killed themselves’. (Here the impersonal reflexive could be used, se mató a los soldados
‘the soldiers were killed’ (someone killed the soldiers), or ser+ past participle, los
soldados fueron matados‘the soldiers were killed’.)The passive reflexive is not used when the idea of the involvement of an agent is very
strong, e.g. este cuadro fue pintado por Picasso‘this picture was painted by Picasso’
could not normally be expressed as este cuadro se pintó por Picasso.Some authorities consider that the passive reflexive should never be used with an agent,
but this is an overstatement. The following Spanish sentences are perfectly acceptable:
Las pirámides se edificaron por esclavos.
The pyramids were built by slaves.
Este libro se va a publicar por Routledge.
This book will be published by Routledge.
None the less, not all such sentences are equally acceptable, and you will be best
advised to avoid using an agent with the reflexive passive until you have gained a wide
experience of its use.24.4 Use of indefinite subjects
Vagueness as to the identity of the subject of a verb can be achieved by the use of a
number of devices in Spanish (several of which are also available in English):(a) An indefinite noun, such as la gente‘people’:
La gente suele criticar muy duramente a los políticos.
People usually criticize politicians very harshly.
(Politicians are usually very harshly criticized)
(b) Use of uno‘one’ (see 13.3).
Si uno no conoce personalmente a los niños, uno no puede
enseñarles nada.
If one doesn’t know children personally, one can’t teach them
anything.
(If children aren’t known personally, they can’t be taught anything)
The use of uno is particularly favoured with a reflexive verb, since the passive and
impersonal reflexive constructions are impossible with a verb that is already reflexive
(see 24.3, 23.8 and 23.9).
Uno no se debe quejar del frío.
One shouldn’t complain about the cold.
(c) Use of the verb in the third person plural:
Dicen que el peso va a subir.
They say the peso is going up.
(The peso is said to be going up)(d) Use of the tú form of the verb (especially common in speech):THE PASSIVE 24.4