Breakdown of El templo fue diseñado por él.
ser
to be
él
he
por
for / by / through / in/during (part of the day)
el templo
the temple
diseñar
to design
Questions & Answers about El templo fue diseñado por él.
Why use fue diseñado instead of just saying he designed it?
Fue diseñado is the passive voice, which focuses on the temple rather than the person who designed it. It translates directly to "was designed". If you wanted to focus on him, you would use the active voice: Él diseñó el templo (He designed the temple).
Why do we use the preterite fue instead of the imperfect era here?
We use the preterite fue because the designing was a single, completed event in the past. If you used era, it would sound like the temple was continuously in the process of being designed over an ongoing period.
Would the word diseñado change if we were talking about a house (la casa) instead of a temple?
Yes! In this type of passive voice, the past participle (diseñado) acts like an adjective and must match the subject in gender and number. If the subject were la casa, the sentence would be: La casa fue diseñada por él.
Why is it por él and not para él?
Is the accent mark on él at the end of the sentence required?
Yes, the accent mark is necessary to distinguish the pronoun él (he/him) from the masculine article el (the), which you see at the very beginning of the sentence in El templo.
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