Active Voice vs Passive Voice

Verbs have many different tenses. They also have two primary forms that they take called active voice and passive voice. Active voice is the most common, and we typically speak using the active voice.

• Active Voice: Tim drove the car.
• Passive Voice: The car was driven by Tim.

With the active voice the object receives the action. In the example below the object is books. Here is the structure:

subject	verb	object
	>
We	read	books.

With the passive voice the subject receives the action. In the example below books becomes the subject. As you will learn later in this lesson you do not always need an object when using the passive voice. Here is the structure:

subject	verb	object
<
Books	are read	by us.

The object of the active verb is the subject of the passive verb. They switch places.

	subject	verb	object
active	We	read	books.
passive	Books	are read	by us.

Construction of the Passive Voice

When writing in the passive voice, there is a very simple sentence structure to keep in mind:
subject + auxiliary verb (be) + main verb (past participle)
Just keep in mind that the main verb is always in past participle form. Here are a few examples:

subject	auxiliary verb (to be)	main verb (past participle)
Books	are	read	by us.
Tim	was	kissed	by Jenny.
Fish	are	cared for	by me.
The tire	was	changed	by Fred.
The house	was	painted	by Bill.

We use the passive voice when we want to make the active object more important or we do not know the active subject.

	subject	verb	object
give importance to active object (Money)	Money	was donated	by Joseph.
active subject unknown	My cell phone	has gone missing	(we do not know the object)

Remember that we always use the word by to introduce the passive object if we include the passive object.
Now, let’s take a look at another example:

• She was hit with a candlestick.

In the other examples, we used the word by to introduce the passive object, but in this case the candlestick is not the active subject. While it might be amusing to debate whether or not the candlestick decided to hit her on its own accord, it is much more likely that she was hit by someone with a candlestick. This would make the candlestick an instrument, rather than the active subject. The someone with the candlestick would be the active subject or what is also referred to as the agent.

Conjugation for the Passive Voice

We can form a passive voice in any tense. Conjugating verbs in the passive tense is actually a very simple process because the auxiliary verb is always “be” and the main verb is always written in past participle form. In order to get the tense we need the auxiliary verb must be conjugated.

• present simple: It is broken
• present continuous: It is being broken
• present perfect: It has been broken

Here are some examples with most of the possible tenses:

infinitive		to be thrown
simple	present	It is thrown
	past	It was thrown
	future	It will be thrown
	conditional	It would be thrown
continuous	present	It is being thrown
	past	It was being thrown
	future	It will be being thrown
	conditional	It would be being thrown
perfect simple	present	It has been thrown
	past	It had been thrown
	future	It will have been thrown
	conditional	It would have been thrown
perfect continuous	present	It has been being thrown
	past	It had been being thrown
	future	It will have been being thrown
	conditional	It would have been being thrown