CEFR B2
What you will learn
- Distinguish impersonal se from passive se through transitivity, personal a and agreement.
- Build event passives with ser and a participle that agrees with the patient subject.
- Separate an action passive from a resulting state and from a vague human agent.
Before you start
- Have studied “Reflexive and pronominal verbs: keep the pronoun with its person”.
The idea
Passive se has a grammatical subject that undergoes the action, so the verb agrees with it: “Se publicaron dos informes.” Impersonal se has no such subject and keeps third-person singular: “Se entrevistó a dos especialistas.” The number of things mentioned does not decide the construction. Agreement depends on grammatical structure: a direct human object marked by personal a is not the subject of an impersonal se clause.
“La puerta fue cerrada a las ocho” presents a closing event. “La puerta estaba cerrada a las ocho” describes the state observed at that time; it does not by itself identify when or by whom the closing happened.
A ser-passive can include an agent with por. An estar-result normally describes the condition and does not package the same agentive event.
Ser carries tense; the participle carries patient agreement
| time frame | singular masculine | singular feminine | plural masculine | plural feminine |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| present | es revisado | es revisada | son revisados | son revisadas |
| preterite | fue revisado | fue revisada | fueron revisados | fueron revisadas |
| imperfect | era revisado | era revisada | eran revisados | eran revisadas |
| future | será revisado | será revisada | serán revisados | serán revisadas |
| present perfect | ha sido revisado | ha sido revisada | han sido revisados | han sido revisadas |
| conditional | sería revisado | sería revisada | serían revisados | serían revisadas |
How it sounds
- Se agotaron las entradas.
- Se avisó a todos los socios.
- El puente fue inaugurado en mayo.
Check objective 1Another case
A proposed answer is “procesa” for this case: “Use exactly three application forms. En esta ventanilla se procesa tres solicitudes cada hora. (procesar)”. Choose the only valid form.
A proposed answer is “procesar” for this case: “Use exactly three application forms. En esta ventanilla se procesar tres solicitudes cada hora. (procesar)”. Choose the only valid form.
Answer available without interaction
Answer: procesan — Solicitudes is the plural patient subject of a passive se clause, so procesar agrees in third-person plural: procesan.
Solicitudes is the plural patient subject of a passive se clause, so procesar agrees in third-person plural: procesan.
Answer: procesan — Solicitudes is the plural patient subject of a passive se clause, so procesar agrees in third-person plural: procesan.
Solicitudes is the plural patient subject of a passive se clause, so procesar agrees in third-person plural: procesan.
Check objective 2Another case
A proposed answer is “rehabilitado” for this case: “Use the single facade and complete only the participle: La fachada fue rehabilitado por el equipo municipal el lunes. (rehabilitar)”. Choose the only valid form.
A proposed answer is “rehabilitadas” for this case: “Use the single facade and complete only the participle: La fachada fue rehabilitadas por el equipo municipal el lunes. (rehabilitar)”. Choose the only valid form.
Answer available without interaction
Answer: rehabilitada — The event passive already supplies fue. The participle agrees with the singular feminine patient fachada: rehabilitada.
The event passive already supplies fue. The participle agrees with the singular feminine patient fachada: rehabilitada.
Answer: rehabilitada — The event passive already supplies fue. The participle agrees with the singular feminine patient fachada: rehabilitada.
The event passive already supplies fue. The participle agrees with the singular feminine patient fachada: rehabilitada.
Check objective 3Another case
Choose the sentence that describes the resulting state, not the event.
Choose the sentence that presents an event from the patient's perspective.
Answer available without interaction
Answer: La puerta está cerrada. — Estar plus participle presents the resulting state; the other options present an event.
Estar plus participle presents the resulting state; the other options present an event.
Answer: El informe fue terminado por el equipo. — Ser plus participle and an agent phrase present the action passive event.
Ser plus participle and an agent phrase present the action passive event.
What your own language pushes you to say
Wrong Se entrevistaron a tres candidatas.
Right Se entrevistó a tres candidatas.
Personal a marks candidatas as a human direct object here. The impersonal construction has no grammatical subject, so the verb remains singular.
Challenge: apply every rule
Solve every case and justify each choice: 1) A proposed answer is “accede” for this case: “Use exactly three application forms. En esta ventanilla se accede tres solicitudes cada hora. (procesar)”. Choose the only valid form. 2) A proposed answer is “procesan” for this case: “Use the single facade and complete only the participle: La fachada fue procesan por el equipo municipal el lunes. (rehabilitar)”. Choose the only valid form. 3) Choose the sentence that describes the resulting state, not the event.
Answer available without interaction
- Distinguish impersonal se from passive se through transitivity, personal a and agreement.
- Build event passives with ser and a participle that agrees with the patient subject.
- Separate an action passive from a resulting state and from a vague human agent.
Answer: procesan · rehabilitada · La puerta está cerrada.
Solicitudes is the plural patient subject of a passive se clause, so procesar agrees in third-person plural: procesan. The event passive already supplies fue. The participle agrees with the singular feminine patient fachada: rehabilitada. Estar plus participle presents the resulting state; the other options present an event.
Curriculum alignment and sources
- B2 discourse can foreground relevant information and sustain clear descriptions and explanations; the voice system is an editorial grammatical support. · CEFR descriptors search
- Basic passive and impersonal se are listed at B1; B2 adds action and result passives with ser and defined subjects. This unit reviews the B1 distinction only to build the B2 contrast. · ic-pcic-grammar-b1-b2