Spanish Passive se vs Impersonal se: se venden, se vive

Both constructions put se before a third-person verb and never say who does it. The difference is what the verb agrees with:

• Se venden casas. - Houses for sale.
• Aquí se vive bien. - Life is good here.

The two se on one screen

If a plural noun pulls the verb into the plural, it is the passive se. If nothing does, it is the impersonal se. On the AQA GCSE the impersonal se is Foundation and Higher, the passive se Higher.

Sentences with no subject at all, such as llueve and hay, are a different thing: see impersonal verbs.

The passive se: the thing becomes the subject

The thing acted on becomes the subject, and the verb agrees with it like any verb with its subject:

Nobody is named: the houses just get sold. This is the se on every shop window and small ad:

Why se beats the ser passive

The passive with ser is formal and comes into its own when a doer is named with por. With nobody to name, Spanish reaches for se:

So treat se as the default, and ser as the formal exception.

The impersonal se: one, you, people

The impersonal se has no thing as its subject. It means a general one, you or people, and the verb stays singular:

It is se dice que, never se dicen que, for "they say".

Reflexive verbs take uno

A reflexive verb already has its own se, and Spanish never puts two se together. For a general "you" with a reflexive verb, use uno:

• Uno se acostumbra a todo. - You get used to anything.
• En verano uno se levanta más temprano. - In summer you get up earlier.

Telling them apart: follow the agreement

Look for a noun that could be the subject. If there is one, the verb agrees with it:

The near-pair shows it best:

• Aquí se comen muchas patatas. - A lot of potatoes are eaten here.
• Aquí se come bien. - The food is good here.

Many grammars, the RAE's among them, analyse se dice que and se puede fumar as a passive se whose subject is the whole clause. The verb is singular either way.

People after se: the personal a

A specific person after se takes the personal a, and a noun with a in front cannot be a subject. So the verb stays singular, even next to a plural noun:

• Se busca a los responsables. - The people responsible are being sought.
• Se ayudó a los vecinos. - The neighbours were helped.

In a small ad the people are not specific, there is no a, and the verb agrees:

• Se buscan camareros. - Waiters wanted.

Mistakes English speakers make

What to do next

1. Write three shop signs with se, one of them plural.
2. Do the sort and story drills below.
3. Then the passive with ser for the formal version.