Active and Passive Voice

There are two special forms for verbs called voice:

1. Active voice
2. Passive voice

The active voice is the "normal" voice. This is the voice that we use most of the time. You are probably already familiar with the active voice. In the active voice, the object receives the action of the verb:

active	subject	verb	object
		>
	Cats	eat	fish.

The passive voice is less usual. In the passive voice, the subject receives the action of the verb:

passive	subject	verb	object
	<
	Fish	are eaten	by cats.

The object of the active verb becomes the subject of the passive verb:

	subject	verb	object
active	Everybody	drinks	water.
passive	Water	is drunk	by everybody.

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.