Passive Voice with Se in Portuguese

May 5, 2015

Hey there, guys! On our Dica today we are going to talk about the Passive voice with Se in Portuguese.

In Portuguese, the passive pronoun is the particle -se. This particle follows the 3rd person verbs and brings them the idea of a passive voice. Let’s see some structures in the passive voice:

Passive voice examples

[one_half]Uma casa é alugada.
Carros são vendidos.
Um cozinheiro é preciso neste restaurante.
Informações são dadas neste balcão.
Um cachorro foi perdido.
Silêncio é pedido nesta sala.
Móveis são consertados.[/one_half][one_half_last]A house is rented.
Cars are sold.
A cook is needed in this restaurant.
Information is given at this counter.
A dog was lost.
Silence is asked in this room.
Furniture is fixed.[/one_half_last]

Did you notice that there was no moment in which we say by whom the action was done? When we use the passive pronoun, the subject becomes undetermined. Now, let’s see how the same examples would be with the passive pronoun -se:

Passive Voice with Se in Portuguese

[one_half]Aluga-se uma casa.
Vendem-se carros.
Precisa-se de cozinheiro neste restaurante.
Dão-se informações.
Perdeu-se um cachorro.
Pede-se silêncio nesta sala.
Consertam-se móveis.[/one_half][one_half_last]A house is rented.
Cars are sold.
A cook is needed in this restaurant.
Information is given at this counter.
A dog was lost.
Silence is asked in this room.
Furniture is fixed.[/one_half_last]

We have just learned the Passive voice with Se in Portuguese. You can find the passive pronoun in many apartment signs around Rio de Janeiro. In these signs we usually write Aluga-se or Vende-se. So if you want to rent an apartment keep your eyes open!