Ch 24 · Lesson 10Spanish · Chapter 24 · Lesson 10 · Grammar primer
Fue cerrada or está cerrada: action or state
+ participle reports the action, + participle the state it left. And why everyday Spanish prefers or the active.
The short version
happened, just is
.
Why?Hide
plus a participle reports an event; plus the same participle describes the state it left behind. means somebody shut it. just means it is shut, no event in view. The quick test: if you are reporting the event itself, when it happened or who did it, you want .
Fue cerrada or está cerrada: action or state
plus the same participle does not report an action. It describes the state the action left behind:
fue cerrada: someone shut it (the action)
está cerrada: it is shut (the state)
Timeline from past to now, with now marked.
| Verb | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| : action | . | The door was shut (by someone). |
| : state | . | The door is shut. |
| : action | construida 1900. | The house was built in 1900. |
| : state | construida. | The house is well built. |
A quick test: if you are reporting the event itself, when it happened or who did it, you want :
.- The door was shut by the wind..- The door has been shut since yesterday.
The participle agrees after too: cerradas. (The shops are shut.)
Why Spanish reaches for it so rarely
English uses the passive all the time. Spanish keeps the passive for formal writing, and for everyday talk it reaches for something lighter:
- Vendieron la casa.
- Se vendió la casa.
- La casa fue vendida.
| Spanish | English | Where |
|---|---|---|
. | They sold the house. | everyday |
. | The house was sold. | everyday |
vendida. | The house was sold. | news, |
The passive earns its place when the doer matters:
escrita .- The novel was written by a woman.
The version has its own page: the passive se and the impersonal se.
Mistakes English speakers make
| Wrong | Right | Why |
|---|---|---|
escrita. | the participle agrees with | |
escritos. | plural subject, plural participle | |
. | the doer takes | |
| (now) | . | a state now is |
| son vendidas | . | everyday Spanish uses |
Going further: The passive with ser on one screen and the rest of the guide, when you want them. This lesson does not need them.
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