Passive Voice

[Fırat]

The passive voice is less usual than the active voice. The active voice is the "normal" voice. But sometimes we need the passive voice. In this lesson we look at how to construct the passive voice, when to use it and how to conjugate it.

Construction of the Passive Voice

subject + auxiliary verb (be) + main verb (past participle)

The main verb is always in its past participle form.

Use of the Passive Voice

We use the passive when:

* we want to make the active object more important
* we do not know the active subject

Note that we always use by to introduce the passive object (Fish are eaten by cats).

Conjugation for the Passive Voice

We can form the passive in any tense. In fact, conjugation of verbs in the passive tense is rather easy, as the main verb is always in past participle form and the auxiliary verb is always be. To form the required tense, we conjugate the auxiliary verb. So,

For example:

* present simple: It is made
* present continuous: It is being made
* present perfect: It has been made

Here are some examples with most of the possible tenses:

# Active Voice, Passive Voice