Reflexive Passive

Level 4

The reflexive passive adds sa to a verb in the third person: Dom sa stavia (The house is being built). It is the most common way to say that something is done without saying who does it.

How It Works

The everyday passive. To say that something is done, without saying who does it, add sa to a third-person verb: Ako sa to píše? (How is that written?) This is much more common in speech than the passive with byť.

Agreement. The verb agrees with its subject, which is the thing affected:

  • one thing: Predáva sa dom. (A house is for sale.)
  • more than one: Tu sa predávajú lístky. (Tickets are sold here.)
  • past, by gender: Film sa natáčal v Tatrách. Polievka sa varila dlho. Lístky sa predávali online.

Only the third person. The reflexive passive exists only in the third person, in any tense: sa pečie, sa piekol, sa bude piecť.

Things, not people. Use it when the subject cannot do the action by itself. With people, sa reads as a normal reflexive verb: Deti sa umývajú means the children wash themselves.

Where sa goes. Sa is an unstressed word and sits in second position: Lístky sa predávajú tu. or Predávajú sa tu lístky. It never starts the sentence.

Typical uses. Signs and instructions (Cesto sa pečie 30 minút.), general rules (To sa nerobí.) and questions about how things are done (Ako sa to povie po slovensky?). Without a subject, the same pattern makes general statements such as hovorí sa, že.

Examples (6)

  1. Tu sa predávajú lístky.

    Tickets are sold here.

    Word by Word: Here themselves sell tickets.

    Lístky is plural, so the verb is plural.

  2. Dom sa stavia už dva roky.

    The house has been under construction for two years.

    Word by Word: House itself builds already two years.

  3. Ako sa to píše?

    How do you spell that?

    Word by Word: How itself it writes?

  4. Polievka sa varí pol hodiny.

    The soup is cooked for half an hour.

    Word by Word: Soup itself cooks half hour.

  5. Film sa natáčal v Tatrách.

    The film was shot in the Tatras.

    Word by Word: Film itself was-filming in Tatras.

    Past tense agrees with the masculine film.

  6. To sa nerobí.

    That isn't done.

    Word by Word: That itself not-does.

Common Mistakes

  • Leaving the verb singular with a plural subject.

    Tu sa predáva lístky.
    Tu sa predávajú lístky.

    Lístky is the subject, and it is plural, so the verb must be plural: predávajú.

  • Starting the sentence with sa.

    Sa predávajú lístky tu.
    Predávajú sa tu lístky.

    Sa is unstressed and must come second in the sentence, never first.

  • Not making the past verb agree with the subject.

    Film sa natáčala v Tatrách.
    Film sa natáčal v Tatrách.

    Film is masculine, so the past form is natáčal. A feminine subject would take natáčala.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

Reflexive PassiveLevel 4

Learn This First

Before Reflexive Passive, learn Reflexive Verbs With sa. The reflexive passive is formed with sa.

Words in This Pattern