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The Impersonal and Passive se

In English, we say "You shouldn't smoke in a hospital", "They say she is very pretty", or "One never knows when he will turn up." These are "impersonal expressions". In other words, we don't really have anyone specific in mind when we say "They say..." or "One" or " You". We mean people in general. This is what we mean by "impersonal".
We use se in front of verbs to create the Spanish way of making general statements.

Here are some examples:

They say it's going to snow.	Se dice que va a nevar.
You pay the fines on Mondays.	Se pagan las multas los lunes.
How does one say "icecream" in Italian?	¿Cómo se dice "helado" en italiano?
You say "gelato".	Se dice "gelato".

Don't forget that if what you are referring to is plural, you need to use the third person plural form of the verb (see the second example above)

The "Passive se" is what we call in English "the passive voice". An Active voice is when you have a subject doing something with an active verb. In English a Passive voice has an object having something done to it with or without an identified subject.

Let's look at some examples in English:

An Active Voice Construction	A Passive Voice Construction
Sra. Verde teaches me Spanish.	Spanish is taught to me (by Sra. Verde)
I purchased the dress.	The dress was purchased (by me)
I drove my father's new car.	My father's new car was driven (by me)

The Passive Voice in English uses a form of "to Be" with a Past Participle.

In Spanish, the Passive Voice is normally formed by using se + the third person singular or plural conjugation of a verb, just as we did with the Impersonal se. In Spanish there is not a subject - identified or not!

Let's look at some examples in Spanish and English:

An Active Voice Construction	A Passive Voice Construction
Los dependientes del almacén hablan ruso.	Se habla ruso en el mercado.
The department store clerks speak Russian.	Russian is spoken in the shopping center.
David escribe el libro en italiano.	Se escribe el libro en italiano.
David is writing the book in Italian.	The book is written in Italian.
La heladería vende una gran cantidad de helado.	Se vende una gran cantidad de helado.
The ice cream store sells a large quantity of ice cream.	A large quantity of ice cream is sold.
Mis amigos comieron la torta.	Se comió la torta.
My friends ate the cake.	The cake was eaten.

This information comes from: http://www.drlemon.net/Grammar/impersonal.html

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