Breakdown of El pergamino fue cortado con el bisturí.
ser
to be
con
with
cortar
to cut
el pergamino
the parchment
Questions & Answers about El pergamino fue cortado con el bisturí.
Why do we use fue cortado here instead of estaba cortado?
We use a form of ser (fue) plus the past participle to form the true passive voice. This focuses on the action happening—the actual event of someone cutting the parchment. If we used estar (estaba cortado), it would describe the resulting state or condition (the parchment was already in a cut state).
Does the word cortado change if the subject is feminine or plural?
Yes. In passive voice constructions with ser, the past participle acts like an adjective and must agree in gender and number with the subject. If the subject were las hojas (the pages), it would become fueron cortadas.
Could we use por instead of con before el bisturí?
Bisturí ends in a stressed vowel. How do you make it plural?