Making a passive sentence

Question

Please help me write this passive sentence in Spanish:

"This note can be played by ..."

If you could explain a little about making passive sentences by "can" and "be", I will be so thankful.

Answer 1

Passive voice- A verb that indicates that the subject does not act, but is acted upon.

La nota se puede tocar por guitarra. (in this setting (se) lets you know that the action is personal to the note. (sort of like reflexive…but passive)

The note can be played by guitar.

La nota fue tocado por los músicos.

The note was played by the muscians.

In this setting, the note is not playing, but is being acted upon by the guitar.

La puerta fue abierta por el niño. The door was opened by the child.

The door did not act, but was acted upon by the child.

Se descubrieron los cadáveres.

The bodies were discovered.

Gracias - mini_coral, Aug 3, 2012

Gets my vote. - Eddy, Aug 3, 2012

Answer 2

A similar construction, but different meaning is: se habla español, which means "someone speaks Spanish" so the se in this case is the subject that is doing the speaking. So: Se puede tocar la guitarra, can mean: "someone can play the guitar."

This explanation can lead to confusion because saying "someone speaks" or "someone plays" has a subject directly doing the action, which is "someone."

Passive voice indicates the direct object being acted upon but without a would-be subject doing the action, so "Se habla español" is "Spanish is spoken" and "Se puede tocar la guitarra" is "The guitar can be played." And when passive voice is used, "se" has nothing to do with reflexive.

Good explanation of why not to use 'se' Julian. Thanks! - 0095ca4c, Aug 4, 2012

VERY clear and helpful. I got the point. Thanks a lot. - mini_coral, Aug 4, 2012

So which one do you believe to be correct Julian? 1- La nota primera de una cuerda se puede tocar una octava superior. 2- Se puede tocar la nota primera de una cuerda, una octava superior. - mini_coral, Aug 4, 2012

Both are correct. Spanish is very liberal with verb placement - 005faa61, Aug 4, 2012

Gracias! - mini_coral, Aug 5, 2012

Answer 3

Great explication viejito. If you are looking for more in depth converage of the topic, take a look at the excellent Learn Spanish 3.12 on the passive voice.

A similar construction, but different meaning is: se habla español, which means "someone speaks Spanish" so the se in this case is the subject that is doing the speaking.

So: Se puede tocar la guitarra, can mean: "someone can play the guitar."

Hope this is helpful too.

helpful, thanks - mini_coral, Aug 3, 2012