'It has been proven'.....

Question

Is 'it has been proven', 'ha sido probado'?

Thank you for your help.

Answer 1

se ha probado sounds better, although both are technically correct

thanks...yes, it does sound slightly better..why the se? - Seb79, Dec 4, 2010

"se" indicates passive voice. Without it, "someone has proven...." - 005faa61, Dec 4, 2010

Answer 2

thanks...yes, it does sound slightly better..why the se?

Because it is one of the mechanisms available in Spanish to remove or ignore the main actor of the sentence. In "Javier ha probado que...", Javier is the main actor, but in "Se ha provado", that "se" tells you that whoever proved it is not important, like in the passive construction "It has been proven". This "se" has been longer in the language than the periphrastic passive construction "ha sido probado", and it is far much more used in spoken language, where the periphrastic passive construction is rare. In many instances, the periphrastic passive construction even sounds odd in Spanish.

Unsurprisingly, this "se" is normally referred to as "passive reflexive se".

That is a much better and more detailed explination than I gave :) - AngelinaG, Dec 4, 2010

Thanks. Let's hope it helps seb79. He is the one who needs it. - lazarus1907, Dec 4, 2010

OK, thanks for clearing that up Lazurus. Entiendo ahora. - Seb79, Dec 4, 2010