question about verb herir

Question

Hi

I need an explanation please about this verb in the following situacion... I can't understand something.

lo hirieron en el hombro -> he was wounded in the shoulder, he suffered a shoulder wound

hirieron is 3rd person plural...

shouldn't the meaning be "They hurted him in the shoulder"?

Thanks Alon

No such word as hurted ;) the past participle would be 'hurt' - Kiwi-Girl, May 31, 2013

yea.. oops:) thanks - alonaxis, Jun 1, 2013

Answer 1

Lo hirieron en el hombro

Actually, it is not passive voice but 3rd person plural (Ellos) lo hirieron en el hombro (They wounded him in the shoulder). But who is "they?" It´s common to use 3rd person plural when we want to create an impersonal sentence, which has the same end result as passive voice - it doesn´t identify who does the action.

Passive voice in this case would be (Él) se hirió en el hombro. However, because of the verb used this could also be confused with a reflexive statement, meaning he wounded himself in the shoulder, so to avoid this confusion it would be better to say (Él) fue herido en el hombro.

Answer 2

It's in passive voice; it's not been determined who hurted him, so passive voice is used to indicate that.

Lo hirieron en el hombro = He was wounded in the shoulder

Passive Voice

no such word as hurted although if English behaved itself it probably should be jeje, the past participle of hurt is just 'hurt' - Kiwi-Girl, May 31, 2013

Answer 3

They wounded him in the shoulder maybe?