Language/Catalan/Grammar/Passive-voice
As a Catalan language teacher with 20 years of experience, I am thrilled to introduce you to the passive voice in Catalan! Once you have a good grasp of the present, past, and future tenses, reflexive verbs, and the subjunctive mood, using the passive voice will elevate your Catalan speaking and writing abilities.
What is the passive voice?
The passive voice is a grammatical construction used to describe somebody performing an action, instead of what the actual action is. In the passive voice, the subject of a sentence is being acted upon, rather than doing the action.
For example, let's look at the following sentence in active voice:
- Joan menja la poma.
This sentence means "Joan eats the apple" (Joan being the subject, and the one doing the action). However, with the passive voice, we could say:
- La poma és menjada per Joan.
This sentence means "The apple is eaten by Joan" (the apple being the subject, and being acted upon).
Passive voice conjugation in Catalan
To form the passive voice in Catalan, you need to use the verb "ser" and the past participle of the main verb. Here is the conjugation of the passive voice in Catalan for different tenses:
- Present: ser + participi (-at or -ut)
- Preterite imperfect: ser + participi (-ava or -ia)
- Future: ser + participi (-aran or -iran)
| Catalan | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| La casa és construida pels obrers. | la ˈkazə es konsˈtɾu.idə pəls oˈβɾes | The house is built by the workers. |
| Catalan | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| La casa era construïda pels obrers. | la ˈkazə ˈeɾə konsˈtɾu.iðə pəls oˈβɾes | The house was being built by the workers. |
| Catalan | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| La casa serà construïda pels obrers. | la ˈkazə səˈɾa konsˈtɾu.iðə pəls oˈβɾes | The house will be built by the workers. |
Other uses of the passive voice
Besides describing who is performing the action, the passive voice has other uses in Catalan:
Emphasis
By using the passive voice in Catalan, we can emphasize the action instead of focusing on the subject. For instance:
- El jutge va ser entrevistat pel periodista.
This sentence puts more emphasis on the judge being interviewed than on the journalist doing the interview.
Official documents
In official documents, such as legislation or academic articles, the passive voice is often used because it helps to present the content objectively. For instance:
- La llei va ser aprovada pel Parlament.
This sentence sounds more impartial than "El Parlament va aprovar la llei" (The Parliament approved the law).
Practice, practice, practice!
Now that you have learned more about the passive voice and how to use it in Catalan, it's time to put it into practice! Try to write some sentences in the passive voice in different tenses and contexts. Remember to pay attention to the proper conjugations.
Learning a new grammatical structure is not an easy feat, but with enough practice, you'll soon be using the passive voice like a pro!
Related Lessons
- Plural
- Present Continuous in Catalan
- How to Use Be
- Instrumental Case in Catalan
- Negation
- Introduction to pronouns
- Verb to be with names and places
- Personal pronouns
- 0 to A1 Course
- Adjectives