How to make the passive
Passive = be + past participle (V3)
the object of the active verb becomes the subject · be takes the tense of the active verb
Only verbs that have an object (transitive verbs) can be passive.
- Active: The mechanics repair the trucks.
- Passive: The trucks are repaired by the mechanics.
Verbs with no object (happen, arrive, die, sleep, occur, exist) cannot be passive.
Common mistakes
- ✗Wrong: The bridge was build in 1990.✓Right: The bridge was built in 1990.
- ✗Wrong: The accident was happened at night.✓Right: The accident happened at night.
The passive in every tense
| Tense | Active | Passive |
|---|---|---|
| present simple | They clean the rooms. | The rooms are cleaned. |
| present progressive | They are cleaning the rooms. | The rooms are being cleaned. |
| present perfect | They have cleaned the rooms. | The rooms have been cleaned. |
| past simple | They cleaned the rooms. | The rooms were cleaned. |
| past progressive | They were cleaning the rooms. | The rooms were being cleaned. |
| past perfect | They had cleaned the rooms. | The rooms had been cleaned. |
| future simple | They will clean the rooms. | The rooms will be cleaned. |
| future perfect | They will have cleaned the rooms. | The rooms will have been cleaned. |
| be going to | They are going to clean the rooms. | The rooms are going to be cleaned. |
The perfect progressive tenses (have been cleaning) are almost never used in the passive.
Passive with modals, infinitives and -ing
| Form | Example |
|---|---|
| modal + be + V3 | The form must be signed by your commander. |
| modal + have been + V3 | The letter should have been sent yesterday. |
| to be + V3 | Nobody likes to be interrupted. |
| being + V3 | He hates being told what to do. |
By + agent, and verbs with two objects
Add by + the doer only when it is important or new information. Leave it out when the doer is obvious, unknown or not important.
- The base was attacked at night. (We don't know who attacked it.)
- "Hamlet" was written by Shakespeare. (The writer is important.)
Verbs such as give, send, show, offer, tell, teach have two objects, so they have two possible passives.
- Active: They gave the recruits new boots.
- Passive: The recruits were given new boots. (more common)
- Passive: New boots were given to the recruits.
It is said that… / He is believed to…
With verbs such as say, believe, think, know, report, expect and consider, formal English uses two passive patterns.
| Active | It + passive + that… | Subject + passive + to-infinitive |
|---|---|---|
| People say that he is rich. | It is said that he is rich. | He is said to be rich. |
| People believe that the enemy has left. | It is believed that the enemy has left. | The enemy is believed to have left. |
| They expect that the talks will fail. | It is expected that the talks will fail. | The talks are expected to fail. |
ECL tipUse to have + V3 when the action happened before the reporting: "He is thought to have escaped last night."
The get-passive, and "have something done"
In spoken English, get + V3 can replace be for things that happen to someone, often by accident: "He got injured during the exercise." · "Our car got stolen."
To say that someone does a service for you (I had my car repaired), see the lesson on the causative: have and get something done.
Quick check
Choose an answer: the explanation appears straight away.
1The new barracks ___ at the moment, so we are sleeping in tents.
2The documents ___ before the inspection starts.
3The prisoners are believed ___ during the night.
4The letter ___ yesterday, but it hasn't arrived yet.
5Which sentence is correct?
More practice: sample questions on this topic, with answers.
All 39 questions on this topic, in a new order each time.