ha sido/fue/se
I'm wondering how often 'ha sido' is used in normal speech and writing, we use it quite often in English especially in journalism, but I'm not so sure about in Spanish.
I was trying to translate a story from our local paper:
'A Palmers Green man has been described as the most dangerous hacker in the world'.
I considered:
«Un hombre de Palmers Green ha sido descrito como el hacker más peligroso del mundo.»
«Un hombre de Palmers Green fue descrito como el hacker más peligroso del mundo.»
«Un hombre de Palmers Green se describió como el hacker más peligroso del mundo.»
Are all of these (or none of them) acceptable?
I've heard that the 'se' version is more common in speech, but here it could be understood as 'described himself' so I'm not sure.
8 Answers
James Santiago said:
samdie said:
tad said:
Thanks. Regarding the construction: «Un hombre de Palmers Green se describió como el hacker más peligroso del mundo.» Is there anyway this could be said to mean the same or similar to the other two without the reflexive meaning, that is, using 'se' in a passive role.
se describieron ...
Samdie, I don't think that's right. You could say "le describieron" to use the impersonal form of "they described him" (although the preterit doesn't really fit in this context, and it would be better as "le han descrito") but "se describieron" can only mean "they described themselves" or "they were described." Neither of those fits a singular subject.
In the above, I'm not positive whether "le" is correct, or if it should be the direct object "lo." I always have trouble with this.
Wouldn't 'le' in this instance be 'leismo'
Anyway so se describió could be 'was described' or 'described himself' -so would need further clarification -or simply wouldn't be used as it is ambiguous'
samdie said:
tad said:
Thanks. Regarding the construction: «Un hombre de Palmers Green se describió como el hacker más peligroso del mundo.»
Is there anyway this could be said to mean the same or similar to the other two without the reflexive meaning, that is, using 'se' in a passive role.
se describieron ...
Samdie, I don't think that's right. You could say "le describieron" to use the impersonal form of "they described him" (although the preterit doesn't really fit in this context, and it would be better as "le han descrito") but "se describieron" can only mean "they described themselves" or "they were described." Neither of those fits a singular subject.
In the above, I'm not positive whether "le" is correct, or if it should be the direct object "lo." I always have trouble with this.
tad said:
Thanks. Regarding the construction:
«Un hombre de Palmers Green se describió como el hacker más peligroso del mundo.»
Is there anyway this could be said to mean the same or similar to the other two without the reflexive meaning, that is, using 'se' in a passive role.
se describieron ...
Thanks.
Regarding the construction:
«Un hombre de Palmers Green se describió como el hacker más peligroso del mundo.»
Is there anyway this could be said to mean the same or similar to the other two without the reflexive meaning, that is, using 'se' in a passive role.
One of the things that surprised me when I first went to Spain was, not only the common use of the various tenses of 'haber', but its use in various situations.
I remember one such occasion. I was at a party and a guy did something funny behind a girls back. The girl turned around to see who did it and another Spanish girl right behind her said "No he sido", meaning "it wasn't me". I don't think you would ever hear that in Mexico. They would tend to use "No fui yo". My point is, it varies from country to country.
OK thanks. 
I think we might also say "Se ha dicho que Palmers Green es..."
You are probably right that this construction is used more often in English than in Spanish, but it is used in Spanish.
!st sentence = "has been described"
2nd = "was described"
3rd = "described himself"
