How to turn a sentence into passive. Passive voice

Greetings, my dear readers.

Doesn't it sound scary - "passive pledge"? Questions immediately arise, what did he do that made him “suffer” so much? In reality, behind the proud name lies simply the grammatical phenomenon of "passive".

Okay, so be it, so that you better understand the topic and do not get confused in all these names - we will single out a separate lesson for it called the passive voice in English, or “passive” in the common people. Today we are waiting for the rules with examples and the education of this time. And then you can consolidate the theory and.

What it is

Let's immediately understand what a "passive voice" is with examples.

I cooked the dinner.- I cooked dinner.

From this sentence, it becomes clear that the action is performed by a certain person, that is, me. It turns out that this is a valid voice, or all those sentences and that we usually use.

The passive voice in our case will look like this:

The dinner was cooked.- Dinner is ready.

Notice that now in the first place we have the very fact that dinner was prepared. That is, there is no need to mention who did it.

This is the phenomenon when you completely no need to specify who is doing the action, or it is necessary to put the action itself in the first place, and the passive is used.

How to translate

Of course, many immediately have a question: how to translate such sentences. And my answer to you is - like the usual ones, we just do not indicate actor.

The walls were painted yesterday.- The walls were painted yesterday.

New sports center will be opened next month.- A new sports center will open next month.

The dinner hadn't been made by the time I got home. By the time I got home, dinner wasn't ready yet.

How is formed

• In short, the structure of the passive voice is as follows:

Subject + auxiliary verb (to be) + third form verb (V3) + object.

Depending on the time in which the sentence is built, the verb “to be” will change its form. The table below shows how this is done.

The car was broken in an accident.- The car crashed.

The meeting is being held in room 13.- The meeting is in room 13.

The car had been repaired.- They fixed the car.

• In the structure of a negative sentence, a particle is added not to the auxiliary verb.

Subject + auxiliary verb (to be) + not + third form verb (V3) + object.

The room wasn't (was not) cleaned.- The room was not cleaned.

The house wasn't (was not) decorated yet. The house hasn't been decorated yet.

The thieves weren't (were not) caught yet.- The thieves haven't been caught yet.

• In interrogative sentences, the auxiliary verb and subject are reversed.

Auxiliary verb (to be) + subject + third form verb (V3) + object?

Was the television repaired?- Did you fix the TV?

Was the report written?- Have you written a report?

Have the photos been printed?- Have the photos been printed?

You may have noticed that even in the passive voice they must be used correctly, so I have a table for you that will help you remember and quickly navigate the use of tenses (click on the image to enlarge).

I think you noticed that the forms Future Continuous passive does not exist. If, nevertheless, it becomes necessary to express the duration in the future, then the usual Future Simple will be used.

The same applies to difficult times: Present Perfect Continuous, past perfect Continuous and Future Perfect Continuous. There are no passive constructions in them! Use Perfect tenses instead!

Usage rules and examples

The use of passives can be characterized by the following rules:

• When the person performing the action is not known to us, not important or obvious.

Mr. Samson's jewelry was stolen last night.- Mrs. Samson's jewelry was stolen yesterday.

Feel the difference:

The thieves stole Samson's jewelry last night. Thieves stole Mrs. Samson's jewelry last night.

In the passive, it is already obvious to us who did it, and there is no need to say obvious things. Let's see one more example.

The brakes of the car were tested.- The brakes of the car were checked.

Compare:

The mechanic tested the brakes of the car.- The mechanic checked the brakes of the car.

After all, it was already obvious that the brakes of the car were checked by a mechanic. That is why the passive looks much more relevant here.

Mercedes cars are made in Germany. - Mercedes cars are made in Germany.

Mercedes Benz make their cars in Germany.- Mercedes Benz manufactures its cars in Germany.

A completely similar situation, when naming a character, does not make any sense.

If you like to learn English in a fun and effective way, then register with Lingualeo - there is a lot of interesting and free material (simulators, dictionaries, lessons). By the way, there you can take paid specialized courses for different needs. For example, the course « Irregular Verbs» will help you quickly and spontaneously memorize the forms of basic and frequently used irregular verbs in English and learn about some of the features of their use.

• When the action itself is more important than the one who performs it.

Two families were seriously injured in a car accident last night.-Last night, two families were seriously injured in a car accident.

Besides, the passive voice is very often used in formal English, but the real voice is in both variants.

If you want to learn more about the grammatical aspects of the English language in theory and practice, go to mine - there you will find the basic rules and a practical part for each of them.

On this, my dear, we will end our lesson. You can find more information in the video tutorial. But still remember that the best tactic for memorizing new topics is lots and lots of practice. Therefore, we have ahead of us, as well as even more materials and usefulness.

See you soon my loves ;)

Passive voice (Passive Voice) is used in the event that the subject does not perform the action, but is affected by the predicate directed at it. From the context it is clear by whom the action is performed, or it is not essential. The emphasis is on the result of the action.

To form a verb in the form passive voice need to learn some rules. First, you need to pay attention to the rule of formation of verbs in the correct form of participle II (participle II). must be learned by heart. To form a verb in the form of a passive voice, the necessary form of the verb “to be” (time, person, number) and the past participle (Participle II) of the main meaningful verb are required. Below are the verbs "to ask / to take" in the form passive voice tables of English language:

Table 8 passive forms of the English verb

Now we understand How is the passive voice formed? in English sentences. How is it properly used? AT active pledge the offer looks like this: “Mary often asks questions. “Mary often asks questions.” .

The same sentence in the passive voice looks different: Mary is often asked questions. Mary is often asked questions.
In this case, it is possible and even recommended to use the passive voice, since it is absolutely not important who performed the action.
To form an interrogative sentence, the subject must be preceded by:

Was your bag stolen? Has your bag been stolen?
The negative form of the passive voice is formed using the particle "not", which must be placed after the first auxiliary verb:

Tom has not been seen anywhere. Tom was nowhere to be seen.

How to translate the passive voice of English correctly?

There is a rule that is used not only in English, but also in Russian: a noun that is an object in a sentence with an active voice, in a sentence passive or passive voice becomes the subject, and vice versa. If there is an indication of the person doing the action in the passive sentence, in English this object/subject must be preceded by "by". It will be translated into Russian in the instrumental case form.

How to translate the passive voice (examples):

- Using short form participles of the passive voice - This house was built many years ago. This house was built many years ago.
- Using a verb ending in "s" or "sya" - The dinner is being cooked - Lunch is being prepared.
- If there is no one who performs the action in the sentence, you can use an indefinite personal sentence - She was given an interesting magazine. She was given an interesting magazine.

Despite the difficulty of learning the passive voice in English, to learn theme "Passive Voice" it is necessary, because both in oral speech and in writing it is used very often.

💡 Are you sure you understand the topic? Pass. 💡

In this lesson we will analyze a very difficult grammatical topic - Active and Passive Voice in English. Simply put, the pledge is an indicator of whether the subject performs an action or the action is performed on it.

There are two forms of voice in English: the active voice (the Active Voice) and the passive voice (the Passive Voice).

In the active voice, the verb denotes an action that is performed by the subject:

• I read twenty pages yesterday.
• Yesterday I read twenty pages.

In the passive voice, the verb denotes an action that is performed on the subject:

• Twenty pages were read by me yesterday.
• Yesterday I read twenty pages.

Compare the following examples:

• They usually sing such songs in class. (Active Voice)
• Usually they sing such songs in class.

• Such songs are usually sang by them in class. (Passive voice)
• Such songs are usually sung by them in the classroom.

• Has the manager checked up your report? (Active Voice)
• Did the manager check your report?

• Has your report been checked up by the manager? (Passive voice)
• Has your report been reviewed by a manager?

If you have reached the topic of pledges in English, then so far, you have already managed to learn tense forms of the verb in Active Voice. You already know that there are 12 main active voice tenses in English. Each tense is formed in its own way, with the help of endings and auxiliary verbs. What does the tense system look like in the passive voice?

The passive voice also has a system of tenses. But unlike the active voice, there are only 8 tense forms in it. All times of the Perfect Continuous group, as well as the time of Future Continuous in Passive Voice are not used.

To form the passive voice tenses, we need the auxiliary verb to be, which must have the corresponding form of the active voice, and the past participle of the semantic verb. You already know that the past participle is formed with endings -ed for regular verbs, or use the III form of irregular verbs from the table, which you need to know by heart.

The passive voice formation scheme for all tenses is as follows: How are temporary forms of the passive voice formed?

Below are examples of conjugation tables for the verbs to promote and to choose in the passive voice (affirmative form).

Simple Tenses in the Passive Voice −
Simple tenses in the passive voice

Continuous Tenses in the Passive Voice
Continuous tenses in the passive voice

Perfect Tenses in the Passive Voice
Perfect tenses in the passive voice

What verbs form Passive Voice forms?

All verbs in English have Active Voice forms. Passive Voice forms can form not all verbs, mostly only transitive verbs (Transitive Verbs).

Transitive verbs express an action directed at some object and take a direct, indirect or prepositional object.

Examples of transitive verbs in active and passive voices:

• Active: The pioneers have done much useful work on the collective farm.
• Passive: Much useful work has been done by the pioneers on the collective farm.

• Active: Jane's friends gave her many gifts for her birthday.
• Passive: Jane was given many gifts for her birthday.

• Active: We shall build Communism in this country within the next twenty years.
• Passive: Communism will be built in this country within the next twenty years.

• Active: Everybody listened to the lecturer with great attention.
• Passive: The lecturer was listened to with great attention.

Intransitive verbs express an action that characterizes the subject, but is not directed at any object. Intransitive verbs do not take objects. As a rule, they do not have forms of passive voice or have them only in some cases.

Examples with intransitive verbs:

• We live in Russian Federation.
• I am a teacher.

In English, there are verbs that, depending on the meaning, can be either transitive or intransitive. For example, the verb to grow in the meaning of "grow" is intransitive and does not form a passive form. In the meaning of "grow" it is transitive and forms forms of the passive voice. Compare:

• Barley grows very fast - Barley grows very fast (intransitive, Active Voice)
• We grow many beautiful flowers in our small garden - We grow many beautiful flowers in our small garden (transitional value, Active Voice)
• Many beautiful flowers are grown in our garden - Many beautiful flowers are grown in our garden (transitional value, Passive Voice)

Verb constructions in Passive Voice

If a verb in Active Voice takes direct and indirect objects, then any of these objects can act as the subject in a sentence with a verb in Passive Voice.

Compare the following sentences:

1. My parents told me many interesting facts about our family's past. (verb to tell in Active Voice; indirect object - me, direct object - facts)
2. I was told many interesting facts about our family's past by my parents. (verb to tell in Passive Voice; subject in sentence 2 corresponds to indirect object in sentence 1 (I − me)
3. Many interesting facts about our family's past were told to me by my parents. (verb to tell in Passive Voice; subject in sentence 3 corresponds to direct object in sentence 1 (facts - facts)

Type 2 sentences in Passive Voice use the following verbs: to allow - to allow, to ask - to ask, to award - to assign, to forbid - to forbid, to forgive - to forgive, to give - to give, to offer - to offer, to pay - to pay, to present - to give, to show - to show, to teach - to teach, to tell - to speak.

• My big brother was given many gifts for his birthday - My older brother was given a lot of gifts for his birthday
• They were asked some questions at the enter-exams - They were asked a couple of questions at the entrance exams
• We will be taught Spanish next year - We will be taught Spanish next year
• I was shown the way by a small girl - A little girl showed me the way

In Russian, sentences of type 2 are not used in Passive Voice. Instead, indefinitely personal sentences or personal sentences with a verb in Active Voice are used. Compare:

• We were told many interesting stories - We were told a lot interesting stories(indefinite personal sentence)
• We were told many stories by our teacher − Our teacher told us many stories (personal sentence with verb in Active Voice)

If a verb in Active Voice takes a prepositional object, then the prepositional object can act as a subject in a sentence with a verb in Passive Voice (and the preposition is placed after the verb). Compare:

• People speak much about that film - People talk a lot about that film (Active Voice)
• That film is much spoken about - There is a lot of talk about that film (Passive Voice)
• Olga liked to wear very short dresses, and she was often made fun of by her classmates - Olga liked to wear very short dresses, which is why classmates often laughed at her

In Russian, sentences of this type are not found. Instead, indefinitely personal sentences or personal sentences with a verb in Active Voice are used:

• He is waited for − They are waiting for him
• He is waited for by his friends − Friends are waiting for him

Using Passive Voice Forms

Passive Voice predicate sentences are used in English when the main interest is the object undergoing the action (action object) rather than the action performer (action subject), as in Active Voice verb sentences.

In sentences with Passive Voice, the object of the action is the subject, and the subject of the action is either expressed by a prepositional object with the prepositions by/with, or not mentioned at all.

Examples of sentences with a verb in Passive Voice, in which the subject of the action is not mentioned:

• Tennis is played all over the world − Tennis is played all over the world
• The wounded were flown to hospital - The wounded were sent by plane to the hospital
• I am told you're a bad player - I was told that you are a bad player
• Valentine's Day is celebrated on February 14 - Valentine's Day is celebrated on February 14
• A new building is being built in my street - A new building is being built on my street

As you have probably already noticed, sentences of this type are translated into Russian as indefinitely personal sentences, or less often, sentences with a verb in the passive voice.

Examples of sentences with a verb in Passive Voice, in which the subject of the action is expressed by a prepositional object with the prepositions by / with:

• Many flowers were planted by our children last spring - Our children grew many flowers last spring
• The sky wasn't covered with dark clouds - The sky was not covered with dark clouds
• The radio was invented by Popov In 1895 - Popov invented the radio in 1895

Tenses in the passive voice have the same meanings as the corresponding tenses in the active voice. The passive voice in English is used much more often than in Russian, where the same meaning is conveyed by indefinitely personal, impersonal or personal sentences with a verb in the active voice.

No matter how difficult the topic “Active and Passive Voice in English” seems to you, you simply have to learn it, because. the passive voice is very often used in both spoken and written English.

Watch the following video lessons on the topic: "Active and Passive Voice in English" (9 Votes: 4,11 out of 5)

The passive voice in English or Passive Voice serves to emphasize that the subject does not perform any action. Wait, you say, but what about the predicate, which is always in English sentences? The secret is that the action it expresses is directed to the subject by some other performer. We don't really care if it's listed or not.

Do not be afraid of this linguistic phenomenon - it is very logical and even - let's not be afraid of this word - simple. Passive Voice in English is formed using a verb to be, which must be agreed with the subject in number, person and tense, and the third form of the semantic verb ( V3).

You are very lucky: unlike the active - Active Voice, the passive voice boasts only ten tenses:

• Present Simple: am/is/are + V3The flowers are watered twice a week— Flowers are watered twice a week.
• Present continuous: am/is/are + being + V3The student is being listened to attentively at the moment The student is being listened to attentively at the moment.
• Present Perfect: have/has + been + V3The pictures have been painted this week The pictures were drawn this week.
• past simple: was/were + V3The village was built in 1658 The village was built in 1658.
• Past Continuous: was/were + being + V3
  Children were being played with at 10 in the morning yesterday— Yesterday at 10 in the morning we played with the children.
• Past perfect: had + been + V3The road had been destroyed before the troops entered the city— The road was destroyed before the troops entered the city.
• Future Simple: shall/will + be + V3A new movie theater will be built here in a year A new cinema will be built here in a year.
• Future Perfect: shall/will + have + been + V3All the work in the garden will have been finished by 3 p.m. All work in the garden will be finished by three o'clock.
• Future-in-the-Past Simple: should/would + be + V3He said that a new servant would be brought to the house the following week He said that a new servant would be brought into the house next week.
• Future-in-the-Past Perfect: should/would + have + been + V3We were informed that the contest would have been interrupted by 3 o'clock— We were informed that the competition would be interrupted by three o'clock.

The passive voice in English has wide scope of use: in addition to colloquial constructions, Passive can often be found in scientific literature, instructions, textbooks, etc. Keep in mind that:

1. To form an interrogative sentence, you will need to move the auxiliary verb to a position before the subject:
   

   Will the cake be eaten at once or in a few days? Will the cake be eaten immediately or in a few days?

2. For the negative form, it is enough to put the particle not after the auxiliary verb:
   

   The hospital was not reconstructed after the Great Patriotic War— After the Great Patriotic War The hospital has not been rebuilt.

The passive voice arsenal will also allow you to build sentences with modal verbs and even in imperative mood ! However, be careful. Don't get confused by word order:

Go away from the firing range, you can be killed - Leave the range, you can be killed.
Drop back or be captured! “Retreat or be taken prisoner!”

What to do if it is necessary to mention the performer of the action in the proposal? Here are suggestions to help you:

1. by- for an animated figure:
   

   The letter was written by my mother The letter was written by my mother.

2. with- for the instrument with which the action is performed:
   

   The tea will be stirred with a spoon

   — The tea is stirred with a spoon.

And finally, let's discuss the difficult points that will have to be memorized and practiced in writing and in speech:

• In English, many verbs require a specific excuse and with them form Prepositional Passive, and this preposition does not disappear anywhere:
  

  She is spoken of as a woman of great talents- She is spoken of as a woman of great talents.
  The surgeon has been just sent for “The surgeon has just been sent for.

• Verbs to sell- sell, to wash- wash, to peel- peel off the skin to crease- wrinkle to wear- wear, to bake- bake, to burn- burn is used in an active form, although they will be translated into their native language in a passive form:
  

  The blouse washes and wears well— The blouse is well washed and worn.
  The fairy tales of this author sell well— Fairy tales by this author sell well

• Remember a group of verbs that are not used in Passive Voice: to seem- seem to lack- lack to become- become to fit- suit, to suit- to arrange to resemble- remind:
  

  Mary resembles her grandmother Jane Mary looks like her grandmother Jane.
  They seem to read a lot of science fiction They seem to read a lot of science fiction.

Summarize. The passive voice in English is fraught with many traps that are easy to fall into. First of all, you need to realize that the subject does not perform any action, but is subject to it. Then you need to choose the appropriate tense form and take care of the prepositions. Finally, check the exclusion lists, just in case. Good luck!

Our speech in Russian is quite diverse. We use different designs: simple and complex, active and passive. And we don't even think about it. If you want to raise your English speech to the same "intuitive level", then you should definitely use our Passive Voice table.

When you started studying tenses, you probably came across such a grammatical phenomenon as active and passive voice. Let's remember what their difference is. Most time spans can be used in two ways. If the subject in the sentence itself performs the action (I am walking, he is drawing, we have bought, they will fly), then we need an active form. If something is done to the subject, it is exposed (trees are planted, water is poured, I was invited, they will lead us), then we use a passive construction. That's the last one we'll talk about.

Education

Each tense uses different auxiliary verbs and predicate forms. The Passive Voice table will tell us about this.

Note that the Perfect Continuous is not used at all in the passive voice. BUT continuous time has no future segment. The interrogative and negative forms are identical at all times.

? — Reminder. verb + verb + predicate

- Subject + auxiliary. verb + not + predicate

Were you invited to the party yesterday? Were you invited to the party yesterday?

I wasn't invited to the party yesterday. I was not invited to the party yesterday.

Are the flowers being planted now? Are flowers being planted now?

The trees are not being planted now. Trees are not being planted now.

Comparing Active and Passive

The use of different tenses is fully consistent with their counterparts in the active voice. That is why it is recommended to study all the elements of this group, and then look in detail at. Let's look at a few examples to make it easier for you to understand everything and remember at the right time.

As you can see, there is nothing complicated in this element of the language. First of all, determine the role of the subject: it acts on or on him. Then determine the time (you can use hint words). If you need to use a passive construction, then our passive voice table is at your service. Choose the time, the auxiliary verb, the ending of the predicate, and you're done. It is better to consolidate all this in exercises that can be performed online on our website.