Passive Voice using "se" and "ser"

Question

These kids are given an hour to do the test. -1) Se dan estos niños una hora para hacer la prueba.

An hour is given to these kids to do the test. -2) Se les dá a estos niños una hora para hacer la prueba.

Are both Spanish sentences correct? I am a little unsure of number 1. Thanks

Answer 1

Se les da a estos niños una hora para hacer la prueba.

A estos niños se les da una hora...

Se les da una hora a estos ....

Your number one version is not good.

Edit: the first phrase/sentence is not bad or ungrammatical, really. But compare the following to what you wanted to say.

Se dan estos niños una hora para hacer la prueba. = These kids give themselves an hour to complete the test.

Would that be of help. Remember I don't know grammar...hence I cannot give you a grammatically correct answer. (Full of grammatical theory, etc)

thanks chileno. what makes the first version incorrect? - cdunn3, Mar 31, 2014

See my edit... - chileno, Apr 1, 2014

Answer 2

@ Chileno: Would this work?

A los niños se les manda un limite de tiempo de una hora para cumplir con la prueba.

A los niños *se* les manda/da una hora... - chileno, Apr 1, 2014

Thanks Chileno! - annierats, Apr 1, 2014

Answer 3

annierats, why is the "dan" suspect? I think it would have been correct to say" Se dan estos niños a familia amable." where the active construct would be "El oficial los da a esos niños a famlia amable." and plural direct object "niños" is now the subject in the passive rendition. Your thoughts?

Because the action is inthe singualr, I think, the children themselves are not active. That's only what I think, I'm not good at explaining grammar!. - annierats, Mar 31, 2014

La familia y la escuela educan a los niños. La madre educa a las chicas. Los chicos son críados por la familia. - annierats, Mar 31, 2014

Answer 4

Thanks chileno. Gave it a little thought and I think I figured it out. In the active voice the sentence would probably read - Somebody gave the kids an hour for the test. The object of the sentence is "hour". So in the passive structure, the object becomes the subject - An hour was given to the kids for the test. My first sentence is incorrectly taking the indirect object "kids" as the subject of the passive construct.

It's the ' dan' actually, I think. - annierats, Mar 31, 2014