5.7.3 Passive Se versus Impersonal Se

The passive se and the impersonal se are often introduced together in textbooks because they are closely related in meaning and grammar.  The difference between the two is that the passive se can only be used with transitive verbs and the impersonal se can be used with intransitive verbs.  What do these terms mean?

According to Merriam Webster’s online dictionary:

A transitive verb is “characterized by having or containing a direct object”

Whereas an intransitive verb is “characterized by not having or containing a direct object”

In the example used earlier in this chapter, “libros” was the direct object which means that “vender” was a transitive verb.  Compare that to:

Vivimos bien aquí

Is there an object in this sentence?  No, there is not, there is an adverb that describes how we live and another adverb that explains where we live.  There is no object.  Therefore, we are technically using the impersonal se if we say:

Se vive bien aquí

Since an intransitive verb does not have an object, there is nothing that we can put into the subject spot in a passive voice sentence so the verb is always in the singular.

Are these technically two different constructions: YES.  However, at the level this textbook is written for, it may be more useful for you to think of these sentences as variations of the same kind of sentence and if you don’t have an object, you’ll never have something plural to make a verb plural.

Sentences with a personal a

Similar to the above explanation, when a passive voice sentence contains a personal a the verb is always singular.  There are different explanations about why that might be.  Is it actually an impersonal se?  It is yet another use of se that is slightly different from both the impersonal se and the passive se?  Again, for the level of student who will use this textbook, it is sufficient to say that sentences with a personal a have a singular verb.

Example:

Se encontró a los ladrones