His Masters Voice
Report what was done — news-style or with se — and sound natural saying it.
Spanish has two passives. The formal one is ser + past participle, and the participle agrees with the subject: El libro fue escrito por García Márquez, Las cartas fueron escritas — the agent comes in with por or gets dropped entirely. The everyday one is the se-passive, where the verb matches the noun's number: Se vende casa / Se venden casas — it's the voice of signs, rules and general statements (Se prohíbe fumar, Aquí se habla español). And here's what textbooks undersell: in conversation, natives usually skip both and flip to active — lo escribió García Márquez — keeping ser-passive for news and formal register.
Below: both constructions with their phrases, how signs and headlines actually read across regions — and a way to practise choosing between them out loud, not on a worksheet.
Say this
Regional Spanish
Textbooks teach one word. Locals use several — pick your region's and stay consistent.
| English | Mexico | Argentina |
|---|---|---|
| for rent (the sign) | se renta | se alquila |
| window (the glass) | la ventana | el vidrio |
| people are saying… | dicen que | se dice por ahí |
Watch out
The part no drill site can do
Carla
Your grammar teacher for this pack
No rewrite exercises on paper — in the His Masters Voice lessons you say it and Carla answers back. She has you invent a sign for your own workplace — Se necesita…, Se prohíbe…, Se busca… — then contrast La ventana fue rota (someone broke it) with La ventana está rota (it's just broken). Then the real skill: she gives you an active sentence, you flip it to passive out loud, and you argue which one a native would actually say.
Blank mid-sentence and nothing bad happens — she waits. That's the practice, without unnecessary judgement.
Finish the 6 lessons and His Masters Voice is yours — earned, not given.
First 10 lessons free · 10-minute spoken lessons · your AI coaching team remembers you
Quick answers
Ser + past participle, with the participle agreeing in gender and number: Las cartas fueron escritas, never fue escrito for a plural. Add the agent with por — El premio fue entregado por el director — or leave it out when it's unknown or unimportant.
Se + third-person verb that matches the noun: Se vende casa, Se venden entradas en la taquilla. With no noun to agree with, it stays singular and impersonal: Se prohíbe fumar, Se dice que va a llover mañana.
Rarely in speech. Natives flip to active (lo escribió García Márquez) or an agentless third-person plural — in Argentina you'll hear me rompieron el vidrio del auto, not a ser-passive. Ser + participle lives in news and formal register: el sospechoso fue detenido anoche.
La ventana fue rota reports the action — someone broke it. La ventana está rota describes the state — it's broken now. Ser for the event, estar for the result.
Match the noun: Se vende casa but Se venden casas — never se vende casas. It's the number agreement that gives learners away on this one.
