B1 · The passive
Third person plural as passive
Me han robado el coche — with no «they» in front of it.
At a glance
- Remember
- «They» with no «they» — and «I was given» turns back into «they gave me».
- Form
- Me han robado el móvil.theft
- Signal words
- me han
- dicen que
- llaman
- han cancelado
- te lo van a
- Trap
- Wrong:Mi cartera fue robada ayer en el metro.Right:Ayer me robaron la cartera en el metro.
Your turn
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The form
The patterns at a glance
Each row first says when or what the pattern is used for, then gives an example in Spanish.
| theft | Me han robado el móvil. |
| a knock | Llaman a la puerta. |
| rumour | Dicen que se va. |
| announcement | Han cancelado el vuelo. |
| repair | Me arreglaron el coche ayer. |
| no doer at all | Se rompió el vaso. |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is about
The third person plural with no subject leaves the doer unnamed.
Han cortado la carretera otra vez.They have closed the road again.
It is used wherever a person does the action.
Me han dado la beca.I have been awarded the grant.
When nobody acts, Spanish uses the anticausative se: it happens by itself.
Se cerró la puerta con el viento.The door blew shut in the wind.
The subject pronoun must not be there.
Dicen que es verdad.They say it is true.
Example sentences
Me han cortado la luz.My electricity has been cut off.
Han abierto una tienda nueva.A new shop has opened.
¿Te han contestado ya?Have they answered you yet?
Dicen que el examen es difícil.They say the exam is hard.
6 more example sentences
Nos han cambiado la hora de la reunión.The time of the meeting has been changed.
Lo han operado esta mañana.He was operated on this morning.
Han construido un puente nuevo.A new bridge has been built.
Me dijeron que no había plazas.I was told there were no places left.
Te están esperando abajo.They are waiting for you downstairs.
Han retrasado el tren una hora.The train has been delayed by an hour.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
The English passive is translated one for one with ser: Mi cartera fue robada. It is grammatical and it sounds like a police report. And for «I was given a book» there is no version with ser at all — Fui dado un libro is not Spanish. The everyday sentences are Me robaron la cartera and Me dieron un libro.
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
The commonest Spanish answer to an English passive is not a passive at all but a bare third person plural with no subject: Me han robado la cartera is «my wallet has been stolen». English has the same trick and keeps the pronoun — «they have cancelled the flight», «they say it is going to rain» — but in Spanish the pronoun must not be there. Ellos dicen que would mean some particular people.
This is the normal form in speech. Llaman a la puertais «there is somebody at the door»Dicen que va a lloveris «they say it is going to rain»
It is also the answer to a passive English has and Spanish does not. «I was given a book», «we were told to wait», «he was sent a letter» promote an indirect object to subject, which Spanish cannot do at all: Me dieron un libro, Nos dijeron que esperáramos, Le mandaron una carta. The person goes back to being an object, and the verb goes back to third person plural.
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The verbs on this page, in every form: haber · ser · decir · cortar · dar · cerrar · contestar