Passive Voice

THE PASSIVE VOICE

Como en español, la voz pasiva se forma con el verbo 'to be' (ser) y el participio pasado.
They made this car in 1963. (active) This car was made in 1963. (passive)
El sujeto de un verbo en pasiva corresponde al objeto de un verbo en activa.

	Spanish	is spoken in Argentina	PASIVA
	(sujeto)
Argentinians speak	Spanish	ACTIVA
	(objeto)

Estudia la siguiente lista de las formas del verbo en pasiva.
(pp = participio pasado)
 

Verb Tense	Structure	Example
PRESENT SIMPLE	am/are/is + pp	Spanish is spoken here.
PRESENT CONTINUOUS	am/are/is being + pp	Your questions are being answered.
FUTURE (WILL)	will be + pp	It’ll be painted by next week.
FUTURE (GOING TO)	am/are/is going to be + pp	Terry is going to be made redundant next year.
PAST SIMPLE	was/were + pp	We were invited to the party, but we didn’t go.
PAST CONTINUOUS	was/were being + pp	The hotel room was being cleaned when we got back from shopping.
PRESENT PERFECT	have/has been + pp	The President of America has been shot.
PAST PERFECT	had been + pp	When he got home he found that all of his money had been stolen.
FUTURE PERFECT	will have been + pp	Our baby will have been born before Christmas.

En las formas del ‘future progressive’ (will be being + pp) y ‘perfect progressive’ (has been being + pp) no es muy común su uso.
Para decir quién hacía la acción o qué la causaba, usa 'by'.
This house was built by my mother. / Esta casa fue construida por mi madre.
Washington was bombed by Pakistan. / Washington fue bombardeado por Pakistán.
La voz pasiva se suele utilizar cuando se desconoce o no interesa mencionar quién o qué hace la acción.
Es más normal encontrar en español formas con ‘se’, por ejemplo: ‘se habla’, ‘se alquila’ o verbos en plural como ‘venden’, ‘compran’.
AQUÍ LA ORA CIÓN ESTA CON  EL AGENTE German is spoken here / Aquí se habla alemán
AQUÍ LA ORA CIÓN  NO ESTA CON  EL AGENTE When was this house built? / ¿Cuando se construyó ( fue construida) ésta casa? 
 sin agente A lot of songs have been written about love / Se han escrito muchas canciones sobre el amor

 Exercises change to passive voice

1. 1.       Tommy will know Machu Picchu ruins in Peru.
   2.      My boss sent me detailed instructions.
   3.      Sam's friend solved the problem.
   4.      The workers will complete the new road in the next year.
   5.      Paul is going to repair the car.
   6.      My brother forgot his wallet at the bank.
   7.      My sister will sent a letter to my mother.
   8.     The little girl is drawing her pet.
   9.      She dropped her bag in the train.
   10.  My brother takes his   medicine every day.
   11.   John and Fred will climb the Aconcagua Mountain.
   12.  My wife crashed the new car
   13.  I opened the windows.
   14.  I drink a glass of water
   15.   You did not send the parcel.
   16.  They did not catch the thieves.
   17.   Jane has taken some photographs.
   18.  The passengers are going to visit the museum.
   19.  The teacher made a big mistake.
   20.  Mary was preparing a lot of food