Spanish language Q&A Forum

I think I've managed to wrap my head around how the passive works in a basic sense, but I'm wondering if anyone can offer, or refer me to, any guidance on WHEN to use different passive/impersonal forms, or how the nuances change? I know this is a rather broad question, so I'll try to narrow it down to a couple examples:

When is it prefered to use the true passive versus the se refleja form? for example, I was reading an article that said "las piedras habían sido extraídas de rocas que se formaron hace miles de millones de años." Here we have two different forms used in the same sentence! Could the writer have instead said "las piedras se habían extraído de rocas que fueron formado"--or some other combination--and if so are there different nuances?! Is one simply more formal? Or is there another specific reason the se pasiva wasn't use for one but it was used for the other? 

Also, I know this is a lot at once, but I'm struggling to grasp how the use of the passive with "se" differs from the use of the "ellos" impersonal construction. For example, if a house is under construction down the street, would you say "se construye una casa" or "construyen una casa" and if both are equally valid, how are the nuances different? And are there cases where one is possible but the other isn't? For instance, I've often noticed that when the object of an action is a person rather than a thing the action is often not expressed with se--the ellos form seems to be the choice in some cases like "le robaron" (but not "se robó"?). And yet... we do have "se buscan secretarias"? I can't quite see what is going on here...

Mil gracias in advance for any help on any of these questions... 

Esta pizza se ve deliciosa  

Cómo ves esta hamburguesa

I have realised that  verse can be used to say how someone thinks of something. Is this correct? I can’t find such meaning in dictionary but I’ve been seeing this se ve a lot. 

Ustedes __________ la lección. has the correct answer (comprendieron) as two answer choices but only gives credit for one of them.

The third sentence is not a complete sentence as it lacks a verb. For that reason, I attached it to the second sentence with a coma. To me, that didn't sound right either. Often, I don't grade myself on punctuation because I find that phrases that can stand alone as complete thoughts end with a coma in these exercises, and those that should continue after a coma don't. Because we are transcribing without the opportunity to go back or listen ahead, it is sometimes difficult to know which to use. I usually don't bother correcting punctuation and just correct my Spanish. This paragraph was particularly bothersome. Yes, I do listen to the whole piece beforehand and even take quick notes, but this taxes my short-term memory, especially with the longer readings and higher levels. Professional transcribers constantly pause and backtrack so as not to make mistakes.

I just did an exercise and 'No todavía me he vestido para la fiesta'  was wrong. The correct answer was  'Todavía no me he vestido para la fiesta'.  I don't understand the difference. Help please.

In the lesson, I answered the question, Maria, ___ es bastante seria normalmente cantó en público ayer, with ,"la que".  It was marked incorrect, with "que" being shown as correct.  I thought they were interchange. 

Hola!

I started doing the relative pronoun lessons and quizzes before I even had a complete understanding of what a relative clause was!! (Maybe some different organization of the B2 lessons would alleviate this for other students???)

I needed more understanding so I did a search, and lo and behold, I found this lesson and the lights came on!! 

I get it now and it makes perfect sense to me. 

Thank you so much for this lesson Inma! (I see it's quite recent)

As a forever student, the lessons and explanations make learning Spanish so much fun for me and have taken my studying and learning to a whole new level. 

I really love the dictation and writing exercises!!  I was wanting to train my ear to hear better and these exercises fit the bill perfectly!!

 I'm so glad I found Kwiziq!!

Muchas Muchas Gracias y Feliz Navidad!!

I believe the accent on "ecónomica" is incorrect. Shouldn't it be "económica"? Also, in many of these exercises it is very difficult to discern when a sentence ends versus when there is a pause based on voice tone.

Pati Ecuamiga

Does this construction happen other places.    If idiom maybe should be taught like that.