By Jose Maria Martín Casanova

Passive voice is used when the focus in on the action is

not important or no known, however, who or what is

performing the action.

In the passive voice the subject of the active voice and

the direct object of the active voice interchange their position in the sentence.

Active Voice Passive Voice

Paco sent a letter A letter was sent by Paco

Subject + verb + object Object + verb + subject

First let´s look at the different forms of be:

TENSE VERB

Present Simple am / is / are

Past Simple was / were

Present Continuos am / is / are being

Past Continuous was / were being

Present Perfect have / has been

Past Perfect had been

Let´s look at the formula for the passive voice:

Subject + be + past participle

TENSE ACTIVE PASSIVE

Present Simple give / gives am / is / are given

Past Simple gave was / were given

Present Continuous am / is / are giving am / is / are being given

Past Continuous was / were giving was / were being given

Present Perfect have / has given have / has been given

Past Perfect had given had been given

Futurewill give

going to give

will be given

going to be given

Modal Verbsmust/can/may/might/

could/(or other) givecan be given

Changes in the sentence

He painted a picture for his brother

A picture was painted for his brother

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1.- The object in the active voice is transformed into a subject in the passive voice

2.- The verb tense in the active voice is transformed into the same verb tense with

the verb to be in the passive voice. And the past participle of the verb tense in the

voice active.

3.- The subject in the active shows little information so that it is not written.

4.- Other complemets.

The news surprises Tom

Tom is surprised by the news

Mike reparied his car

The car was reparied by Mike

Juan is building a dog kennel

A dog kennel is being built by Juan

Lisa had not brought the book

The book had not been brought by Lisa

Mr. Rous will teach this class.

This class will be taught by Mr. Rous

I must finish as soon as possible my homework

My homework must be finished as soon as possible

He ate all of the cookies

All of the cookies were eaten