Visit Copán in Spanish

Quick Answer

¡Hola!Learn how to visit Copán in Spanish in this article and the lessons above! Specifically, learn how to do the following in Spanish:

• use the passive voice

• use passive seconstructions

• talk about the Mayan city of Copán

Vocabulary

Let's start off with the vocab words in these lessons!

Nouns

Spanish	English
el artefacto	artifact
la astronomía	astronomy
el cincel	chisel
Copán	Copán
la década	decade
el dios, la diosa	god, goddess
la escalinata	steps, staircase
la estela	stela
la generación	generation
la inscripción	inscription
el jeroglífico	hieroglyph
el mural	mural
la precisión	precision
la tumba	tomb
el túnel	tunnel

examples
Los artefactos fueron preservados en museos. The artifacts were preserved in museums.
Se estudió astronomía en Copán. Astronomy was studied in Copán.
Las escalinatas fueron talladas con cinceles. The steps were carved with chisels.

Verbs

In this skill, you learn the following verbs!

Spanish Infinitive	English	Past Participle
abandonar	to abandon	abandonado
descifrar	to decipher	descifrado
erigir	to erect	erigido
excavar	to dig, to excavate	excavado
hallar	to find	hallado
narrar	to tell	narrado
redescubrir	to rediscover	redescubierto
tallar	to carve	tallado

The Passive Voice and the Passive Se in Spanish

• In sentences written in the active voice, the doer of an action is the subject.

• In sentences written in the passive voice, the receiver of an action is the subject.

In Spanish, the passive voice is generally used to talk about a person or object without making mention of whoever or whatever is performing the action on that person or object.

There are two ways of using the passive voice in Spanish: passive se constructions and—like in English—passives with ser(to be).

Passive se constructions are one way of using the passive voice in Spanish. Only transitive verbs (verbs that require a direct object) are used in passive se constructions.

Passive Voice Formula

In sentences in passive voice, the receiver of an action gets moved to the subject position. This is often done to move the focus from the doer to whatever it is that was done.

The following formulas are used to create the passive voice:

1. The Passive With Ser

The passive with ser is:

• ser + past participle (+ por[by] + agent)

Note that, like in English passives, we can mention who performed the action. To do so, we use the structure por + agent after the past participle.

For example:

examples
Copán fue estudiada por arqueólogos internacionales. Copán was studied by international archaeologists.
Los altares fueron usados en rituales. The altars were used in rituals.

Gender and Number Agreement

The past participle in passive sentences must agree in gender and number with the subject of the passive sentence.

examples
Copán fue estudiada por arqueólogos internacionales. Copán was studied by international archaeologists.
Los altares fueron usados en rituales. The altars were used in rituals.

2. Passive Se Formula

The passive se is always formed using the third person singular or plural of a verb. If whatever you're talking about is singular, the verb is singular; if whatever you're talking about is plural, the verb is plural:

• se + third person (singular/plural) verb + (singular/plural) noun

For example:

examples
Se estudió astronomía en Copán. Astronomy was studied in Copán.
Se consideró a Copán un gran centro de comercio. Copán was considered a major trading center.

You can learn more about the passive voice and passive se in these articles:

• Active vs. Passive Voice

• Passive "Se" in Spanish

Translation Alert

Note that both the passive voice and passive se are translated into English using the English passive voice. For example:

examples
Se jugó pelota maya en Copán. The Mayan ballgame was played in Copán.
La pelota maya fue jugada en Copán. The Mayan ballgame was played in Copán.
Se inscribieron jeroglíficos en las piedras. Hieroglyphs were inscribed on the stones.
Jeroglíficos fueron inscritos en las piedras. Hieroglyphs were inscribed on the stones.

Quiz Yourself!

Want more practice with the vocabulary you learned in these lessons? Click here!

Spanish Conversation

Fantastic! Let's put the grammar and vocab from above to the test in the following example of a conversation in Spanish.

Josué:

Quiero saber más sobre la ciudad maya de Copán. Está en Honduras, ¿verdad?

I'd like to know more about the Mayan city of Copán. It’s in Honduras, isn’t it?

Valentina:

Sí. Está cerca de donde vive mi abuela. Copán fue construida por los mayas, pero fue abandonada hace muchos siglos.

Yeah. It’s near where my grandma lives. Copán was built by the Mayas, but it was abandoned many centuries ago.

Josué:

¿Qué sabes sobre los templos y las pirámides?

What do you know about the temples and the pyramids?

Valentina:

Copán fue estudiada por arqueólogos internacionales. Dicen que los templos fueron dedicados a los dioses y las pirámides fueron construidas con precisión.

Copán was studied by international archaeologists. They say the temples were dedicated to the gods and the pyramids were built with precision.

Josué:

He leído que se descubrieron ricas esculturas en las ruinas.

I read that rich sculptures were discovered in the ruins.

Valentina:

Sí. Se realizaron investigaciones por décadas.

Yes. Research was carried out for decades.

Want to learn more about how to visit Copán in Spanish? Check out the following articles!

• Spanish Words of Mayan Origin

• Passive "Se" in Spanish

• Currencies of Latin America