Spanish Word: Voz activa

Pronunciation: Bohs pah-see-bah

Translation: Active voice

Function: Usage

Your Spanish will sound more Castilian if you try your sentences to go from the active subject to the passive one, as opposed to the English sentence construction, where the subject receiving the verb action goes first more often.

You can say ‘Troya fue sitiada por los griegos’ following English construction: “Troy was besieged by the greeks” or you can say ‘Los griegos sitiaron Troya’ [The Greeks besieged Troy], in the so called “active voice”: the “Castilian way”.

Example:

Todo el auditorio aclamó tu discurso

Translation:

Your speech was acclaimed by the whole auditorium