Passive voice,

Question

The sentence: "La puerta fue abierta por la maestra" usually means that the door was opened by the teacher. How would one express that the teacher had her arms full and that the door was opened for her? La puerta fue abierta para la maestra, just doesn't sound right to me. Ah, the questions students ask!

Muchas gracias, Les agradezco la ayuda.

Answer 1

La frase " La puerta fue abierta para la maestra" es correcta, pero puede tener varias interpretaciones. Lo ideal es " Abrieron la puerta a la maestra al estar ella con las manos ocupadas"

Thank you for filling out your profile that is worth a vote from me . - ray76, Jul 8, 2015

Answer 2

Or another possibility could be 'se abrieron las puertas a la maestra ....' using the passive 'se'.

Ah the dag of dags returns , how are you old friend , you been on Kiwi style holidays ? - ray76, Jul 8, 2015

I wish lol - busy, busy, busy, - still teaching Spanish but also getting busy with my photography - check out my site www.momentsintimenz.com :) Still I pop in to help when I can! - Kiwi-Girl, Jul 9, 2015

Answer 3

"La puerta fue abierta por la maestra" = the door was opened by the teacher.

La puerta fue abierta para la maestra = the was opened for/to the teacher (depending of what you want to say)

Usually and nowadays anybody would say "le abrieron la puerta a la profe..."

Thanks mate. - ray76, Jul 9, 2015