Gerund/passive tenses

Question

I have a question on how to form a sentence like this:

"The development and construction of the project are being done by Joe and Juan."

I'm confused by what tense of verb to use.

My guess: "El desarrollo y la construccion del proyecto estan seando hechos por Joe y Juan." Clearly my sentence is incorrect, can someone please help me? Also I apologize for my lack of accent marks, I'm using my phone to type this. Thank you in advance for the help!!

Nice question Alyssa, passive voice is not easy. - foxluv, Mar 3, 2012

Answer 1

Well, to translate directly from what you have: "The development and construction of the project are being done by Joe and Juan."

i would say this

El desarrollo y construcción del proyecto están siendo hecho por Joe y Juan.

'Están siendo hecho' translates to 'are being done'

están is a plural so you must use "hechos" i would use "realizados por" sounds better. Or you just can say: Desarroyo y construccion por Joe y Juan. :D - diego81, Mar 3, 2012

Answer 2

I think smettems' sentence structure is right, because "están haciendo" means "(they) are doing..." This is not a passive sentence, but a regular present progressive sentence. The original question requires a passive, present progressive sentence.

I could be wrong, and I look forward to some advanced or native speaker to clarify this question. Nice question.

Answer 3

The gerundio of hacer is typically used when an on going process is being done (not to be confused with the gerund in English, which is not the same). Maybe something like...... El desarrollo y la construcción del proyecto, lo están haciendo por Joe y Juan.

"...haciendo Joe y Juan" ;) - Cordobesa, Mar 3, 2012

whoops! Thanks! - Jack-OBrien, Mar 3, 2012

Answer 4

Hmmm....great question. Welcome to the forum, Alyssa.

I would use the active voice:

Joe y Juan están desarrollando y construyendo el proyecto.

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I just realized that you may be studying the Active vs. Passive Voice in Spanish. Here's a website where you can practice.

Thank you for the link and example of the active voice, Mariana. I just really need to know how to form a passive voiced sentence using the gerund tense. Do you have a guess? - AlyssaLTerry, Mar 3, 2012