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How can you tell this should be passive (A movie is going to be made) vs. active (he/she is going to make a movie?
"Se" is the reflexive pronoun. Literally, this sentence says "A movie is going to make itself." This is how the passive is expressed in Spanish.
How would I say ¨He is going to make a movie himself¨? It may sound strange but that´s how I tried to translate it so I´m trying to understand where I´m going wrong.
"He is going to make a movie himself" is actually redundant. The himself is unnecessary, and would therefore translate as "Él va a realizar una perlícula". What you might be getting at is, "He is going to make a move by himself", in which case, it would be, "Él va a realizar una película solo (o con su mismo)."
A reflexive pronoun is not always redundant. Consider "I am going to make a movie myself." It's not exactly the same as making a movie "by myself. "
Va a realizar una película él mismo.
Maybe: "It is going to be realized a movie." Not an appropriate translation, but possibly a way to understand the passive? I would guess "Se" is a pronoun for passive?
That's the trick I use. I translate literally "se" equals "itself" so "itself is going to make a movie." and then rearrange the words to make sense. It's' the only way I can wrap my head around reflexive verbs and phrases.
I seem to remember reading somewhere that the opposite was true, but I have no idea really.
In English it sounds more natural to avoid the passive when possible, so : They are going to make a film" should be correct.
"A film is going to be made." As awkward as the English passive voice may sound to you, this is the correct translation. Your translation imposes a different subject to the sentence. "They" = se van (the plural form).
In English we would also say "They're going to make a film" and it would have the same meaning as "a film is going to be made". uff.
No, because if you say "a film is going to be made" you don´t say who is going to make it, it could as well be he or she or someone.
Should "A film is going to be produced" be acceptable? ("produced" is what it's hung up on, not "film")
Further ""se"" discussion: From Ingles para Latinos by Wm. Harvey, p. 83: I lost it = Se me perdio (accent o); I forgot it = Se me olvido (accent o); Se me rompio (accent o). Are the direct objects simply implied? We do not need to use them in Spanish in these type sentences?
