María:	Noé, ¿te acuerdas que no hace mucho tiempo mencionamos aquel violento episodio protagonizado por Gabriel García Márquez y Mario Vargas Llosa?
Noé:	¡Por supuesto! El escritor peruano le dio un puñetazo a su compañero colombiano que lo dejó con el ojo morado. Pero... ¿por qué habrían dos prestigiosos ganadores del Premio Nobel de Literatura de irse a las manos? Eso es lo que quedó irresoluto.
María:	Pues ya hice la tarea. Fui directamente a las fuentes: todo lo que sabemos de este episodio ocurrido en 1976 proviene de testimonios de amigos de ambos escritores. Pero primero, me parece que es necesario poner los hechos en contexto.

In the previous lesson we saw that the past participle, one of the non-personal forms of a verb, can work as an adjective and an attribute with copulative verbs and its main function is to form the perfect tenses together with the auxiliary verb "haber".

In this lesson we'll see another main function of the past participle, to form the passive voice.

The Passive form of the Verb

The passive voice is a verb construction in which the subject is presented as passive (subject patient), while the action taken by the verb is performed by a complement (agent object) and not the individual agent verb in the active voice.

The active and passive sentences follow this structure:

Subject + verb + direct object

Passive: Subject patient (direct object of the active sentence) + verb to be + past participle of main verb + complement agent (the subject of the active sentence)

Adela compra un libro --> Un libro es comprado por Adela.
Adela buys a book --> A book is purchased by Adela.

Picasso pintó el Guernica --> El Guernica fue pintado por PIcasso.
Picasso painted the Guernica --> The Guernica was painted by Picasso.

Note: The verbs haber and tener are exceptions and they do not take the passive form.

Tengo un gato --> Un gato es tenido por mí. (INCORRECT)

Past Participle Periphrases

1. Llevar + participio: Indicates that an action has been happening for some time but it's still not completed.

Llevo andados tres kilómetros y aún me quedan más de dos.
I've already walked more kilometers and I still have two more to go.

2. Andar + participio: It is used to express a situation that has been going on for too long.

Andamos desempleados desde hace más de cuatro meses.
We've been unemployed for more than four months.

3. Tener + participio: Expresses an action completed in the past.

Ya tengo comprado el traje para la boda de mi hermana.
I've already bought the suit for my sister's wedding.

4. Ir + participio: It refers to an action that is happening now.

Vas cansada de tanto peso que llevas.
You are tired because you are carrying a lot of weight.

5. Dar + participio: This perífrasis is usually found with the preposition "por" linking the two verbs and it expresses that an action was concluded unilaterally.

El profesor dio por explicada la lección aunque los alumnos no la entendieron.
The professor considered the lesson done even though the students didn't understand it.