Last reviewed 30 Sept 2026 · 8 min read
Voice — active and passive
Voice shows whether the subject does the action or receives it.
- Active voice: the subject is the doer — The engineer designed the bridge.
- Passive voice: the subject receives the action — The bridge was designed by the engineer.
Only transitive verbs (verbs that take an object) can be changed into the passive. Intransitive verbs (arrive, go, sleep, fall) have no passive.
Why use the passive?
- The doer is unknown, unimportant or obvious: The office was broken into last night. English is spoken all over the world.
- To keep the focus on the receiver of the action: The road has been repaired.
- In formal, scientific and technical writing: The sample was heated to 100 °C.
The basic transformation
| Step | Active | Passive |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Subject (doer) | becomes the agent after by (or is omitted) |
| 2 | Object | becomes the subject |
| 3 | Verb | be (in the tense of the active verb) + past participle (V3) |
The workers built the wall. → The wall was built by the workers.
Pronoun forms change: subject pronouns in the active become object pronouns after by; object pronouns become subject pronouns. She helped me. → I was helped by her. He invited them. → They were invited by him.
Passive in the twelve tenses
| Tense | Active | Passive (be-form + V3) |
|---|---|---|
| Simple present | He writes a letter. | A letter is written by him. |
| Present continuous | He is writing a letter. | A letter is being written by him. |
| Present perfect | He has written a letter. | A letter has been written by him. |
| Present perfect continuous | He has been writing a letter. | (rarely used; often has been being written is avoided) |
| Simple past | He wrote a letter. | A letter was written by him. |
| Past continuous | He was writing a letter. | A letter was being written by him. |
| Past perfect | He had written a letter. | A letter had been written by him. |
| Past perfect continuous | He had been writing a letter. | (not used) |
| Simple future | He will write a letter. | A letter will be written by him. |
| Future continuous | He will be writing a letter. | (not used) |
| Future perfect | He will have written a letter. | A letter will have been written by him. |
| Future perfect continuous | He will have been writing ... | (not used) |
RememberThe pattern to remember
Passive = be in the same tense as the active verb + V3.
- is/am/are + V3, was/were + V3, has/have/had been + V3, will be + V3, is/are/was/were being + V3 (continuous).
- Perfect continuous and future continuous tenses have no natural passive.
Passive with modals and other structures
| Structure | Active | Passive |
|---|---|---|
| Modal + V1 | You must finish the work. | The work must be finished (by you). |
| Modal perfect | He should have done it. | It should have been done. |
| Infinitive | I want him to help me. | I want to be helped by him. |
| Gerund | He hates people laughing at him. | He hates being laughed at. |
| Have to / ought to / used to | We have to obey rules. | Rules have to be obeyed. |
| Going to | They are going to build a dam. | A dam is going to be built. |