PASSIVE VOICE:

FELTAP
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.
Look at these examples:
subject
auxiliary verb (to be)
main verb (past participle)
Water
is
drunk
by everyone.
100 people
are
employed
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 killed
by Lee Harvey Oswald.
active subject unknown
My wallet
has been stolen.
?
Note that we always use by
to introduce the passive
object (Fish are eaten by
cats).
Look at this sentence:
He was killed with a gun.
Normally we use by to
introduce the passive object.
But the gun is not the active
subject. The gun did not kill
him. He was killed by
somebody with a gun. In the
active voice, it would be:
Somebody killed him with a
gun. The gun is the
instrument. Somebody is the
"agent" or "doer".
Conjugation for the
Passive Voice
We can form the passive in
any tense. In fact,
conjugation of verbs in the
passive tense is rather easy,
as the main verb is always in
past participle form and the
auxiliary verb is always be .
To form the required tense,
we conjugate the auxiliary
verb. So, for example:
present simple: It is
made
present continuous: It is
being made
present perfect: It has
been made
Here are some examples
with most of the possible
tenses:
infinitive
to be washed
simple
present
It is washed.
past
It was washed.
future
It will be washed.
conditional
It would be washed.
continuous
present
It is being washed.
past
It was being washed.
future
It will be being washed.
conditional
It would be being washed.
perfect simple
present
It has been washed.
past
It had been washed.
future
It will have been washed.
conditional
It would have been washed.
perfect continuous
present
It has been being washed.
past
It had been being washed.
future
It will have been being
washed.
conditional
It would have been being
washed.

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