Word order in passive voice

Question

The sentence below is pretty straightforward in terms of word order (it is what I frequently encountered in passive voice):

todos los coches están vendidas

But I think that the one below is also grammatically correct and the word order (in ser + past participle) depends on what you want to accentuate - either that "ALL the cars are sold" or "All the cars are SOLD". Please correct me if I am WRONG.

están vendidas todos los coches

As for pasiva refleja (se + singular/plural verb in 3rd person) for me it doesn't seem so clear. For example, what is the difference between two sentences below and are BOTH of the correct or only ONE of them?

Se venden coches aquí.

vs

Coches se venden aquí.

Seems that not only me who is confused, because I noticed that explanations differed for el ratón se mató vs Se mató al ratón in the following thread: Preterit Passive vs. Estar + Past Participle.

BUT by looking at another question Dos formas por una función: "ser+participio" y "se pasiva" para referirse a algo en voz pasiva, I found the following:

"La pasiva con "se" permite mayor flexibilidad en el orden sintáctico y esto ofrece una mayor versatilidad estilística: "Cada año se celebra la fiesta en un lugar diferente" (NO "Cada año es celebrada la fiesta en un lugar diferente")."

So I guess you cannot say "están vendidas todos los coches". But still am having doubts regarding word order when using "Se".

Answer 1

For a Spanish learner only:

• Todos los coches están vendidos. [with an o, coche is masculine]
• Están vendidos todos los coches.

Both mean: all the cars are sold.

Both are fine. And yes, it depends on whether you want to emphasize the cars or the fact they are sold.

I'm going to use a man, rather than a mouse here:

El hombre se mató. and Se mató el hombre.

Both those can be translated as: The man was killed. They can also both be: The man killed himself. Only context will tell you which it is. Though usually (but not always), if he killed himself, you would probably use: El hombre se mató [a si mismo].

El hombre se mató por ser infeliz. (The man killed himself because he was unhappy.) One can imagine someone exclaiming, in a reversal of order of the words: Se mató el hombre por ser infeliz: He did kill himself because he was unhappy. (To highlight the emphasis)/

So, ultimately you can only know whether it is "kill oneself" or "be killed" with specific context.

And finally, here is an excellent explanation of: Se vende casas and Se venden casas (same idea as coches):

¿SE VENDEN CASAS O SE VENDE CASAS?
Por regla general, el verbo concuerda en número con el sujeto y no con el complemento, es decir, no varía al pluralizarse los objetos que afecta.

se vende o se venden

There is the "Latin American exception" according to the author. You might see: Se vende casas.

[...] Pero hay dos excepciones:

Hay dos casos. Primero, cuando el complemento del verbo es de personas y está precedido por la preposición «a», no se pluraliza el verbo. Ejemplo: Se busca a los culpables". Segundo, cuando la construcción lleva un infinitivo, la concordancia se hace según el sentido, a juicio de quien habla o escribe, aunque en la mayoría de los casos haya una clara preferencia. Ejemplos: 'Se busca mejorar las condiciones'. 'Se pueden ver los resultados'.

In any case, if you start the sentences with coches, you must use the articles: Los coches se venden aqui. A missing article would be a flat-out error in Spanish there.