Portuguese has no single way to express what English handles with the passive voice — it has at least four overlapping constructions, each with its own register, emphasis, and grammatical restrictions. English "The book was written by her" sits in exactly one channel; Portuguese "the book was written by her" can land on any of several forms depending on whether you know the agent, care about the agent, want to emphasize the event, or want to emphasize the resulting state. This page is the roadmap: what each construction is, how it looks, and when to prefer it. Dedicated pages drill into each.
The four constructions at a glance
| Construction | Shape | Example | Typical register |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ser + past participle (analytic passive) | ser + pp + (por + agent) | O livro foi escrito por ela. | Formal writing, journalism, careful speech |
| Se + verb (passiva pronominal / reflexive passive) | verb + se, verb agrees with patient | Vendem-se livros. | Classifieds, signs, advertising, news headlines |
| Impersonal se | verb + se, verb always singular, no patient | Fala-se inglês aqui. | Conversational, neutral, general statements |
| Ficar + past participle (resultative) | ficar + pp, agreeing with subject | Ficou decidido. | Everyday speech, narrative writing |
1. Ser + past participle — the analytic passive
This is the construction closest to the English passive. The subject of the Portuguese sentence is the logical patient (the thing acted upon); the doer, if mentioned, is introduced by por ("by"). The past participle agrees in gender and number with the subject.
O livro foi escrito por ela.
The book was written by her.
A casa foi construída em 1920.
The house was built in 1920.
Os documentos foram assinados pelo presidente.
The documents were signed by the president.
As reformas serão aprovadas na próxima semana.
The reforms will be approved next week.
This is the most explicit passive — it allows you to name the agent, it works in every tense (é, foi, era, será, teria sido, seja, tivesse sido), and the agreement on the participle makes the relationship between subject and action visible. It is also the most formal and least common in casual spoken EP, where speakers often reach for an active alternative instead.
The ser passive is the subject of a dedicated page, which walks through every tense and the por contractions.
2. Se + verb — the passiva pronominal
The passiva pronominal looks reflexive (it uses the clitic se) but acts like a passive. Formally, the verb takes -se; semantically, the "subject" is what English would call the patient.
Vendem-se livros nesta loja.
Books are sold in this shop. / Books for sale in this shop.
Alugam-se quartos no centro.
Rooms for rent in the centre.
Construiu-se um novo estádio em Braga.
A new stadium was built in Braga.
Planta-se alface no Inverno.
Lettuce is planted in winter.
Two important features:
- The verb agrees with the patient. Singular livro triggers vende-se livro; plural livros triggers vendem-se livros. This is the single most characteristic rule of the passiva pronominal.
- The agent cannot be expressed. There is no way to add a por-phrase. If you want to say "books are sold by Maria," you must switch to the ser passive: os livros são vendidos pela Maria.
This construction is everywhere in classified ads, shop signs, advertising, newspaper headlines, and cookery instructions ("junta-se o açúcar, mexem-se os ovos"). See the passiva pronominal page for the full treatment, including the colloquial agreement tension ("vende-se casas" vs. "vendem-se casas").
3. Impersonal se — "one does X"
When se attaches to an intransitive verb or a verb whose object is not a clear patient, you get the impersonal se. The verb is always third person singular, and the whole construction means "one does X," "people do X," "X is done in general."
Fala-se inglês aqui.
English is spoken here. / One speaks English here.
Come-se bem neste restaurante.
One eats well in this restaurant. / The food is good here.
Trabalha-se muito em Portugal.
People work a lot in Portugal.
Diz-se que ele vai ser ministro.
They say he's going to be minister.
Vive-se bem por aqui.
One lives well around here.
In the first example, inglês might look like a plural (it isn't — it's masculine singular), and in any case fala-se stays singular because the construction is impersonal, not passive. The difference from the passiva pronominal is subtle but real: passiva pronominal agrees with the patient; impersonal se does not, because there is no grammatical patient. Some verbs (falar, comer, trabalhar, viver, dizer, precisar) usually take the impersonal reading; others (vender, alugar, construir, plantar) usually take the passive one. Context decides, and occasionally the line between the two is genuinely blurry.
4. Ficar + past participle — resultative
Ficar literally means "to stay" or "to remain." Combined with a past participle, it describes a resulting state — what something ends up being after an action, without emphasizing who did the action. Unlike the ser passive, which foregrounds the event, ficar + pp foregrounds the outcome.
Ficou decidido que a reunião é na quinta.
It was decided / It ended up decided that the meeting is on Thursday.
Tudo ficou combinado entre os dois.
Everything was arranged / settled between the two of them.
A porta ficou aberta durante a noite.
The door ended up open through the night.
As contas ficaram pagas antes do fim do mês.
The bills ended up paid before the end of the month.
Ficou provado que o suspeito estava no local.
It was proven that the suspect was at the scene.
The past participle agrees with the subject (decidido, combinado, aberta, pagas, provado). This is the same agreement pattern as ser, estar, and adjectival use — see past participle agreement.
Ficar + pp overlaps with the ser passive but is not interchangeable. Ficou decidido emphasizes the outcome of a decision process; foi decidido emphasizes that a decision was taken. The former is more common in conversational and narrative registers; the latter is more common in formal and journalistic ones.
Comparing the constructions on one sentence
To see the four constructions in action, consider a single situation: "they built a new stadium in the 1970s."
Um novo estádio foi construído nos anos setenta.
A new stadium was built in the seventies. (ser passive — formal, event-focused)
Construiu-se um novo estádio nos anos setenta.
A new stadium was built in the seventies. (passiva pronominal — news-report register)
Nos anos setenta, construía-se muito.
In the seventies, there was a lot of construction. / People built a lot in the seventies. (impersonal se — no specific patient)
Ficou construído um novo estádio nos anos setenta.
A new stadium ended up being built in the seventies. (ficar + pp — outcome-focused, slightly unusual here)
All four are grammatical. The first two describe the same event from slightly different angles; the third steps back to a general statement about construction in the period; the fourth is the least typical — ficar + pp is more natural with participles that describe finishable results (decidido, combinado, pago, aberto) than with ones that describe physical creation (construído).
Why Portuguese prefers alternatives to the ser passive
In casual speech, EP often avoids the ser passive altogether. A speaker who wants to say "the keys were found" is more likely to say any of these than as chaves foram encontradas:
- Active with an indefinite subject: Encontraram as chaves. ("They found the keys.")
- Passiva pronominal: As chaves já se encontraram. (less common, but possible)
- Passive with estar: As chaves já estão encontradas. (focuses on the state)
- Ficar + pp: (rare with this verb)
Compare English, where "the keys were found" is the neutral default. Portuguese has a broader preference for active constructions with an indefinite subject when the agent is unknown or irrelevant. This is one of the biggest register differences to internalize.
Encontraram as chaves debaixo do sofá.
They found the keys under the sofa. / The keys were found under the sofa. (active with indefinite subject — most natural in speech)
As chaves foram encontradas debaixo do sofá.
The keys were found under the sofa. (ser passive — neutral, slightly more formal)
Encontraram-se as chaves debaixo do sofá.
The keys were found under the sofa. (passiva pronominal — newsy register)
When to prefer each construction
| Situation | Best choice | Why |
|---|---|---|
| You want to name the agent | ser passive | Only construction that allows por + agent |
| Formal writing, careful speech | ser passive | The neutral, explicit, "textbook" passive |
| Shop signs, classifieds, ads | passiva pronominal | Concise, agentless, agent is obvious from context |
| News headlines, reports | passiva pronominal | Standard register for reporting events |
| General statements about people | impersonal se | Captures "one does X" without a specific subject |
| Cookery / recipe instructions | passiva pronominal | "Junta-se o açúcar, mexem-se os ovos" |
| Outcome of a decision or process | ficar + pp | Emphasizes the resulting state |
| Casual speech, unknown agent | active with indefinite subject | Less bookish than any passive |
Comparison with English
English has exactly one neutral passive (be + past participle) and a resulting-state alternative (get + past participle, end up + past participle). Portuguese spreads the same functional territory across four constructions. Crucially:
- English uses the passive a lot more freely than Portuguese does in speech. Sentences that sound natural in English ("The key was lost," "The concert was enjoyed by everyone") often sound stilted in Portuguese unless the agent is important.
- English has no direct equivalent of the passiva pronominal — "books sell themselves" is a completely different meaning from vendem-se livros.
- English impersonal "one" (one works hard in Portugal) is marginal and formal; Portuguese impersonal se is neutral and everyday.
Fala-se português aqui.
Portuguese is spoken here. / One speaks Portuguese here. (Portuguese: neutral; English 'one speaks Portuguese here' sounds arch)
Comparison with Spanish
Spanish and Portuguese share the whole system — ser passive (ser + pp), passive se (se venden libros), impersonal se (se habla español), quedar + pp (cognate of ficar + pp). The only difference is surface-level: Portuguese uses ter rather than haber for compound tenses, so has been written becomes tem sido escrito (not ha sido escrito).
Agreement recap
Because passive/impersonal constructions involve past participles and clitic se, agreement comes up in every dedicated page. Here is the short version:
- Ser passive: past participle agrees with subject. A carta foi escrita / As cartas foram escritas.
- Passiva pronominal: the verb agrees with the patient. Vende-se livro / Vendem-se livros.
- Impersonal se: the verb is always third person singular. Fala-se inglês / Fala-se muitas línguas — the second sounds wrong to most grammarians (prescriptive: falam-se muitas línguas, passive), and colloquial speakers vary. See the se-passive page for the full tension.
- Ficar
- pp
Common Mistakes
❌ O livro foi escrito.
Not technically wrong, but often unnatural in EP when no agent is implied — an indefinite active is usually better: Escreveram o livro em 1950.
✅ Escreveram o livro em 1950. / O livro foi escrito em 1950.
They wrote the book in 1950. / The book was written in 1950. (first is more natural in speech)
❌ Vende-se livros.
Prescriptively incorrect — with a plural patient, the verb must agree: vendem-se livros. (Note: very common in colloquial speech but non-standard in writing.)
✅ Vendem-se livros nesta loja.
Books are sold in this shop.
❌ Foi decidido por o diretor.
Missing contraction — por + o = pelo. Always contract.
✅ Foi decidido pelo diretor.
It was decided by the director.
❌ Vendem-se livros pelo dono.
The passiva pronominal cannot take por + agent. If you want to name the agent, switch to the ser passive.
✅ Os livros são vendidos pelo dono.
The books are sold by the owner.
❌ Fala-se muitas línguas em Lisboa.
Prescriptively incorrect — if you mean passive (languages are spoken), the verb must agree: falam-se. If you mean impersonal (people speak languages), use a different phrasing.
✅ Falam-se muitas línguas em Lisboa. / Em Lisboa fala-se muita língua estrangeira.
Many languages are spoken in Lisbon. / In Lisbon, lots of foreign languages are spoken.
Key Takeaways
- Four main constructions cover passive and impersonal meaning in Portuguese: ser
- pp
- verb
- pp
- Ser passive is the only option when you want to name the agent with por + agent. It is also the most formal.
- Passiva pronominal is everywhere in classifieds, signs, headlines, and cookery — but it requires verb agreement with the patient (vendem-se livros).
- Impersonal se gives you "one does X" / "people do X" without a specific subject; the verb stays singular.
- Ficar + pp is resultative — emphasizes the end state rather than the event.
- In casual EP speech, an active construction with an indefinite subject (encontraram as chaves) is often more natural than any of the four passives above.
- The system maps very closely to Spanish, while English has only one neutral passive — so Portuguese offers finer distinctions than English and requires picking the right tool for each situation.
For the full treatment of each construction, see the dedicated pages: ser passive, passiva pronominal (se-passive), and related materials on past participle agreement.
Related Topics
- Ser + Past Participle (Analytic Passive)B1 — The Portuguese analytic passive — ser + past participle + (por + agent). The most explicit passive construction, with mandatory participle agreement and the por contractions (pelo, pela, pelos, pelas).
- Se-Passive (Passiva Pronominal)B1 — Vendem-se livros — the passive with clitic se, where the verb agrees with the logical patient. Covers the classic prescriptive rule, the colloquial tension (vende-se casas vs vendem-se casas), and why the agent cannot be expressed.
- Past Participle AgreementB1 — When past participles agree in gender and number, and when they don't — the sharp split between ter (invariant) and ser / estar / ficar / adjectival use (full agreement).
- The Past Participle in Compound TensesA2 — How the past participle combines with ter across every compound tense in European Portuguese — present perfect, pluperfect, future perfect, conditional perfect, and the three compound subjunctives.
- Pretérito Perfeito Simples OverviewA2 — The simple past tense for completed actions
- Present Indicative OverviewA1 — Uses and formation of the present tense in Portuguese