Passive Voice

The passive voice is less usual than the active voice. The active voice is the "normal" voice. But sometimes we need the passive voice. In this lesson we look at how to construct the passive voice, when to use it and how to conjugate it.

Construction of the Passive Voice

The structure of the passive voice is very simple:

subject + auxiliary verb (be) + main verb (past participle)

The main verb is always in its past participle form.

Examples of sentences form active voice to passive voice

I keep the butter in the fridge the butter is kept in the fridge

Mario paints the house the house in painted by mario

The students answer the questions the questions are answered by the ss.

My mother cooks the food the food is cooked by my mother

My father drives his new car the new car is driven by my father

I buy bread every Sunday bread is bought by me every sunday

ACTIVE VOICE = PASSIVE VOICE

Look at these examples:

subjectauxiliary verb

(to be)main verb (past

participle) 

Water is drunk by everyone.

100 people

areemployed

by this company.

I am paid in euro.

We are not paid in dollars.

Are they paid in yen?

Use of the Passive Voice

We use the passive when:we want to make the active object more important

we do not know the active subject

  subject verb object

give importance to active object (President Kennedy)

President Kennedy

was killedby Lee Harvey Oswald.

active subject unknown My wallethas been stolen.

?

Tense Subject Verb Object

Simple Present

Active: Rita writes a letter.

Passive: A letter is written by Rita.

Simple Past

Active: Rita wrote a letter.

Passive: A letter was written by Rita.

Present Perfect

Active: Rita has written a letter.

Passive: A letter has been written by Rita.

Future I

Active: Rita will write a letter.

Passive: A letter will be written by Rita.

Examples of Passive

Tense Subject Verb Object

Present Progressive

Active: Rita is writing a letter.

Passive: A letter is being written by Rita.

Past Progressive

Active: Rita was writing a letter.

Passive: A letter was being written by Rita.

Past Perfect

Active: Rita had written a letter.

Passive: A letter had been written by Rita.

Examples of Passive

the documents / print: the window / open:the shoes / buy: the car / wash:the litter / throw away: the letter / send: the book / read / not: the songs / sing / not: the food / eat / not: the shop / close / not:

Present passive voice

He opens the door. - We set the table. - She pays a lot of money. - I draw a picture. - They wear blue shoes. - They don't help you. - He doesn't open the book. - You do not write the letter. - Does your mum pick you up? - Does the police catch the thief? -

More passive voice practice