Hello I’m Franco from FrancoTheTutor! This lesson is at the top of my request list.

So many of you have been asking me for a lesson about the passive voice so I'm glad that I finally got it ready for you.

• We don’t know the subject of the action (doer).

That house was burnt down.

• We know the subject of the action but do not want to mention it, for whatever the reason.

The Ming vase was badly broken, I’m sorry mum.

• We are more interested in the action itself than in the doer.

Penicillin was discovered by Alexander Fleming.

We normally need the auxiliary verb “to be”, which we conjugate in the same tense as the
main verb in the active verb, followed by the main verb in past participle.

E.g. The woman bought a new car.

Subject Verb Object

A new car was bought by the woman.

 Egyptians built the pyramids of Giza

The pyramids of Giza were built by Egyptians

 Columbus discovered America

America was discovered by Columbus

 Cervantes wrote Don Quixote

Don Quixote was written by Cervantes

Beethoven composed the 9th Symphony

The 9th Symphony was composed by Beethoven

 Edison invented the light bulb

The light bulb was invented by Edison

 Eiffel designed the Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower was designed by Eiffel

 Picasso painted “Guernica”

“Guernica” was painted by Picasso

 Alan Turing made the first computer

The first computer was made by A. Turing

 Walt Disney drew Mickey Mouse

Mickey Mouse was drawn by Walt Disney

 Hillary climbed Mount Everest

Mount Everest was climbed by Hillary

 Armstrong explored the Moon

The Moon was explored by Armstrong

 Spain won the World Cup in 2010

The World Cup was won by Spain in 2010

 I DO IT IT IS DONE
I DID IT IT WAS DONE
I WILL DO IT IT WILL BE DONE
I WOULD DO IT IT WOULD BE DONE
I HAVE DONE IT IT HAS BEEN DONE
I HAD DONE IT IT HAD BEEN DONE
I WILL HAVE DONE IT IT WILL HAVE BEEN DONE
I WOULD HAVE DONE IT IT WOULD HAVE BEEN DONE
Notice that if we count verbs, in passive voice there is always one more verb than in active voice (the auxiliary
“to be”), that is a wonderful trick to know if we are conjugating the verb correctly, by counting verbs ☺
 ACTIVE VOICE
I AM DOING IT
I WAS DOING IT
I WILL BE DOING IT
I WOULD BE DOING IT
I HAVE BEEN DOING IT
I HAD BEEN DOING IT
I WILL HAVE BEEN DOING IT
I WOULD HAVE BEEN DOING IT
*I AM GOING TO DO IT
PASSIVE VOICE
IT IS BEING DONE
IT WAS BEING DONE
IT WILL BE BEING DONE
IT WOULD BE BEING DONE
IT HAS BEEN BEING DONE
IT HAD BEEN BEING DONE
IT WILL HAVE BEEN BEING DONE
IT WOULD HAVE BEEN BEING DONE
IT IS GOING TO BE DONE
I CAN DO IT IT CAN BE DONE
I COULD DO IT IT COULD BE DONE
I MUST DO IT IT MUST BE DONE
I MAY DO IT IT MAY BE DONE
I MIGHT DO IT IT MIGHT BE DONE
I HAVE TO DO IT IT HAS TO BE DONE
I SHALL DO IT IT SHALL BE DONE
I SHOULD DO IT IT SHOULD BE DONE
I OUGHT TO DO IT IT OUGHT TO BE DONE
FORMATION (PRESENT)
Subject + present form of the verb to be +
Past Participle (3rd form of irregular verbs)

Charles writes a book.

A book is written by Charles.

Charles cleans the windows.

The windows are cleaned by Charles.
 ACTIVE PASSIVE
I write a book. A book is written by me.
You write a book. A book is written by you.
He writes a book. A book is written by him.

We write a book. A book is written by us.

You write a book. A book is written by you.
They write a book. A book is written by them.
FORMATION (PAST)
Subject + past form of the verb to be +
Past Participle (3rd form of irregular verbs)

Charles wrote a book.

A book was written by Charles.

Charles cleaned the windows.

The windows were cleaned by Charles
 ACTIVE PASSIVE
I wrote a book. A book was written by me
You wrote a book. A book was written by you
He wrote a book. A book was written by him

We wrote a book. A book was written by us.

You wrote a book. A book was written by you.
They wrote a book. A book was written by them.
FORMATION (FUTURE)
Subject + will future form of the verb to be +
Past Participle (3rd form of irregular verbs)

Charles will write a book.

A book will be written by Charles.

Charles will clean the windows.

The windows will be cleaned by Charles.
 ACTIVE PASSIVE
I will write a book. A book will be written by me
You will write a book. A book will be written by you
He will write a book. A book will be written by him

We will write a book. A book will be written by us.

You will write a book. A book will be written by you
They will write a book. A book will be written by them
FORMATION
(PRESENT PERFECT)
Subject + present perfect form of the verb to be + Past Participle (3rd
form of irregular verbs)

Charles has written a book.

A book has been written by Charles.

Charles has cleaned the windows.

The windows have been cleaned by Charles.
 ACTIVE PASSIVE
I have written a book. A book has been written by me.
You have written a book. A book has been written by you.
He has written a book. A book has been written by him.

A book has been written by us.

We have written a book.
A book has been written by you.
You have written a book.
A book has been written by them.
They have written a book.
• DIRECT OBJECT
• INDIRECT OBJECT
• CAUSATIVE HAVE/GET
• IMPERSONAL
• PERSONAL
• In this presentation we are only going to see all of them.
For this passive voice we need a transitive verb, therefore we’ll
also need a direct object.

My mother buys all the weekly supplies

S V CD

All the weekly supplies are bought by my mother

S V AGENT
For this passive voice we only need an intransitive verb and an
indirect object.

My brother has talked to my sister for hours

S V CD CC

My sister has been talked for hours by my mother

S V CC AGENT
If you find a sentence with both direct and indirect objects, then
you can do both types of passive voice, depending on what you
want to empasize:

My brother has bought my sister a new toy

S V CI CD

A new toy has been bought for my sister by my brother

S V CI AGENT
My sister has been bought a new toy by my brother
S V CD AGENT
In any of these types of passive voice if the subject in the
active is:

“people”, “somebody”, a personal pronoun (he, she, I,

they, etc)

we tend to omit the agent of the sentence, that is the

“doer” of the action
For this passive voice we need to have two sentences joined by
“that”. The first sentence needs a “mental verb”: say, think, believe,
understand.

People think (that) she is very pretty

S1 S2
Since this passive voice is “impersonal”, we need an impersonal
subject: IT, and then, we will conjugate the first verb into passive
voice, that is the “mental verb, without changing anything from the
second sentence:

It is thought that she is very pretty.

EXAMPLES:
Mary believed that I was American It was believed that I was American
People have understood that he is silly It has been understood that he is silly
They say that we are a couple It is said that we are a couple

Note: We don’t use agent here.

For this passive voice we need to have two sentences joined by
“that”. The first sentence needs a “mental verb”: say, think, believe,
understand.

People think (that) Mary knows French

S1 V1 S2 V2 CS

Mary is thought to know French

Note: We don’t use agent here.