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12.3 Il si passivante and il si impersonale

The si passivante is an alternative to the passive voice. Alike the passive voice the si impersonale is used if the executor of an action is unknown or irrelevant. These constructions existe Spanish and French as well, but only in Spanish they are as important as in Italian. In each Spanish grammar you find  a large chapter dedicated to the pasiva refleja while this construction is never mentioned in a French grammar, although it exists. But right now we are learning Italian.

The most easiest way to understand the si passivante is to look at it as a simple construction with a reflexive pronoun. From a grammatical point of view there is no difference between a normal reflexive construction and the si passivante.

examples
a) Si vede nello specchio.	He sees himself in the mirror.
b) Si mangia una mela.	An apple is eated. (Literally: An apple eats himself.)

The only thing one must understand in the si passivante is the fact that the subject performs an action on itself that it can't really perform on itself and apart from that doing so wouldn't be useful. (Le mele si mangiano <=> Apples were eaten <=> ~ Apples eat themselves. We don't need apples which eat themselves.)

In the si passivante the direct object of the sentence in active voice becomes the subject of the sentence in the si passivante.

example
On sundays people wash their cars.
La domenica si lavano le macchine.

The cars / le macchine is the direct object in the English sentence. This direct object becomes the subject in the Italian translation and since the conjugation of the verb depends on the subject the verb is in plural. If the direct object in the sentence in active voice is singular, the subject of the sentence with the si passivante is singular and the verb must be in singular.

example
On sunday people wash their car.
La domenica si lava la macchina.

other example
In Italia si beve vino, in Germania birra.
In Italy people drink wine, in Germany beer.
Quando lo spettacolo è finito si aprono le porte.
If the performance has finished, one open the door.
Oggigiorno non si scrivono molte lettere, l' email è più veloce.
Nowadays people don' t use to write letters, email is much faster.
Non si scrive un'email a una persona completamente sconosciuta.
One shouldn' t write emails to someone completely unknown.
Si fumano troppe sigarette.
People smoke too much.

We have to distinguish clearly between the si passivante and the si impersonale. It is crucial to understand that these two constructions are completely different and have nothing, but really nothing in common, from a grammatical point of view.

examples
a) Si fuma una sigaretta.	A cigarette is smoken.
b) Si fuma troppo.	One smoke a cigarette.

A lot of people, even Italians, that's why there are so many mistakes with the use of the si impersonale, believe that a) and b) are similar structures. There are not. You see that immediately if you try to translate these sentences with a reflexive verb, something useful from a didactic point of view although the resulting sentence doesn't make a lot of sense.

exampl
Si fuma una sigaretta. <=> A cigarette smokes itself.
Si fuma. <=> ?? (One smoke.)

In case a) we have a subject, the sigaretta and the reflexive pronoun indicates that the cigarette performs the action on itself, that the sigarette is not only the executor of the action, but the goal as well. But in case b) there is nothing and nobody that could be the executor of the action and if the si in case b) would be a reflexive pronoun, we wouldn't know to whom it refers to. In case a) the si is a reflexive pronoun and refers to cigarette, in case b) si is un indefinite pronoun, has the same function as one, the people, etc. in English. In case a) si is a reflexive pronoun, at least from a grammatical point of view, but in b) it is the subject of the sentence.

In other words. If the sentence in active voice (He smokes a cigarette) have a direct object (the cigarette) this direct object becomes the subject of the sentence in passive voice (A cigarette is smoked by him). But if there is no direct object at all, it is quite difficult to see how an inexistent direct object can become the subject of the sentence. If there is no direct object in the active voice it is possible to use the si impersonale, using si as the subject, but it is not possible to form a si passivante.

example for the si impersonale
Si dice che la gente è felice, ma non è vero.
It is said that people are happy, but that's not true.

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