Passive Voice in Catalan

In Brief

Catalan can form a full passive with ser + past participle, and the participle agrees with the passive subject: La carta ha estat enviada. In everyday Catalan, however, an es construction is often more natural when the agent is unknown or unimportant: Es venen pisos. Hom + third-person singular verb offers a more formal impersonal alternative.

Overview

The passive voice presents an event from the viewpoint of the person or thing affected by it rather than the person or thing carrying it out. Compare the active L'arquitecta va dissenyar el pont (“The architect designed the bridge”) with the passive El pont va ser dissenyat per l'arquitecta (“The bridge was designed by the architect”). In the passive version, el pont becomes the grammatical subject—the element that controls agreement—even though it does not perform the action.

Catalan learners meet the full system around B2 because choosing a natural passive requires more than applying one formula. Catalan has the periphrastic passive (a multiword passive) with ser, but it also makes extensive use of pronominal passives with es, impersonal es, and sentences with hom. English often uses a passive where Catalan prefers one of these alternatives or simply an active sentence.

The central distinction is practical. Use ser + participle when the affected subject is the focus, especially when the agent matters or the style is formal. Use es + verb for notices, rules, services, general processes, and actions whose agent need not be named. Use hom chiefly in formal or written language to mean “one,” “people,” or an unspecified “you.”

How It Works

The full passive: ser + past participle

Start from an active sentence with a direct object (the person or thing directly affected by the verb):

L'ajuntament va construir el pont el 1900. — “The council built the bridge in 1900.”

To make the full passive:

1. Move the direct object into subject position: el pont.
2. Put ser in the tense required by the meaning: va ser.
3. Add the lexical verb's past participle: construït.
4. If the agent is included, introduce it normally with per: per l'ajuntament.

The result is El pont va ser construït per l'ajuntament el 1900. The core pattern is therefore:

affected subject + conjugated ser + agreeing past participle + optional per + agent

Only a verb that can take a direct object can normally undergo this transformation. For example, arribar (“to arrive”) has no direct object, so it does not produce a normal passive such as Algú és arribat per....

Choosing the tense of ser

The tense belongs to ser. The participle carries the lexical meaning and changes for gender and number, not for tense.

Meaning	Catalan pattern	Example	English
present	present of ser + participle	La norma és aplicada.	The rule is applied.
ongoing/background past	imperfect of ser + participle	La norma era aplicada.	The rule was being/used to be applied.
completed past	periphrastic past of ser + participle	La norma va ser aplicada.	The rule was applied.
present perfect	perfect of ser + participle	La norma ha estat aplicada.	The rule has been applied.
future	future of ser + participle	La norma serà aplicada.	The rule will be applied.
conditional	conditional of ser + participle	La norma seria aplicada.	The rule would be applied.
present subjunctive	subjunctive of ser + participle	Cal que la norma sigui aplicada.	The rule must be applied.

The periphrastic past deserves special attention. Va ser construït consists of va + the infinitive ser + construït. Here va ser means “was” as part of the Catalan past construction; it does not mean “is going to be.” This builds directly on the Periphrastic Past.

Agreement of the participle

In a ser passive, the past participle behaves like an adjective and agrees with the subject in gender and number. A participle is the verb form used in combinations such as ha escrit or és escrita; in English it is often the form found in “has written” or “was written.”

Subject	Participle	Complete phrase
masculine singular	publicat	El resultat és publicat.
feminine singular	publicada	La notícia és publicada.
masculine plural	publicats	Els resultats són publicats.
feminine plural	publicades	Les notícies són publicades.

Regular participles commonly end in -at (aprovat), -ut (venut) or -it (construït), but many frequent verbs have irregular forms: fer → fet, dir → dit, escriure → escrit, veure → vist, obrir → obert. These forms agree in the same way: fet/feta/fets/fetes, escrit/escrita/escrits/escrites.

This agreement contrasts with an ordinary perfect tense using haver, where the participle is normally unchanged: Han enviat les cartes (“They have sent the letters”). Once that clause becomes passive, agreement is visible: Les cartes han estat enviades.

The pronominal passive with es

The pronominal passive uses es plus an active-form verb. The affected thing is still the grammatical subject, so the verb agrees with it:

• Es ven un pis. — “An apartment is for sale/is being sold.”
• Es venen dos pisos. — “Two apartments are for sale/are being sold.”
• S'han cancel·lat les reunions. — “The meetings have been cancelled.”

The subject often follows the verb, especially in notices and announcements. Do not mistake that position for a direct object: plural pisos requires plural venen. The construction usually leaves the agent unexpressed. If naming the agent is important, the full passive with ser ... per is generally clearer.

The verb can appear in different tenses:

Time	Catalan	English
present	Es reparen bicicletes.	Bicycles are repaired here.
periphrastic past	Es van reparar les bicicletes.	The bicycles were repaired.
present perfect	S'han reparat les bicicletes.	The bicycles have been repaired.
future	Es repararan les bicicletes.	The bicycles will be repaired.

In es van reparar, van agrees with the plural subject and is part of the periphrastic past; it is not the full passive van ser reparades.

Impersonal es and hom

An impersonal sentence describes an action without identifying a grammatical subject who performs it. With impersonal es, the verb is normally third-person singular:

• Es treballa bé aquí. — “People work well here.”
• Es parla de política. — “People talk about politics.”
• Es viu tranquil·lament al poble. — “Life is peaceful in the village/People live peacefully in the village.”

With a singular noun, passive and impersonal readings can look alike: Es parla català aquí can be understood naturally as “Catalan is spoken here.” The distinction becomes clearer with a plural affected subject: Es venen pisos is a pronominal passive because venen agrees with pisos.

Hom is an indefinite pronoun—a word standing for an unspecified person or people. It takes a third-person singular verb: Hom considera aquesta obra un clàssic (“This work is considered a classic/People consider this work a classic”). It is useful in formal exposition, instructions, and some literary writing, but it is less usual in spontaneous conversation than es or an active sentence.

Examples in Context

Catalan	English	Note
El pont va ser construït el 1900.	The bridge was built in 1900.	Full passive in the periphrastic past
La carta ha estat enviada.	The letter has been sent.	Feminine singular agreement
Els documents seran signats demà.	The documents will be signed tomorrow.	Future passive; masculine plural
Les finestres van ser obertes pel conserge.	The windows were opened by the caretaker.	Agent introduced by per
La proposta seria aprovada per una àmplia majoria.	The proposal would be approved by a large majority.	Conditional passive
Cal que totes les dades siguin comprovades.	All the data must be checked.	Present subjunctive passive
Es parla català aquí.	Catalan is spoken here.	Natural es construction
Es ven un pis al centre.	An apartment in the city centre is for sale.	Singular pronominal passive
Es venen pisos al centre.	Apartments in the city centre are for sale.	Plural verb agrees with pisos
S'han cancel·lat els dos vols.	Both flights have been cancelled.	Perfect pronominal passive
Es van publicar els resultats ahir.	The results were published yesterday.	Periphrastic past with plural agreement
En aquesta oficina es treballa amb cita prèvia.	At this office, service is by appointment.	Impersonal es; no affected subject
Abans es vivia d'una altra manera.	People used to live differently.	Impersonal es with an intransitive verb
Hom creu que la decisió és definitiva.	The decision is believed to be final.	Formal impersonal hom

Common Mistakes

Leaving the participle in the masculine singular

• Wrong: Les cartes han estat enviat.
• Right: Les cartes han estat enviades.
• Why: In a ser passive, the participle agrees with the subject. Cartes is feminine plural, so the correct form is enviades.

Copying an English passive when es is more natural

• Awkward in an everyday notice: Els pisos són venuts.
• Natural: Es venen pisos.
• Why: English uses the passive very freely. Catalan often prefers the pronominal passive for advertisements, services, rules, and general processes.

Keeping es passive verbs singular before a plural subject

• Wrong: Es ven pisos.
• Right: Es venen pisos.
• Why: In the pronominal passive, pisos is the subject even though it follows the verb. The plural subject requires venen.

Confusing va ser with va estar

• Wrong: El pont va estar construït el 1900.
• Right: El pont va ser construït el 1900.
• Why: The event passive uses ser. Estar + participle normally describes the resulting state, not the action: El pont estava tancat means “The bridge was closed” as a condition.

Naming an agent clumsily after an es construction

• Less natural: Es va redactar l'informe per la directora.
• Clearer: L'informe va ser redactat per la directora.
• Why: An es passive normally suppresses the agent. When the agent is relevant enough to name, choose ser + participle + per.

Treating hom like a plural subject

• Wrong: Hom consideren que és massa tard.
• Right: Hom considera que és massa tard.
• Why: Although hom may refer to people in general, it is grammatically singular and takes a third-person singular verb.

Usage Notes

Formal writing and everyday Catalan

The full ser passive is correct and common in news reports, academic prose, official texts, and any context where the affected entity is the topic. It is especially useful when an explicit agent creates an informative contrast: La novel·la va ser escrita per Mercè Rodoreda, no pel seu editor.

In conversation, instructions, signs, and small advertisements, es is often lighter and more idiomatic: Es lloguen habitacions, No es permet fumar, S'accepten targetes. Catalan may also choose an ordinary active sentence with a general subject: La gent diu que... (“People say that...”) or Diuen que... (“They say that...”). Natural translation therefore depends on information focus, not just grammatical shape.

The agent with per

The person, institution, or force carrying out a full passive action is normally introduced by per: La llei va ser aprovada pel Parlament. Remember that per + el contracts to pel, and per + els to pels. Many good passive sentences omit the agent entirely because it is unknown, obvious, or irrelevant.

Action versus resulting state

Use ser + participle to present an action or process: La porta va ser tancada pel vigilant a les deu (“The door was closed by the guard at ten”). Use estar + participle when the important point is the state resulting from an action: A les onze, la porta ja estava tancada (“At eleven, the door was already closed”). The second sentence does not tell us who closed it or present the closing itself as the event.

Beyond the Basics

Ambiguity can be useful

With singular nouns, es often allows both a passive-like translation and a general human interpretation. Aquí es parla anglès may be rendered as “English is spoken here” or “People speak English here.” Catalan does not need to choose between those English structures because the communicative point is simply that English is in use.

Word order and focus

The passive subject can appear before or after the verb. A pre-verbal subject is often already the topic: Les sol·licituds seran revisades dilluns. In an es construction, post-verbal position is particularly common when introducing information: Dilluns es revisaran les sol·licituds. Moving an element to the beginning can establish the frame or create contrast: Aquestes sol·licituds, es revisaran dilluns; les altres, dimarts.

Avoiding overloaded passives

Long strings of full passives can sound bureaucratic. Instead of La decisió va ser presa i va ser comunicada als treballadors, Catalan can use an active subject if it is known: La direcció va prendre la decisió i la va comunicar als treballadors. It can also combine structures according to focus. Strong Catalan writing does not avoid the passive absolutely; it chooses it when the affected participant genuinely deserves attention.

Passive infinitives and compound forms

After modal verbs and other expressions, the passive can remain in the infinitive: El formulari ha de ser signat (“The form must be signed”) and La incidència pot haver estat resolta (“The issue may have been resolved”). Agreement still applies to the participle: Les incidències poden haver estat resoltes. These forms are compact but can become heavy, so an es construction may be preferable when no agent is needed: S'han de signar els formularis.

Practice Tips

1. Transform sentences in pairs. Write an active sentence such as La cuinera va preparar els plats, then produce both Els plats van ser preparats per la cuinera and, where natural, Es van preparar els plats. Check subject–verb and participle agreement each time.
2. Sort real examples by function. Collect sentences from news reports, public notices, property advertisements, and instructions. Label each one ser passive, pronominal es, impersonal es, or hom. This trains the choice of construction, not merely its formation.
3. Practise the four agreement forms. Take five common participles—such as fet, escrit, obert, aprovat, and venut—and combine each with one masculine singular, feminine singular, masculine plural, and feminine plural subject.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Periphrastic Past (Passat Perifràstic) — needed to build common past passives such as va ser escrit and es van publicar.