Breakdown of No hay peligro; todo está siendo esterilizado y desinfectado.
ser
to be
y
and
no
no, not
estar
to be (location/state)
haber
to be (there is / there are)
todo
all / everything
el peligro
the danger
desinfectar
to disinfect
esterilizar
to sterilize
Questions & Answers about No hay peligro; todo está siendo esterilizado y desinfectado.
How exactly does the está siendo structure work in this sentence?
This structure is the progressive analytical passive. It combines the present tense of estar (está) with the gerund of ser (siendo) and a past participle (esterilizado). It translates directly to "is being [done]" and is used to emphasize that a passive action is currently in progress.
Could we use the passive se here instead of está siendo?
You definitely could (e.g., todo se está esterilizando). In everyday Latin American Spanish, the passive se is actually much more common. However, the analytical passive with está siendo is used when you want to strongly emphasize the ongoing, step-by-step nature of the process, which fits well in formal or medical contexts like this one.
Why do esterilizado and desinfectado end in -o?
In the analytical passive voice, the past participle acts like an adjective and must agree in gender and number with the subject receiving the action. Here, the subject is todo (everything). When todo is used as a standalone pronoun, it is treated as grammatically masculine and singular, so the participles take the masculine singular -o ending.
Could I say no es peligroso instead of no hay peligro?
Yes, but there is a slight difference in focus. Peligro is a noun meaning "danger," so no hay peligro means "there is no danger" regarding the current situation as a whole. Peligroso is an adjective, so no es peligroso means "it is not dangerous," which tends to describe an inherent characteristic of a specific object or action rather than the general state of the environment.
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