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matteo tironi.
User deleted
The passive
Hi guys and gals and welcome back to Easy Peasy Italian.
As you may have already guessed, this is a filthy sex announcement someone wrote on the toilet's wall. Or maybe it is just a boooring article about the passive voice in Italian.
Well, it is the latter case (or maybe not? I'd better check that toilet next time XD).
I can already hear you grumbling about how pointless is to write about such a straightforward thing as the passive voice.
I look him, he's looked by me. Easy, and it is similarly easy in Italian.
There's no real point in listing how to make ALL the tenses' passive form, you can easily look that up or work it out by yourself. Just let me say that it is pretty similar to English because the auxiliary verb is essere (to be).
e.g.
Le lettere sono consegnate di sabato.
Letters are delivered on Saturday.
Quello che è stato fatto non si può disfare
What has been done can't be undone.
Questo palazzo fu costruito dal duca.
This palace was built by the duke.
So, what should we talk about now? About the announcement I mentioned earlier (which is purely fictional, let's say). Well, actually the passive voice comes with a twist in Italian, because there is one verb other than essere that can act as an auxiliary verb, venire (to come).
Does it sound random? Yeah, if I had to invent a language I would never use to come for such a random use.
Is it rare and seldom used? HELL NO. It is waaaaaaaaay more common than essere, actually.
Does the passive form with venire mean the same as the one with essere? Unfortunately, even though they are often interchangeable, no.
Let's take the previous examples. Can venire replace essere there?
1)In the first sentence: DEFINITELY.
I would never and ever and ever say that sentence using essere. Never.
So saying,
le lettere vengono consegnate di sabato.
Feels way better.
Why? Because I am not specifying by whom the action is made.
Remember, whenever the action has no agent (by whom?), then it is definitely venire, safe bet.
But this goes for all the cases in which the agent is a generic noun.
e.g
questo giornale viene letto da molte persone.
This newspaper is read by many people.
Here essere, although not completely wrong, would be extremely strange. Because I don't really know who I am talking about, and the emphasis goes to the newspaper, not people.
If you are not sure about which auxiliary to use, try reverting the sentence in English.
Many people read this newspaper.
Yeah, that could work and it would in Italian too, but it feels different from the passive form.
I mean, the passive one would be used as a general statement, while the active one kind of sounds as if you were retorting to someone saying that said newspaper is just crap and no one ever reads it.
In fact, I would slap a nice actually at the sentence's beginning.
Or well, at least in Italian I would get it this way.
So, whenever the agent is understood or generic, venire prevails.
On the other hand, in a sentence like:
the apple is eaten by Luke.
La mela è mangiata da Luke.
Venire would be possible, but it would sound clunky.
2)In the second: not at all.
no because the verb has to be in a “simple” form (i.e. Come in one word, like the present, the historical past or the imperfect) for venire to be used.
So something like
quello che viene stato fatto.....
Is a grammar murder. Really, of all the mistakes you could do this is the worst one.
3) in the third: it depends on what you're focusing on.
Here only context can make clear which one is best used.
So, if I were talking about the building, its features and its history, maybe venire would be preferred.
e.g.
Il palazzo grande, che venne costruito dal duca, è oggi sede del comune.
The great palace, which was built by the duke, is now the comune's seat (i.e. The town hall)
but if I were writing the duke's bibliography, well, maybe essere would be better.
Il palazzo fu cotruito dal duca dopo che lui ebbe sposato la duchessa.
The palace was built by the duke after he had married the duchess.
But really, the difference is very very little. Most likely your interlocutor wouldn't even perceive it at all. so in this case either work just fine.
Ok, so let' wrap this up and let's get over this booooring article
recap:
1) Italian has two verbs to express the passive voice, essere and venire.
2)if the agent is a generic noun (not just a pronoun, but something wide and not defined), then venire is the way to go. Ahah did you get this one?
3)if the verb is not “simple”(more than one word in it in the active form), then essere is the only option available.
4)if there is a well-defined agent and the verb is simple, then the choice is up to preference, and the meaning changes very little. Essere is more focused on the agent while venire on the now-subject object.
Phew, it ended up being quite short, isn't it? Well, that's because it is quite simple and sharp cut
so, till next article, see ya
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the passive voice. level3because Italian as a twist :) |
