The passive voice

[dtommy79]

Hi Guys.

I'd like your help with another beginner question.

If I wanted to say the following:

'Those houses over there were built by Jack'

...I think I should use 'Ser' here because it's a having been built by Jack is a characteristic of the house however I'm not really sure about my approach. Anyway here is my solution:

'Acquellas Casas fueron construidas por Jack?'

If that's right, then my problem is when I can remove the agent.

[Paolo]

I believe the correct way of saying this is:

'those books were written in Italian' = aquellos libros fueron escritos en italiano.

'those books were written in Italian' = aquellos libros se escribieron en italiano

[Kaynil]

"Those houses over there" can also be said as "Las casas de por allá" supposing you are pointing at the zone.

Regarding using "ser" or "estar" you are correct going with "ser", therefore saying

"Aquellas casas fueron construidas por Jack" is correct.  :wacky:

I might completely missing the point but I think the second example given by Paolo while it makes sense in his example won't fit the sentence you're after. "Aquellas casas se construyeron por Jack" sounds off. "Aquellas casas se construyeron" & "por Jack" can't flow together. I cannot explain exactly why, but trust me on this one and your gut and use "fueron"taht one is a great translation without losing the time tense you're using.