La forma passiva
The passive form
In Italian there are four different passive structures:
- the passive form with essere
- the passive form with venire
- the passive form with andare
- the passive si
The passive form with essere
For a really good explanation of what the passive form is, and to learn the passive form with the verb essere, check out The Passive Voice in Italian: Another Way of Looking at Verbs and read till the end of the section Passive Without Spoken Agent. Then study the conjugations in Conjugating Italian Verbs in the Passive Tense.
Not only is the passive form widely used in Italian, but it is used particularly in historical narrative and journalistic reporting, where it is the preferred form. You will more likely read headlines such as Il ladro è stato arrestato dalla polizia than La polizia ha arrestato il ladro.
The passive form with venire
Instead of essere one can use venire to express something in the passive form, but only with simple tenses not compound ones (that is, tenses that are made of two verbs, like the passato prossimo). In the passive form essere and venire are synonyms. Consider these examples:
- Il ladro è arrestato = Il ladro viene arrestato [The thief is arrested]
- Il ladro sarà arrestato = Il ladro verrà arrestato [The thief will be arrested]
Practically speaking, you can use venire in the present, imperfect, future simple and present conditional tenses. BUT: il ladro è venuto arrestato is INCORRECT because the passato prossimo is a compound tense. You can only say: Il ladro è stato arrestato.
The passive form with andare
Typically Italian, and without an English equivalent, is the passive form with andare: Italians use andare in a passive construction to mean that something must be done and not to mean to go. Like venire, passive andare only works with simple tenses and not compound ones. Consider the following examples:
- Il ladro va arrestato. = Il ladro deve essere arrestato. [The thief must be arrested.]
- Le leggi vanno rispettate. = Le leggi devono essere rispettate. [The laws must be obeyed.]
- Le leggi andrebbero rispettate. = Le leggi dovrebbero essere rispettate. [The laws should be obeyed.]
Observe the difference: Il ladro va in prigione [The thief goes to prison] vs. Il ladro va messo in prigione [The thief must be put in prison].
Passive si
The word si has a general meaning of one, people, everybody and an unspecified you, and it is often used in Italian to express actions that are common to and performed by people, making it a passive construction. Check out how it works:
| si + verb in the 3rd-person singular when the direct object that follows the action is singular | In un centro di accoglienza si aiuta la gente che ne ha bisogno. |
| si + verb in the 3rd-person plural when the direct object that follows the action is plural |
In un centro di accoglienza si aiutano i migranti che ne hanno bisogno. |
Notice that si can be used with all tenses:
- Present tense: Oggigiorno si vedono molte persone arrivare in Italia dall’Africa.
- Imperfetto: Un tempo non si vedevano molte persone arrivare in Italia dall’Africa.
- Passato prossimo: Stamattina si è visto un gommone al largo di Lampedusa. (In a compound tense one always uses essere with si).
- Present subjunctive: Credo che si sia visto un gommone al largo di Lampedusa.
and so on with all tenses.
NOTA BENE
There is another si – impersonal si. There are theoretical differences between the passive si and impersonal si, but si means the same thing in both cases. Impersonal si is used with intransitive verbs (those verbs that are not followed by a direct object, like andare or venire) and reflexive verbs. Here is how it works:
| si + verb in the 3rd-person singular | Si emigra in Europa per cercare una vita migliore. |
| ci si + verb in the 3rd-person singular with reflexive verbs |
Ci si ammala a volte durante un viaggio lungo e faticoso. |
A direct or indirect pronoun always precede the passive and impersonal si. Consider the examples:
- La gente guarda le notizie > La gente le guarda > Le si guarda.
- La gente attraversa il mare > La gente lo attraversa > Lo si attraversa.
