The passive voice

1. The passive voice

2. The use of the passive voice

When we speak we can use active or passive sentences. An active sentence is the one in which the subject performs the action. However, a passive sentence is the one in which the subject of the sentence doesn't performs the action but receives it.

3. How can we build a passive sentence?

A passive sentence is built by replacing the main verb of the active sentence with the verb to be in the corresponding verb tense, and then the main verb in the past participle; that is, either by adding the particle -ed to the verb if it is regular, or by looking at the past participle in the list of irregular verbs if the verb is irregular.

Suppose we have the following active sentence:

To turn this sentence into a passive we will put the direct object as the subject, then the verb to be in the present tense (because the sentence is in the present tense), then the verb in the past participle and the rest of the sentence.

Below we show examples of active sentences and their corresponding passives in the following verb tenses:

When in an active sentence there is both a direct and an indirect object, it is more common to put the indirect object as the subject in the passive sentence.

Suppose we have the following active sentence:

To turn this sentence into a passive one, we will use the indirect object as a subject. Note that when the indirect object is a pronoun (me, him, them...) it must be replaced by its corresponding subject pronoun (I, you, he...).

However, this sentence can also be turned into passive by using the direct object as the subject.

4. Passive voice uses

The most common uses of the passive voice are:

• When it is not necessary to mention who performs the action because it is obvious.
  
  The cows are milked twice a day.

  In this example we can deduce that the one who milks the cows is the farmer or some employee of the farmer.

  The post was delivered on time.

  In this example, we can deduce that the person who delivers the mail is the postman.que el que reparte el correo es el cartero.
• When we don't know who is doing the action, or it is not important to mention it.
  
  The wheels of my bike were stolen yesterday.

  In this example we don't know who stole the wheels from the bike.

  Is your website updated periodically?

  We do not specify who exactly updates the page because it is not important in this context.
• When the emphasis is on the action and not on who performs it.
  
  Casa Batlló was built in 1875.

  In this example we do not want to emphasize who built this house, but the year it was built.

  This newspaper isn't read in our country.

  In this example the emphasis is on the action (not reading the newspaper) and not on who doesn't read it.

5. The impersonal passive voice

6. How do we build an impersonal passive sentence?

There are two different structures for building an impersonal passive sentence:

• Reporting verbs are verbs that allow you to express what another person has said before. The ones that are usually used with this structure are: say, think, expect, know, believe, understand, consider..
• With this structure we take into account the verb tense in which the reporting verb is in the active sentence.

The second structure used to build an impersonal passive sentence is:

• The subject in this structure is the same as that of the sentence introduced by a reporting verb in the active sentence.
• The perfect infinitive is formed with the verb have + a verb in the past participle (-ed for regular verbs or the 3rd column for irregular verbs).
• With this structure we take into account the verb tense in which the sentence introduced by the reporting verb is in active. When the sentence refers to the present or future, it is introduced by to + infinitive. When the sentence refers to the past, it is introduced by to + perfect infinitive.
• When the verb tense is in the present continuous, the main verb will be in the gerund, preceded by the infinitive of the verb to be.
  

  ACTIVE SENTENCE	PASSIVE SENTENCE
  People think that the mayor is doing a dreadful job.	The mayor is thought to be doing a dreadful job.

• The subject of the sentence introduced by the reporting verb in active can be a there is/are/was...In these cases the procedure is the same as with any other subject.
  

  Oración activa	Oración pasiva
  People say that there is a good education system in this country.	There is said to be a good education system in this country.

7. Uses of impersonal passive sentences

The impersonal passive voice is used when we want to express what a large or a small number of people think, believe or feel about a situation. It is usually used in texts, in the media and in general in formal contexts.

Remember!