Essere + past participle · Si passivante and si impersonale · Talking about actions without naming who does them
CEFR Level B1B1 · Lesson 5 of 8By the end of this lesson you will be able to:
Just like in English, the passive flips the object of an active sentence into the subject, focusing on what happened rather than who did it.
essere + past participle — and the participle agrees in gender and number with the subject, exactly like with essere in the passato prossimo.
| Active | Passive |
|---|---|
| Marco scrive la lettera. | La lettera è scritta da Marco. |
| Gli studenti hanno finito il progetto. | Il progetto è stato finito dagli studenti. |
| Costruiranno un nuovo ponte. | Un nuovo ponte sarà costruito. |
If you want to say who performed the action, add da + the doer — but it's often left out entirely, which is usually the whole point of using the passive.
| With agent | Without agent |
|---|---|
| Il libro è stato scritto da lei. | Il libro è stato pubblicato l'anno scorso. |
| La torta è stata fatta da mia nonna. | La torta è stata mangiata subito. |
In real speech, Italians very often prefer si + verb (agreeing with the noun) over the formal essere passive — it's shorter and sounds far more natural.
si + 3rd person verb, agreeing in number with the noun that follows: Si vende la casa. (The house is [being] sold.) / Si vendono le case. (The houses are [being] sold.)
| Formal passive | Si passivante (everyday) |
|---|---|
| Le lingue straniere sono studiate qui. | Qui si studiano le lingue straniere. |
| Il pesce fresco è venduto al mercato. | Al mercato si vende il pesce fresco. |
A close cousin: si impersonale makes a general statement about people in general, without a specific noun being acted on — like English "you" or "one" or "people" used generically.
si + 3rd person singular verb (always singular here, since there's no plural noun driving agreement): In Italia si mangia bene. (In Italy, people eat well / you eat well.)
| Italian | English |
|---|---|
| Non si sa mai. | You never know. |
| Si dice che sia vero. | They say it's true. / It's said to be true. |
| Qui si lavora molto. | People work a lot here. |
| Structure | Use it when... |
|---|---|
| essere + participio | formal writing, news, or when naming the agent with da matters |
| si passivante | a specific noun undergoes the action, agent unimportant — everyday speech |
| si impersonale | a general statement about "people/you/one" — no specific noun undergoing anything |
Two more verbs can stand in for essere in the passive, each adding a specific shade of meaning that essere alone doesn't carry.
andare + past participle means the action should or must happen — a passive equivalent of dovere: La domanda va inviata entro venerdì. (The application must be sent by Friday.)
venire + past participle is a stylistic alternative to essere, common in writing and formal speech, with no change in meaning — but only in simple tenses: La legge viene approvata domani. (The law is being approved tomorrow.)
| Italian | English |
|---|---|
| Questo problema va risolto subito. | This problem must be solved right away. |
| Le regole vengono spiegate all'inizio. | The rules are explained at the beginning. |
Si fa così ("that's how it's done") is a very Italian way of describing local custom — it names the norm without pointing at any one person, which fits how tradition is usually talked about: as something everyone simply does, not a rule any one person enforces. This is exactly the function of si impersonale, and it's one reason the construction is everywhere in Italian, from recipes (si aggiunge il sale) to social observations (qui si vive bene).
1. Il piatto è preparato dallo chef.
2. La casa è stata costruita dagli operai.
1. vendono (plural: le scarpe) 2. serve (singular: il pesce)
1. Non si sa mai.
2. Qui si parla italiano.
1. va 2. viene
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