Forming the Spanish passive voice with ser + participle (Compound tenses - passive voice)

In English, an active sentence is turned into a passive one (also known as the passive voice) as follows:

The cat eats the mouse. → The mouse is eaten by the cat.
The cat has eaten the mouse. → The mouse has been eaten by the cat.

The passive voice can be used in both simple tenses, e.g., I eat, I ate, and compound tenses, e.g., I have eaten, I had eaten.

To learn how to form the passive with simple tenses see Forming the Spanish passive voice with ser + participle (+ por) (passive - simple tenses).

How to form the Spanish passive voice with compound tenses

Take a look at some passive sentences in Spanish, conjugated in compound tenses:

Los platos han sido lavados. The dishes have been washed.

Nosotros hemos sido condenados por la Corte a 20 años de cárcel.We have been sentenced by the court to 20 years in prison.

Las manzanas habían sido horneadas.The apples had been roasted.

Los candidatos habrán sido elegidos por la tarde.The candidates will have been chosen in the evening.

As you can see, the passive voice is formed with the verb ser conjugated in a compound tense plus a participle.

Note that the past participle agrees with the subject of the auxiliary ser:

platos → lavados

nosotros → condenados

manzanas → horneadas

candidatos → elegidos

In order to turn a sentence from active to passive voice, the tense of the auxiliary ser must be the same as the tense of the main verb of the active sentence. For example:

El cliente ha rellenado el documento. → El documento ha sido rellenado por el cliente. (present perfect tense)

El cliente había rellenado el documento. → El documento había sido rellenado por el cliente. (pluperfect tense)

El cliente habrá rellenado el documento. → El documento habrá sido rellenado por el cliente. (perfect future tense)

El cliente habría rellenado el documento. → El documento habría sido rellenado por el cliente. (perfect conditional tense)

Notice that the pattern is just like in English:

  • The object becomes the subject.
  • We use the auxiliary verb ser (not estar) in a compound tense, followed by the past participle of the verb.
  • We use the preposition por to introduce the complement.

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Examples and resources

Las manzanas habían sido horneadas.The apples had been roasted.
Los platos han sido lavados. The dishes have been washed.
Los candidatos habrán sido elegidos por la tarde.The candidates will have been chosen in the evening.
Nosotros hemos sido condenados por la Corte a 20 años de cárcel.We have been sentenced by the court to 20 years in prison.
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