Passive Voice
In the following sentence, we use the active voice.
Jenny paid the waiter.
In the above sentence Jenny is the person who performs the action (verb). She is the agent.
Using the Passive Voice, the subject is the recipient of the action (verb).
The waiter was paid by Jenny.
We form the Passive Voice as follows:
subject + be (am/is/are/was/were) + past participle
When using the passive voice, who or what causes the action is often unknown.
The waiter was paid. (somebody paid the waiter, but we don't know who)
The money was lost. (somebody lost the money, but we don't state who)
The door is locked every day at 10 o'clock. (somebody locks the door, but we don't know who)
If the person who did something is important, we use by + person.
Harry Potter was written by J.K. Rowling
Examples
| Tense |
Active |
Passive |
Present
Simple: |
Somebody waters the garden every day. |
The garden is watered every day. |
Past
Simple: |
Somebody watered the garden yesterday. |
The garden was watered yesterday. |
Present
Continuous: |
Somebody is watering the garden now. |
The garden is being watered now. |
Past
Continuous: |
Somebody was watering the garden when I left. |
The garden was being watered when I left. |
Present
Perfect: |
Somebody has watered the garden. |
The garden has been watered. |
Past
Perfect: |
Somebody had watered the garden when I checked. |
The garden had been watered when I checked. |
Future
Simple: |
Somebody will water the garden tomorrow. |
The garden will be watered tomorrow. |
Future
"going to": |
Somebody is going to water the garden tomorrow. |
The garden is going to be watered tomorrow. |
We can also use 'get' instead of 'be'.
We can use be in all situations, but we can only use get when things happen.
subject + get (get/got) + past participle
| Active |
Passive |
| Somebody weeds the garden on Tuesdays. |
The garden gets weeded on Tuesdays. |
| The rain damaged the garden. |
The garden got damaged by the rain. |
| The snake bit Sarah. |
Sarah got bitten by the snake. ( = Sarah was bitten by the snake.) |