The passive voice reverses the usual order of an English sentence. Instead of the subject doing the action, the subject receives it. Learners often treat the passive as something to avoid, but it is everywhere in news reports, science writing and polite conversation, and using it well is part of sounding fluent.
Active vs passive
In an active sentence the subject does the action. In a passive sentence the subject receives it.
- Active: The chef cooked the meal. (The chef is the doer.)
- Passive: The meal was cooked by the chef. (The meal receives the action.)
The two sentences describe the same event. What changes is the focus: the active sentence is about the chef, the passive sentence is about the meal.
How to form the passive
Three things happen when you turn an active sentence into a passive one:
- The object of the active sentence becomes the subject.
- The verb changes to be + past participle.
- The original subject becomes an optional by + agent.
| Subject | Verb | Object | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Active | The chef | cooked | the meal |
| Passive | The meal | was cooked | (by the chef) |
The by-phrase is optional, and most of the time you leave it out. The meal was cooked is a complete, natural sentence. You add by the chef only when the doer is worth mentioning.
The tense of the original verb is carried by be, not by the participle. The participle never changes. To build any passive, ask two questions: what tense do I need, and what is the past participle of the main verb.
When to use the passive
The passive is not just a stylistic choice; it does jobs the active cannot.
- The doer is unknown. My bike was stolen. (I do not know who took it.)
- The doer is obvious. The thief was arrested. (Clearly by the police.)
- The doer is unimportant. English is spoken here. (Who speaks it does not matter.)
- To keep focus on the action or result. The bridge was built in 1890. (The bridge is the topic, not the builders.)
- In formal, scientific and news writing. The samples were heated to 200 degrees. (Standard in lab reports, where the method matters more than the person.)
- To be tactful or avoid blame. Mistakes were made. (Nobody has to say who made them.)
When not to use it: if the doer is the interesting part of the sentence, the active is clearer and stronger. Shakespeare wrote Hamlet beats Hamlet was written by Shakespeare when Shakespeare is the point. Do not reach for the passive out of habit.
The passive across the tenses
This is the table to memorise. The main verb stays in its past participle; only be moves through the tenses. The examples all use the verb do (past participle done).
| Tense | Active | Passive |
|---|---|---|
| Present simple | does | is done |
| Present continuous | is doing | is being done |
| Past simple | did | was done |
| Past continuous | was doing | was being done |
| Present perfect | has done | has been done |
| Past perfect | had done | had been done |
| Future (will) | will do | will be done |
| Modal (can, must, etc.) | can do | can be done |
In a full sentence:
| Tense | Passive example |
|---|---|
| Present simple | The office is cleaned every day. |
| Present continuous | The office is being cleaned right now. |
| Past simple | The office was cleaned yesterday. |
| Past continuous | The office was being cleaned when I arrived. |
| Present perfect | The office has been cleaned already. |
| Past perfect | The office had been cleaned before we got there. |
| Future | The office will be cleaned tomorrow. |
| Modal | The office must be cleaned tonight. |
Notice the pattern: every passive contains a form of be followed by cleaned. Once you can spot that shape, you can read any passive sentence.
The get-passive
In informal English, get often replaces be in the passive, especially when something happens to someone, often something bad or sudden.
- He got fired. (more casual than he was fired)
- My phone got stolen.
- They got married last year.
The get-passive is fine in speech and informal writing, but stick to the be-passive in formal or academic work.
Negatives and questions
The passive forms its negatives and questions the same way the active does, by working with the auxiliary verb (the form of be or the modal).
- Negative: add not after the first auxiliary. The letter was not sent. The work has not been finished.
- Question: put the first auxiliary before the subject. Was the letter sent? Has the work been finished? Can it be done by Monday?
The passive with two objects
Some verbs take two objects: a person and a thing (give, send, offer, tell, show, pay). They gave me a prize has both me and a prize. Either object can become the subject of the passive, so you get two versions.
| Active | Passive (person first) | Passive (thing first) |
|---|---|---|
| They gave me a prize. | I was given a prize. | A prize was given to me. |
The person-first version (I was given a prize) is the more common in everyday English. Note the to that appears in the thing-first version.
By vs with
The by-phrase names the doer. Use with instead when you name the tool or material used.
- The window was broken by a boy. (the doer)
- The window was broken with a hammer. (the instrument)
Reporting with the passive
Formal English, especially news and academic writing, uses a passive structure to report what people say or believe without naming the source. It keeps the statement neutral.
- It is said that he is very rich.
- He is said to be very rich.
- The suspect is believed to have left the country.
Both patterns work with verbs like say, believe, think, know, report and expect. They are a tidy way to pass on information you cannot fully vouch for.
Only transitive verbs can be passive
A verb can only be made passive if it has an object, because the object is what becomes the new subject. These are transitive verbs (cook, build, steal, write).
Intransitive verbs, which have no object, cannot be passive. Verbs like happen, arrive, sleep, fall and die describe something the subject does on its own, so there is no object to promote.
- Right: An accident happened.
- Wrong: I was happened.
If you cannot answer "what?" after the verb, the verb is intransitive and has no passive.
Common mistakes
Ranked by how often they actually appear:
- Forgetting be. The passive needs a form of be (or get). The work done yesterday is not a sentence; it has to be The work was done yesterday. This is the single most common passive error.
- Wrong past participle. The letter was wrote and the song was sang use the past simple instead of the participle. It is was written and was sung. Irregular verbs cause most of these.
- Making intransitive verbs passive. I was happened, she was arrived, it was occurred. These verbs have no object, so they cannot be passive. Say it happened, she arrived, it occurred.
- Overusing the passive where the active is clearer. The ball was kicked by me is grammatically correct but weak. I kicked the ball is shorter and stronger. Use the passive for a reason, not by default.
Practice
Rewrite each active sentence in the passive, or fill the gap. Answers are below.
- Somebody stole my car. (Rewrite in the passive, doer unknown.)
- They are building a new school. (Rewrite in the present continuous passive.)
- English
___(speak) all over the world. (present simple passive) - The report
___(finish) by Friday. (future passive with will) - The dog bit the postman. (Rewrite in the past simple passive, keep the by-phrase.)
Answers: 1. My car was stolen. 2. A new school is being built. 3. is spoken 4. will be finished 5. The postman was bitten by the dog.