la pasiva con ser - alternativas

While English constantly uses the passive with the verb 'to be' (e.g. 'I was told that John had been seen'), in both spoken and written communication, the passive with ser is rarely used in informal/spoken Spanish. As discussed previously, the difference between written and spoken Spanish is vast.

English-speaking learners tend to overuse the passive with ser, saying things like, 'esta mesa fue hecha por mi abuelo', 'Juan no es querido por sus compañeros', and so on, which are not incorrect but may sound awkward in conversation.

There are several alternatives to the passive with ser (pasiva perifrástica) , and understanding when to use them can be a challenge. Here we discuss the most common ways of expressing passive-like constructions in everyday Spanish.

• Pasiva refleja (e.g. se vieron las langostas)
• Se impersonal (e.g. se vio a los turistas)
• Tercera persona plural impersonal (e.g. vieron a los turistas)
• Repetición del complemento directo - construcción dislocada (e.g. a los turistas los vio una vecina)

Firstly, one must consider why we use the passive.  

It is generally used when the subject of a transitive verb (i.e. has a direct object) is either unknown, irrelevant or obvious; but we may also choose to use the passive voice to change the word order and emphasize the direct object, e.g. 'this table was made by my grandfather', where the speaker could have said 'my grandfather made this table', but wishes to put 'the table' at the head of the sentence where the information being commented on generally goes –see word order in Spanish.

1) The pasiva refleja isn't normally used when naming the agent, e.g. 'la casa fue construida por un albañil en los años 80'  but 'la casa se construyó por un albañil en los años 80'. 

"Frente a las pasivas de participio, las pasivas reflejas muestran mayor resistencia a aceptar complementos agentes. Suelen rechazarlos cuando se construyen con expresiones definidas que designan individuos".²

However, it is sometimes heard in legal jargon or when referring to a generic agent, groups, institutions or corporations.

El impuesto se aplicará por la administración; Se convocó por el Gobierno Regional un concurso de novela

If one wishes to emphasize the direct object by placing it at the head of the sentence, with the agent following it, the most common and natural way is to repeat the direct object as a pronoun, e.g. 'la casa la construyó un albañil en los años 80'.  
When not mentioning the agent, the third-person plural form is the most common in spoken Spanish, i.e. 'construyeron la casa en los años 80'.

As noted in A New Reference Grammar of Modern Spanish, "[...] the passive with ser tends to be less impersonal than passive se, i.e. it ascribes an action to some named or unnamed agent, whereas constructions with se may suggest that anyone might do the same; in other words they tend to be generic or generalizing in meaning."³

2) In English, the indirect object can be the subject of the verb 'to be' in the passive, e.g. 'I was told that...'; in Spanish this construction is not possible. In this case, the third-person plural would be the most common option in spoken Spanish, while the pasiva refleja would be used more in formal register. The use of ser is rare in Spain in this type of construction.¹

3) When the passive is used in the present simple or past imperfect to talk about how things are generally done, the use of ser (perifrástica), which alludes to some unnamed agent, is rare. The impersonal se or the pasiva refleja are the natural choice.³

"Ahora bien, un factor que distingue la pasiva con 'se' de la perifrástica es lo que Fernández Ramírez (1951) definió como su carácter sentencioso o universal: la pasiva con 'se' suele usarse con predicados con valor general en tanto que la pasiva perifrástica denota preferentemente eventos particulares, concretos, puntuales. [...] en la pasiva perifrástica se prefieren los eventos singulares con un objeto externo que aparecerá a la izquierda del verbo cuando este se pasivice, y con un agente – explícito o no – de intervención evidente. Los dos ejemplos siguientes ilustran la diferencia:

Se suelen hacer muchas tonterías cuando se está nervioso.

El trabajo fue hecho con entusiasmo (por los estudiantes)".⁴

As discussed previously, the pasiva refleja and the se impersonal have some overlap and can cause confusion, but remember that the verb is always used in third-person singular with the se impersonal, while it agrees with the noun in pasiva refleja.^5-6

4) When the object is a person, the pasiva refleja is not generally used since it can be confused for the reflexive, e.g. 'el hombre se llamó'??. T0 avoid confusion, the impersonal se with the preposition a is the norm, e.g. 'se llamó al hombre'.

As discussed previously, when using the pronoun for the direct object in impersonal constructions, le is favoured for males while la/le alternates with females in Spain, e.g. 'se le (lo/la) llamó'. 

"Hoy, según la norma culta mayoritaria, reflejada en escritores de prestigio de todo el ámbito hispánico, se utiliza la construcción impersonal cuando el verbo transitivo lleva un complemento directo de persona determinado —y, por tanto, necesariamente precedido de la preposición a [...]".¹

As discussed previously, the pasiva refleja can be used with people, however, when they are unspecified (without determiner, e.g. el, estos, unos, etc.), especially where there is little chance of confusion with the reflexive meaning.

[...] y se usa la construcción de pasiva refleja cuando el verbo transitivo lleva, en la versión activa de la oración, un complemento directo de cosa, o bien un complemento directo de persona no determinado".1

5) The passive with ser is not normally used with stative verbs; however a limited number of verbs, including saber, conocer, and considerar, are commonly seen in the passive with ser.³

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