THE PASSIVE VOICE

a) Forma
La voz pasiva se forma con el verbo to be en el mismo tiempo verbal que
el tiempo activo + el participio del verbo.
 They produce a lot of wine in Spain
 A lot of wine is produced in Spain.
El complemento de la oración activa se convierte en el sujeto de la
pasiva
• Recuerda:
En inglés se puede usar tanto el complemento directo como el indirecto
como sujeto de la oración pasiva, aunque es preferible el complemento
indirecto
Cuando un verbo tiene los dos complementos (directo e indirecto) se
pueden hacer dos oraciones pasivas.
 She gave Bill a boiled egg
 Bill was given a boiled egg
 A boiled egg was given to Bill

 She promised him some toast and marmalade

 He was promised some toast and marmalade
 Some toast and marmalade were promised to him

TENSE ACTIVE PASSIVE EXAMPLES

A lot of bananas are grown
Present Simple Grow/grows Is grown/are grown
here
Is/are being
Present continuous Is/are painting My school is being painted
painted
A lot of questions were
Past simple Asked Was/were asked
asked
Has/have Has/have been
Present perfect The car has been repaired
repaired repaired
Was/were Was/were being
Past continuous We were being insulted
insulting insulted
Past perfect Had cut Had been cut The tree had been cut

Future Will build Will be built New houses will be built

Will have Will have been New oak plantations will
Perfect future
produced produced have been produced
Is/are going to Is going to be He is going to be invited to
Be going to
invite invited her party
A new contract would be
Conditional Would sign Would be signed
signed
Infinitive lock Be locked That door should be locked
That disco might have been
Perfect infinitive Have closed Have been closed
closed
Present participle He remembers being
treating Being treated
(gerund) treated like this when he
Those window panes may
Modal (present) May break May be broken
be broken
Might have Might have been The sculpture might have
Modal (past)
broken broken been broken

Uso
El uso de la pasiva es mucho más común en inglés que en español,
especialmente en reportajes, noticias, letreros, carteles, anuncios,
descripciones científicas o técnicas ( se está más interesado en las cosas
que suceden que en quien lo hace)
Se utiliza la voz pasiva:
• Cuando la acción es más importante que la persona / cosa que la
realiza
 The programme was inmediately stopped (No es necesario decir
quien lo paró)
 The Government has been informed of the arrest
• Cuando no se sabe quien o qué cosa realizó la acción.
 The window was broken
• Cuando el agente es claramente irrelevante
 A new motorway will be opened next week
• Una oración pasiva es normalmente más formal que una activa
 We’ll choose a new secretary soon (informal comment)
 A new secretary will be chosen soon (formal statement)

El sujeto del verbo activo es el agente, introducido por by, en la voz

pasiva. Se puede omitir el agente:
- Cuando está claro quién es
The fire was put out quickly (by the firemen)
- Cuando no es importante o se desconoce
The televisión has been repaired at last
Their car was stolen last night
- El agente aparece cuando tiene importancia
The pearl story was written by Alfonso

b) Otros usos de la voz pasiva

La voz pasiva se usa:
• Con verbos modales seguidos de un infinitivo pasivo.
 Active: You must finish the job today
 Passive: That job must be finished today

 Active: He shouldn’t have insulted Mrs. Hind

 Passive: Mrs Hind shouldn’t have been insulted
• Con los verbos: believe, consider, expect, fear, feel, find, intend,
know, report, say, think, understand seguidos de infinitivo con to.
 Active: People say Bill is difficult
 Passive: Bill is said to be difficult (it is said that Bill is difficult)
 Active: They considered he was a good worker
 Passive: He was considered to be a good worker
 Active: They think his parents died when he was 14
  Passive: His parents are thought to have died when he was 14
• Con los verbos: agree, announce, believe, decide, expect, fear, fell,
find, hope, Intend, know, mention, regret, report, say, suggest, think,
understand, en construcciones it + passive verb + a “that” clause
(para indicar lo que la gente en general dice, piensa, siente…)
 It is often said (that) this is one of society’s biggest problems
 (This is often said to be one of society’s biggest problems)
 It is thought that this chest belonged to Napoleon
 (This chest is thought to have belonged to Napoleon
 It was reported that more than 200 old people died of cold last
year
 (More than 200 old people were reported to have died)
• Have / get something done
Usamos esta expresión cuando no hacemos el trabajo nosotros
mismos, empleamos a alguien para que lo haga.
 They had their flat painted (someone painted their flat for
them)
 Se puede usar get en vez de have . Get es más informal.
 They got / had the windows repaired