| 8.8 Use of estar for passive voice (status passive) |
The Spanish knows to forms of passive voice. We already had a glance at the first one with ser. The passive with ser is also called the process passive. The other passive voice - the status passive - with estar shall be presented here.
| Status passive |
 |
El está bautizado. = He is baptised. He has the status of being baptised. It is not known and not said anything about the process of him being baptised. |
| Process passive |
|
El es bautizado. = He is (being) baptised. This sentence is about the process that he is baptised. |
As now seen in the examples the
difference between the two passive voices is that the
one describes a status (with estar)
the other describes a process (with ser).
In English we can differentiate them the way that the
process passive can be translated with the passive continuous
that also aims at describing the process.
The passive voice with estar (status passive) is formed with the conjugation of estar in the right tense and the perfect participle. Again please remember that the perfect participle is to be in accordance with the subject in gender and number (see also chapter 8.4).
| Formation of the passive voice with estar |
| subject | a form of estar |
+ past participle | ||||
| presente | imperfecto | indefinido | perfecto | pluscuamperfecto | ||
|
|
|||||
| Yo masculine) | estoy | estaba | estuve | he estado | había estado | bautizado |
| Yo (feminine) | estoy | estaba | estuve | he estado | había estado | bautizada |
| Tú masculine) | estás | estabas | estuviste | has estado | habías estado | bautizado |
| Tú (feminine) | estás | estabas | estuviste | has estado | habías estado | bautizada |
| Él | está | estaba | estuvo | ha estado | había estado | bautizado |
| Ella | está | estaba | estuvo | ha estado | había estado | bautizada |
| Nosotros | estamos | estábamos | estuvimos | hemos estado | habíamos estado | bautizados |
| Nosotras | estamos | estábamos | estuvimos | hemos estado | habíamos estado | bautizadas |
| Vosotros | estáis | estabais | estuvisteis | habéis estado | habíais estado | bautizados |
| Vosotras | estáis | estabais | estuvisteis | habeis estado | habíais estado | bautizadas |
| Ellos | estan | estaban | estuvieron | han estado | habían estado | bautizados |
| Ellas | estan | estaban | estuvieron | han estado | habían estado | bautizadas |
