Discover what are the IMPERSONAL statements

As a general rule, sentences usually have a subject and a predicate but on some occasions we can find sentences that do not contain a subject but that, nevertheless, have a complete meaning regardless of it. In this lesson from a TEACHER we want to show you what are the impersonal statements, what types exist and how they are formed so that you can learn to construct and identify these sentences.

Sentences or statements are a group of words that serve to express an idea, a thought and for this they have a specific structure that is usually formed by a subject and a predicate. This structure is not rigid, since sentences can count on it or as in the case of impersonal sentences, dispense with the subject. Either because it appears implicit in the sentence or because it is unknown.

Although the subjects can be omitted in the sentences, in the case of the impersonal sentences, this has not been elided, but the subject is not and cannot be identified. These sentences do not have a subject and can also be referred to as sentences unimembres.

For a phrase to be impersonal it must have at least one of the characteristics that we show you below:

• They only have a predicate.
• There is no subject that performs the action of the verb. Since the subject does not exist, it cannot have been elided.

Having clarified the concept and conditions that must be given for a statement to be considered as impersonal, we are going to reel off the types of impersonal sentences that we can meet. So we could distinguish between:

• Syntactic impersonality
• Semantic impersonality

Syntactic impersonal statements

This occurs when there is no subject that performs the action of the verb. This happens especially when we talk about meteorological phenomena. In this case there is an action, but there is no agent to perform it.

Thus, in addition to the verbs that express meteorological phenomena, we can find other predicates that serve to transmit natural processes such as Dawn Dusk…etc. These syntactic impersonal sentences will always appear written in the third person singular.

It is very common to find syntactic impersonality with the verbs do and haber. In these statements we find the third person singular accompanied by a noun phrase to provide meaning to the phrase and form the predicate. This always works as a direct object and never as a subject.

Finally we can find impersonal sentences through verbs be and seem. These usually also refer to natural or meteorological phenomena.

• It seems like it is raining.
• It's cold.
• There is food.

Semantic impersonal statements

We speak of semantic impersonality when the subject of the sentence does not exist or it is indeterminate. In other words, the subject may not be identified in the sentence because it is unknown who has led to carry out the action of the verb, because the issuer wants to omit it voluntarily or because it is generic or little precise. In order to better understand the semantic impersonality of a statement, we are going to resort to some examples:

• They have left us without food.
• They paid for my trip to Athens.
• In summer little work is done.

Impersonal statements with se

In order to form impersonal sentences, it is possible to do so using the pronoun se. These sentences are called as reflex impersonal and they can be both sentences formed by intransitive verbs and copulative verbs. In other cases, they may also have a direct plugin where people are referenced. In the case of reflex impersonal sentences, these people who appear in the sentence will always be the direct object, never the subject of the sentence.

• The verb always appears in the third person singular
• It does not have a syntactic subject, that is, we do not see a subject as such in the sentence.
• The subject is elided or is indeterminate and it is not known who has performed the action of the verb.
• Use the pronoun se to indicate that it is an impersonal sentence. In this case se, it does not work as a pronoun.

Sometimes it is possible confuse them with reflex passive sentences, but the truth is that distinguishing them is simple. Reflex passives do have a noun phrase that works as a subject and agrees in number and person with the verb.

• In Valencia an excellent paella is made.
• It's very good here.
• Candidates who have passed the language test will be notified to proceed to the next level.
• He sleeps quite well in this new bed.
• Trouser arrangements are made.

Now you know what impersonal sentences are, their types and how each of them are formed. If you want to continue learning more about Spanish language, be sure to visit our sections where you will find a lot of material like this as well as audiovisual content that will help you improve your knowledge.