ACTIVE VOICE – PASSIVE VOICE
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. MODELO DE VERBO EN VOZ PASIVA TO BE SEEN = SER VISTO PRESENTE I am seen, soy visto you are seen, eres visto he is seen, es visto we are seen, somos vistos you are seen, sois vistos they are seen, son vistos
PASADO I was seen, fui visto you were seen, fuiste visto he was seen, fue visto we were seen, fuimos vistos you were seen, fuisteis vistos they were seen, fueron vistos
PRETERITO PERFECTO I have been seen, he sido visto you have been seen, has sido visto he has been seen, ha sido visto we have been seen, hemos sido vistos you have been seen, habéis sido vistos they have been seen, han sido vistos
FUTURO I shall be seen, seré visto you will be seen, serás visto he will be seen, será visto we shall be seen, seremos vistos you will be seen, seréis vistos they will be seen, serán vistos
PRETERITO PLUSCUAMPERFECTO: I had been seen, había sido visto CONDICIONAL: I should be seen, sería visto
FUTURO PERFECTO: I shall have been seen, habré sido visto CONDICIONAL PERFECTO: I should have been seen, habría sido visto
VOZ ACTIVA Y PASIVA: REGLAS PRACTICAS EN 4 PASOS. 1. La voz pasiva se forma con el verbo to be conjugado más el participio del verbo principal. En inglés es mucho más frecuente que en español y, normalmente, aparece cuando no es importante quien realiza una acción sino el hecho en sí. Por eso, no siempre que veamos una pasiva, tenemos que traducirlo literalmente, puesto que en español suena más forzado. Sólo es posible el uso de la voz pasiva con verbos transitivos (verbos que llevan complemento directo). VOZ ACTIVA Tom writes a letter Tom is writing a letter Tom was writing a letter Tom wrote a letter Tom has written a letter Tom had written a letter Tom will write a letter Tom is going to write a letter Tom can write a letter Tom could write a letter Tom must write a letter Tom may write a letter Tom might write a letter
VOZ PASIVA A letter is written by Tom A letter is being written by Tom A letter was being written by Tom A letter was written by Tom A letter has been written by Tom A letter had been written by Tom A letter will be written by Tom A letter is going to be written by Tom A letter can be written by Tom A letter could be written by Tom A letter must be written by Tom A letter may be written... A letter might be written...
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: ACTIVE: Everybody thinks Cathy works very hard. PASSIVE 1: Cathy is thought to work very hard. (Se piensa que Cathy...) PASSIVE 2: It is thought that Cathy works very hard. (Se piensa que Cathy...) ACTIVE: They believe Tom is wearing a white pullover. PASSIVE 1: Tom is believed to be wearing a white pullover. (Se cree que...) PASSIVE 2: It is believed that Tom is wearing a white pullover. (Se cree que...) 4. USOS ADICIONALES DE SUPPOSE a) Se usa en afirmativo para acciones que estaban planeadas, que se supone que van a realizar, u obligaciones que uno deber铆a cumplir. You were supposed to be here at 9:00 am!! b) Otras veces, el uso de supposed indica que estos planes o obligaciones finalmente no se cumplieron: The train was supposed to arrive at 5 o'clock. (but it arrived at 8 o'clock) You were supposed to go to the supermarket. (but you didn't go) c) Por el contrario, en negativo, supposed significa la no conveniencia o prohibici贸n de hacer algo: You are not supposed to smoke here. (you are not allowed to smoke here) You are not supposed to copy our web files. (you must not copy our web files) Passive Voice: 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 The structure of the passive voice is very simple: subject + auxiliary verb (be) + main verb (past participle) The main verb is always in its past participle form. Look at these examples:
subject
auxiliary verb (to be)
main verb (past participle)
Water
is
drunk
by everyone.
100 people
are
employed
by this company.
I
am
paid
in euro.
We
are
Are
they
not paid
in dollars.
paid
in yen?
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 subject
verb
object
give importance to active object (President Kennedy)
President Kennedy
was killed
by Lee Harvey Oswald.
active subject unknown
My wallet
has been stolen.
?
Note that we always use by to introduce the passive object (Fish are eaten by cats). Look at this sentence:
He was killed with a gun.
Normally we use by to introduce the passive object. But the gun is not the active subject. The gun did not kill him. He was killed by somebody with a gun. In the active voice, it would be: Somebody killed him with a gun. The gun is the instrument. Somebody is the "agent" or "doer". 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: infinitive
to be washed present
It is washed.
past
It was washed.
future
It will be washed.
conditional
It would be washed.
present
It is being washed.
past
It was being washed.
future
It will be being washed.
conditional
It would be being washed.
present
It has been washed.
past
It had been washed.
future
It will have been washed.
conditional
It would have been washed.
present
It has been being washed.
past
It had been being washed.
future
It will have been being washed.
conditional
It would have been being washed.
simple
continuous
perfect simple
perfect continuous
To change a sentence from active to passive voice, do the following:
1. Move the active sentence's direct object into the sentence's subject slot
2. Place the active sentence's subject into a phrase beginning with the preposition by
3. Add a form of the auxiliary verb be to the main verb and change the main verb's form
Because passive voice sentences necessarily add words and change the normal doer-action-receiver of action direction, they may make the reader work harder to understand the intended meaning.