PASSIVE VOICE

1. FORM (FORMA)

- Formamos la voz pasiva con el verbo "to be" en el mismo tiempo verbal que el verbo activo + el participio de pasado del tiempo verbal.

- El sujeto de la oración activa pasa a ser el complemento agente de la voz pasiva precedido de la preposición "by".

- El objeto directo o indirecto de la oración activa pasa a ser el sujeto de la oración pasiva.

e.g. (voz activa) The firefighters put out a fire yesterday .

                              Sujeto                     verb act     C. Directo     CCT 
(voz pasiva)     A fire was put out yesterday by the firefighters . 

                                           Sujeto                             verbo pas.            CCT                   C. Agente

 

VERB TENSES

VERB TENSES	ACTIVE VOICE	PASSIVE VOICE
Present Simple	write / writes	am/is/are written
Present Continuous	Am/ is/are writing	am/is/are being written
Past Simple	wrote	was/were written
Past continuous	Was/were writing	was/were being written
Present Perfect Simple	Have/has  written	Have/ has been written
Past Perfect	had written	had been written
Future	will write	will be written
Future "going to"	am/is/are going to write	am/is/are going to be written
Future Perfect	will have written	will have been written
Conditional	would write	would be written
Perfect Conditional	would have written	would have been written
Modals	can/could/must/should/have to/ought to…write	can/could/must/should/have to/ought to…be written
Modals  Perfect	can/could/must/should/have to/ought to…have written	can/could/must/should/have to/ought to…have been written
Infinitivo Simple	to write	to be written
Perfect Infinitive	to have written	to have been written
Gerund	writing	being written
Past Participle	written	been written

1. USE
   
   

• El uso de la pasiva es mucho más común en inglés que en castellano (prensa, publicidad, discursos…)
• La voz pasiva se utiliza cuando queremos hablar de algo o alguien afectado por una acción poniendo énfasis en la acción y en su objeto. E.g. The food was cooked quickly. (La comida fue cocinada rápidamente.)
• El complemento agente introducido por "by" se puede omitir en los siguientes casos:

- Cuando está claro quién es, e.g. The thief was arrested yesterday. 
- Cuando no es importante o se desconoce, e.g. My cat was found two days ago. 

• El complemento agente aparece cuando tiene importancia, e.g. Mona Lisa was painted by Leonardo Da Vinci

VERBOS CON DOS OBJETOS

• Cuando el verbo activo tiene dos objetos, el objeto indirecto generalmente pasa a ser el sujeto de la oración pasiva.

e.g. (act.) Mary wrote me a novel
      (pas.) I was written a novel by Mary . /  A novel was written to me by     Mary

Entre los verbos que admiten esta estructura hay que destacar: give, send, show, lend, ask, tell, offer, order y pay. Sin embargo con los verbos ask y tell no suele usarse la estructura en la que el objeto directo pasa a ser el sujeto de la voz pasiva.

1. OTROS USOS DE LA VOZ PASIVA:

IMPERSONAL PASSIVE

• La pasiva suele emplearse también con verbos como: believe, think, report, say, tell, etc. con los que podemos formar dos clases diferentes de estructuras. Este tipo de pasiva tiene la siguiente estructura: sujeto: pronombre, people…+ verbo de pensamiento o habla: believe, think, report, say, tell…+ oración subordinada completiva: (that) + sujeto + verbo + complementos.

e.g. (act.) They say that this monument is emblematic.
(pas.) It is said that this monument is emblematic. (Se dice que…)
(pas.) This monument is said to be emblematic.

e.g. (act.) They believe that these documents belonged to a Julius Caesar
(pas.) It is believed that these documents belonged to Julius Caesar.
(pas.) These documents are believed to have belonged to Julius Caesar.

e.g. (act.) They thought these people had lived in India
(pas.) It was thought that these people had lived in India

(pas.) These people were thought to have lived in India

CAUSATIVE HAVE: HAVE / GET SOMETHING DONE

• Empleamos la estructura: have / get + objeto + participio de pasado con un sentido pasivo para expresar que alguien hace algo para nosotros.
  
  

e.g. We're going to have / get our house painted.
e.g. John had his car washed every week.
e.g. He's had his bike repaired.

• En algunas situaciones se puede utilizar la estructura: have + objeto + past participle  para indicar que nos ha sucedido algo no demasiado agradable.

e.g. She had her handbag stolen while she was walking.

• Get se usa en el lenguaje oral de forma más informal

Here there are some exercises:

Passive sentences- easy

Passive sentences- intermediate

Passive sentences- intermediate

Translation exercises

Translation exercise 2

Have Something Done

Miscellaneous

Test your English- Passive