Active Passive: They Made This Car in 1963. This Car Was Made in 1963
Active Passive: They Made This Car in 1963. This Car Was Made in 1963
Active Passive: They Made This Car in 1963. This Car Was Made in 1963
They made this car in 1963. (active) This car was made in 1963. (passive)
(sujeto)
Argentinians speak Spanish ACTIVA
(objeto)
CARACTERISTICAS
1. Se dice que una oración está en VOZ ACTIVA cuando la significación del verbo es
producida por la persona gramatical a quien aquél se refiere:
Pedro de Mendoza founded Buenos Aires.
(Pedro de Mendoza fundó Buenos Aires).
2. Se dice que una oración está en VOZ PASIVA cuando la significación del verbo es
recibida por la persona gramatical a quien aquél se refiere:
Buenos Aires was founded by Pedro de Mendoza.
(Buenos Aires fue fundada por Pedro de Mendoza).
3. Se forma con el auxiliar del verbo to be y el participio pasado del verbo que se
conjuga.
4. El complemento de la oración activa pasa a sujeto de la pasiva. Como en castellano,
el sujeto de la activa se puede conservar como sujeto agente.
5. Cuando un verbo tiene dos complementos se pueden hacer dos estructuras de
pasiva:
a) A book was sent to Tom by Mr. Smith, Un libro fue enviado a Tom por Mr. Smith.
b) Tom was sent a book by Mr. Smith (pasiva idiomática). Esta estructura no es
posible en castellano.
PRESENTE PASADO
I am seen, soy visto I was seen, fui visto
you are seen, eres visto you were seen, fuiste visto
he is seen, es visto he was seen, fue visto
we are seen, somos vistos we were seen, fuimos vistos
you are seen, sois vistos you were seen, fuisteis vistos
they are seen, son vistos they were seen, fueron vistos
2. El sujeto agente se expresa con by. Sin embargo, en la mayoría de las ocasiones
se prescinde del sujeto ya que no nos interesa saber quién exactamente ejecuta la
acción. Si una oración activa tiene complemento directo e indirecto, cualquiera de
los dos complementos puede ser sujeto paciente de la pasiva:
ACTIVE: Someone gives me a dog
PASSIVE 1: A dog is given to me
PASSIVE 2: I am given a dog (forma pasiva idiomática)
La forma pasiva de doing, seeing, etc es being done, being seen, etc.
ACTIVE: I don't like people telling me what to do
PASSIVE: I don't like being told what to do
En ocasiones en las que ocurre algo a veces imprevisto, no planeado o fortuito para la
formación de la voz pasiva se prefiere usar get y no be:
get hurt, get annoyed, get divorced, get married, get invited, get bored, get lost
3. Las construcciones impersonales (se dice, se comenta, etc.) son muy típicas de la
pasiva y difíciles de traducir para los hispanoparlantes. Este tipo de construcción
pasiva -utilizada cada vez con mayor frecuencia en los medios- se forma con la
estructura sujeto + to be + participle: It is reported (Se informa); It is said (Se
dice); It is known (Se sabe); It is supposed (Se supone); It is considered (Se
considera); It is expected (Se espera). Veamos algunos ejemplos:
Take the quiz (below) as an exercise in recognizing and changing passive verbs.
The passive voice does exist for a reason, however, and its presence is
not always to be despised. The passive is particularly useful (even
recommended) in two situations:
The passive voice is especially helpful (and even regarded as mandatory) in scientific
or technical writing or lab reports, where the actor is not really important but the process or
principle being described is of ultimate importance. Instead of writing "I poured 20 cc of
acid into the beaker," we would write "Twenty cc of acid is/was poured into the beaker."
The passive voice is also useful when describing, say, a mechanical process in which the
details of process are much more important than anyone's taking responsibility for the
action: "The first coat of primer paint is applied immediately after the acid rinse."
We use the passive voice to good effect in a paragraph in which we wish to shift
emphasis from what was the object in a first sentence to what becomes the subject in
subsequent sentences.
The executive committee approved an entirely new policy for dealing with academic
suspension and withdrawal. The policy had been written by a subcommittee on student
behavior. If students withdraw from course work before suspension can take effect, the
policy states, a mark of "IW" . . . .
The paragraph is clearly about this new policy so it is appropriate that policy move from
being the object in the first sentence to being the subject of the second sentence. The
passive voice allows for this transition.†
Auxiliary Past
Tense Subject
Singular Plural Participle
Present The car/cars is are designed.
Present perfect The car/cars has been have been designed.
Past The car/cars was were designed.
Past perfect The car/cars had been had been designed.
Future The car/cars will be will be designed.
Future perfect The car/cars will have been will have been designed.
Present progressive The car/cars is being are being designed.
Past progressive The car/cars was being were being designed.
A sentence cast in the passive voice will not always include an agent of the action. For
instance if a gorilla crushes a tin can, we could say "The tin can was crushed by the
gorilla." But a perfectly good sentence would leave out the gorilla: "The tin can was
crushed." Also, when an active sentence with an indirect object is recast in the passive, the
indirect object can take on the role of subject in the passive sentence:
Only transitive verbs (those that take objects) can be transformed into passive
constructions. Furthermore, active sentences containing certain verbs cannot be
transformed into passive structures. To have is the most important of these verbs. We can
say "He has a new car," but we cannot say "A new car is had by him." We can say "Josefina
lacked finesse," but we cannot say "Finesse was lacked." Here is a brief list of such verbs*:
With passive participles, part of the passive construction is often omitted, the result being
a simple modifying participial phrase.
[Having been] designed for off-road performance, the Pathseeker does not
always behave well on paved highways.