches. (several cars).
You'll see this everywhere in the real world: shop windows, classified ads, and signs. Se alquilan habitaciones. — Rooms for rent. Se prohíbe fumar. — Smoking is prohibited.
⚠️ Common mistake: forgetting to make the verb plural. It is Se necesitan camareros, not Se necesita camareros — because camareros is the plural subject that se necesitan agrees with.
There's a second, closely related use. When you want to say what "one," "people," or a general "you" does — with no specific subject at all — Spanish uses se + a verb that always stays singular. This is the impersonal se.
| Impersonal se | English |
|---|---|
| Se vive bien aquí. | One lives well here. / Life is good here. |
| Se dice que va a llover. | People say it's going to rain. |
| En España se cena tarde. | In Spain people eat dinner late. |
| No se puede aparcar aquí. | You can't park here. |
Because there is no thing acting as subject, the verb never turns plural — it is frozen in the third-person singular: se vive, se dice, se cena, se trabaja, se come. Think of it as English's vague "one," "they," or "you" rolled into a single tidy word.
¿Cómo se dice esto en español? — How do you say this in Spanish?
Se trabaja mucho en esta empresa. — People work a lot at this company.
Three tools, three jobs. Here's how to choose quickly:
| Structure | Use it when… | Verb agreement | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| ser + participle | formal/written; you often want to name the agent with por | participle agrees with subject | La ley fue aprobada por el gobierno. |
| passive se | everyday passive; subject is a thing; doer unknown/unimportant | verb agrees with the thing (sg./pl.) | Se venden casas. |
| impersonal se | general "one/people/you"; no specific subject | verb always singular | Se vive bien aquí. |
A handy test: is there a specific thing being acted on? If yes and it can be plural, you're in passive-se territory and the verb must agree (Se necesitan ingenieros). If there's no such thing — you're speaking in generalities — it's impersonal se, and the verb stays singular (Se necesita paciencia para esto… se vive tranquilo). Reach for the ser-passive mainly when you're writing formally or when naming the agent with por matters.
With people, watch out: Se busca a los culpables. (The guilty ones are being sought.) stays singular and adds the personal a — here se is impersonal, treating "the guilty ones" as a direct object, not a plural subject. With plain things, though, you're back to normal agreement: Se buscan voluntarios.
Fill each blank with se plus the correct third-person form of the verb in brackets. Watch whether the thing is singular or plural.
For the ser-passive items, give the past participle with correct gender/number agreement. For the impersonal items, give se plus the singular verb.
You've just unlocked one of the most authentic corners of Spanish. From now on, when you spot a "Se vende" sign in a window or hear someone say se dice que…, you'll know exactly what's happening under the hood — and you'll be able to build the same sentences yourself. ¡Muy bien hecho!