B1 · Intermediate

Impersonal se and the passive se (pasiva refleja)

How to use 'se' for general statements (se vive bien) and for a passive construction without an agent (se venden pisos).

Impersonal se: general statements

With se + verb in the third person singular you make a general statement without naming a specific subject — similar to 'you/they/people/one' in English.

Examples

Se vive bien en este pueblo.You live well in this town. / Life is good here.
En España se cena tarde.In Spain, people have dinner late.
Se dice que va a llover.They say it's going to rain.

Passive se (pasiva refleja): se + verb for things

When 'se' is used with an object that is a thing, the verb agrees in number with that thing: singular for one thing, plural for several.

OnderwerpVoorbeeld
enkelvoud (una casa)Se vende esta casa.
meervoud (pisos)Se venden pisos en el centro.

Examples

Se vende esta casa.This house is for sale.
Se venden pisos en el centro.Apartments are for sale in the centre.
Aquí se habla español.Spanish is spoken here.

Impersonal se with people as the object

When the object is a person, the verb always stays singular, and the person is preceded by a (personal a). This avoids confusion with a true passive se construction.

Examples

Se ayuda a los niños.The children are helped.
Se busca a los culpables.They are looking for those responsible.
Se respeta a los profesores.Teachers are respected.

Uno/una as an alternative

With reflexive verbs (like levantarse, acostumbrarse), using 'se' would create an awkward double 'se'. In that case, uno (or una, if the speaker identifies as a woman) is often used instead of 'se'.

Examples

Uno se levanta temprano aquí.You get up early here.
Una nunca sabe qué esperar.You never know what to expect.

💡 Tips

💡
Thing as subject → verb agrees in number (passive se). Person as object with 'a' → verb always stays singular.
💡
'Se habla español' and 'se hablan idiomas' both sound correct — look at what the subject is (español = singular, idiomas = plural).
💡
Use 'uno/una' to avoid a double 'se' with reflexive verbs.

🎯 Practise this topic with 10 interactive exercises (10)

Related grammar

Reported speech (estilo indirecto)
How to report someone's words with 'decir que', including the shift in verb tenses, pronouns and time expressions.
Relative clauses (oraciones de relativo)
Que, quien, el que, lo que, donde and cuyo — and when to use the indicative or subjunctive in a relative clause.
B1 connectors (conectores)
Aunque, sin embargo, por eso, ya que, para que and more: how to logically connect sentences.

← Relative clauses (oraciones de relativo)Verbal periphrases (perífrasis verbales) →

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