B1 · The passive
The impersonal se: «one»
English has three words for it and dislikes all three.
At a glance
- Remember
- No object means singular; an object decides the number.
- Form
- Aquí se trabaja mucho.no object
- Signal words
- se dice
- se puede
- se vive
- uno
- la gente
- Trap
- Wrong:En este restaurante se comen muy bien.Right:En este restaurante se come muy bien.
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.
negation
| no object | Aquí se trabaja mucho. |
| with an adjective | Se está bien aquí. |
| with people | Se busca a los testigos. |
| with an infinitive | No se puede entrar. |
| passive, plural | Se alquilan habitaciones. |
| the contrast | Se dice / se dicen muchas cosas. |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is aboutThe word that calls for it
With no object the verb stays singular.
En España se cena tarde.People have dinner late in Spain.
Before people there is an a, and the verb stays singular.
Se contrató a tres personas.Three people were taken on.
With a thing as subject the verb goes plural — that is the se-passive.
Se necesitan camareros.Waiters wanted.
A reflexive verb cannot carry a second se.
Uno se levanta temprano aquí.You get up early here.
Example sentences
Aquí se vive muy bien.Life is very good here.
No se puede fumar dentro.You cannot smoke inside.
Se tarda una hora en llegar.It takes an hour to get there.
¿A qué hora se come en tu casa?What time do you eat at your place?
6 more example sentences
Se entra por la puerta de atrás.You go in by the back door.
¿Cómo se llega al centro?How do you get to the centre?
Con música se trabaja mejor.You work better with music.
En verano se duerme mal.You sleep badly in summer.
Se ruega no molestar.Please do not disturb.
Aquí no se fía.No credit given here.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
The verb is made plural although there is no subject for it: Aquí se comen bien. With no object there is nothing for the verb to agree with, so it stays singular: Aquí se come bien. The plural belongs to the other construction, where a thing is doing the agreeing.
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
Alongside the se-passive there is the impersonal se, which covers what English splits between «one», «you» and «people»: Aquí se come muy bien. «One eats well here» is stiff, «you eat well here» is chatty, «people eat well here» says something slightly different — and se come bien is simply the neutral sentence. There is no register to weigh up.
It takes no object, and the verb always stays singular. That is the whole difference from the se-passive: there the verb has a thing to agree with (se venden pisos), here it has nothing (se vive bien).
With people as the object the verb also stays singular, and the personal a goes in front: Se ayuda a los necesitados. Without the a — se ayudan los necesitados — it would more likely be read as them helping one another.
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The verbs on this page, in every form: poder · llegar · vivir · tardar · comer · levantarse