(First of all, I’ll write in English so others can understand this entry)

Undoubtly you have a deep knowledge of Spanish, cause this is a very complex point. This topic gives me cause for introducing an interesting issue about Spanish: “impersonal sentences”.

Impersonal sentences are sentences which lack subject. In Spanish one can omit subject in phrases where the subject can be implied:

Te lo dijo = (Él) te lo dijo = He told you

But this is not the sort of impersonal sentences that interests us; I’ll introduce the sintactically impersonal sentences, which are those that have no subject (and the subject cannot be infered). Sentences like:

Está lloviendo = It’s rainning
Aquí se vive bien = You live well here

But there is a special case of impersonal sentences: “pasivas reflejas” (reflexive passive). They are passive sentences with the shape of a reflexive sentence (pronoun “se” + verb):

Active: (El cura) Celebra una boda = The priest performs a wedding
Passive: Es celebrada una boda = A wedding is performed
Reflexive passive: Se celebra una boda = A wedding is performed

So, although it looks like a reflexive, it’s really a passive sentence. In this case, the passive verb agrees with the passive subject:

Reflexive passive: Se celebra una boda = A wedding is performed
Passive: Es celebrada una boda

Reflexive passive: Se celebran varias bodas = Several weddings are performed
Passiva: Son celebradas varias bodas

Despite all this, you are right about your comment “se celebran a los muertos chiquitos” is not correct cause “a los muertos chiquitos” is not the passive subject (subjects are not preceded by prepositions). Let’s try to find the way to this mistake:

Active: (Los mejicanos) Celebran a los muertos chiquitos = Mexicans celebrate little deads

My opinion is that the mistake is here: “celebrar” doesn’t take the preposition “a”.

Passive: Son celebrados a [mistake] los muertos chiquitos = “Little deads” are celebrated
Reflexive passive: Se celebran a [mistake] los muertos chiquitos = “Little deads” are celebrated

But, if the original active sentence was:

Active: (Los mejicanos) Celebran los muertos chiquitos = Mexicans celebrate “little deads”

Then the passive ones would be correct:

Passive: Son celebrados los muertos chiquitos = “Little deads” are celebrated
Reflexive passive: Se celebran los muertos chiquitos = “Little deads” are celebrated

Hope this helps you all. If you find any mistake in this comment, please, let me know.

Regards,
David.

Aurelio Asiain,

Gracias por habernos avisado de los dos errores. Agradecemos la atención. Hemos corregido el error del título. También corregimos el error de concorancia en las transcipciones. Dentro de poco corregiremos el audioblog correspondiente al texto.

In light of this mistake, for our English speakers, the correct construction, as Aurelio rightly points out, is “se celebra a los muertos chiquitos”, which means “the little deceased ones are celebrated”, in the passive voice.

The scripts have been corrected and the revised audio is soon to follow.

Thanks again for the heads-up.

Saludos,

Joseph

Saludos,

Aurelio Asiain

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