Verb Saber Present Continuous
I was reading an article on line to test how well I am learning and was stopped by "No se sabe..." I used the translator and the translation came back as "It is not known.." I don't undersatnd. Knowing a little about conjugation in spanish it is "No esta sabido.." present continuous, the verb estar plus the participle. I am guessing that "se" is the verb ser but I don't know how and the main verb is 3rd person singular, which is knows.
6 Answers
Hey, I don't agree... It does mean "It is not known." Because;
The verb is saber but when you want to use passive, you need to put there a "se" to mean that the person is not known or not important.
For example;
"I don't know how "hello" is said in spanish"
=
"No sé como se dice "hello" en el español.."
And "no está sabido" is not present continuous. there, sabido is adjective.
"No se sabe."
The "se" part is not from the verb ser.
I believe that the "se" in your sentence, "No se sabe." is the use of the reflexive "se" as a substitute for the true passive voice when no specific agent is expressed. This is sometimes called the "false" passive.
The reflexive "se" is used frequently to express "one" or an indefinite "they" in the "false" passive voice.
For example: Aquí se habla expañol. = Spanish (is) spoken here. (Literally, Spanish speaks itself here.)
or
Se vende libros = (We) Sell books. (Literally, "books sell themselves".)
Less likely, the "se" could also be the reflexive form of the verb saber = saberse
My dictionary gives the following example of the use of saberse:
Nunca se sabe = you never know
The "se" part is the reflexive part and can mean = you (singular formal, Ud.),he, she, it or you (plural formal, Uds.)
I would term this use as impersonal, but as you see in the above article there is some overlap in the impersonal and passive se. Some even refer to it as impersonal/passive, but there are minor differences when it comes to expressing an agent.
As someone mentioned, sabido is the past participle of saber and, therefore, can be used in forming the perfect tenses or as an adjective. (as in this case).
The present participle of saber used in forming the present (in this case) progressive or continuous tense is sabiendo.
I agree with dugu3b. "No sabe..." is the present indicative of the verb, meaning "he / she / it / usted does not know...". However, using "se" before the verb turns it into the present passive form, meaning "it is not known....".
I have been wondering about the passive tense in spanish being curious. I haven't explored because there is too much to learn in basics. So you not only answered the question, but got me introduced to passive tense.
Gracias
Hello again!
The phrase No se sabe means she/he doesn't know. The actual he/she bit can be determined by the name of the person that is being spoken of and/or the situation.
For example you could say: Emma no se sabe, which means emma doesn't know.
