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.

Examples of sentences form active voice to passive voice ACTIVE VOICE = PASSIVE VOICE I keep the butter in the fridge the butter is kept in the fridge Mario paints the house the house in painted by mario The students answer the questions the questions are answered by the ss. My mother cooks the food the food is cooked by my mother My father drives his new car the new car is driven by my father I buy bread every Sunday bread is bought by me every sunday

main verb (past participle) 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 not paid in dollars. Are they 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. ?

Examples of Passive Tense Subject Verb Object Simple Present Active: Rita writes a letter. Passive: A letter is written by Rita. Simple Past wrote was written Present Perfect has written has been written Future I will write will be written

Examples of Passive Tense Subject Verb Object Present Progressive Active: Rita is writing a letter. Passive: A letter is being written by Rita. Past Progressive was writing was being written Past Perfect had written had been written

Present passive voice the documents / print: the window / open: the shoes / buy: the car / wash: the litter / throw away: the letter / send: the book / read / not: the songs / sing / not: the food / eat / not: the shop / close / not:

More passive voice practice He opens the door. - We set the table. - She pays a lot of money. - I draw a picture. - They wear blue shoes. - They don't help you. - He doesn't open the book. - You do not write the letter. - Does your mum pick you up? - Does the police catch the thief? -