A Complete Guide to the Passive Voice in English

Do you find the passive voice confusing? Don’t worry—you’re not alone!

In English, we use passive forms to focus on the action rather than the doer.

In this guide, we’ll explore all the passive tenses step by step, with examples, rules, and practice ideas.

📌 What Is the Passive Voice?

• Active voice: The chef cooks the meal.

• Passive voice: The meal is cooked (by the chef).

👉 In passive sentences, the object of the active sentence becomes the subject.

The chef cooks the meal VS The meal is cooked by the chef.

📊 Active vs Passive Voice (All Tenses)

Tense	Active Example	Passive Example
Present Simple	The chef cooks the meal.	The meal is cooked (by the chef).
Past Simple	She wrote the letter.	The letter was written (by her).
Future Simple	They will finish the project.	The project will be finished (by them).
Present Continuous	He is painting the house.	The house is being painted (by him).
Past Continuous	They were repairing the car.	The car was being repaired (by them).
Present Perfect	Someone has cleaned the room.	The room has been cleaned.
Past Perfect	They had signed the documents.	The documents had been signed.
Future Perfect	They will have completed the work.	The work will have been completed.

📚 Passive Tenses with Examples

1. Present Simple Passive

• Form: am/is/are + past participle

• 🗣️Example: The cake is baked every morning.

🔗Present Simple Passive - 3 Ways to Use + Example Sentence

2. Past Simple Passive

• Form: was/were + past participle

• 🗣️Example: The letter was sent yesterday.

🔗Past Simple Passive - How to Use + Short Story

3. Future Simple Passive

• Form: will + be + past participle

• 🗣️Example: The project will be finished tomorrow.

🔗Future Simple Passive - How to Use + Short Story

4. Present Continuous Passive

• Form: am/is/are + being + past participle

• 🗣️Example: The house is being painted now.

🔗Present Continuous Passive - How to Use + Example

5. Past Continuous Passive

• Form: was/were + being + past participle

• 🗣️Example: The car was being repaired when I arrived.

🔗Past Continuous Passive - How to Use + Example

6. Present Perfect Passive

• Form: has/have + been + past participle

• 🗣️Example: The room has been cleaned.

🔗Present Perfect Passive - How to Use + Example Sentences

7. Past Perfect Passive

• Form: had + been + past participle

• 🗣️Example: The documents had been signed before the meeting.

🔗Past Perfect Passive - How to Use + Example

8. Future Perfect Passive

• Form: will + have + been + past participle

• 🗣️Example: The work will have been completed by Friday.

🔗Future Perfect Passive - How to Use + Example

✨ Advanced Passive Forms

• Going to Passive: The movie is going to be shown tonight.

• Modal Passive: The problem must be solved.

• Infinitive Passive: I want to be invited.

• Gerund Passive: She hates being ignored.

• Causative Passive: I had my hair cut yesterday.

• Passive with Reporting Verbs: It is said that she speaks five languages.

• Questions in Passive: When was the telephone invented?

• Double Object Passive: She was given a gift. / A gift was given to her.

🎯 When Do We Use the Passive Voice?

1. When the doer is unknown → The window was broken.

2. When the doer is unimportant → English is spoken all over the world.

3. To sound more formal or polite → You are requested to wait outside.

📝 Quick Practice (Try It Yourself!)

Turn these active sentences into passive:

1. People eat rice in many countries.

   Passive: ___________________________________

2. The company will announce the results tomorrow.

   Passive: ___________________________________

3. They are painting the bridge.

   Passive: ___________________________________

4. Someone has stolen my phone.

   Passive: ___________________________________

5. The teacher gave the students homework.

   Passive: ___________________________________

(Answers at the bottom of the post)

✅ Answers

1. Rice is eaten in many countries.

2. The results will be announced tomorrow.

3. The bridge is being painted.

4. My phone has been stolen.

5. The students were given homework. / Homework was given to the students.

🔔 Practice More:Want to improve your listening and speaking skills?

🎥 Check out our YouTube Channel Playlist:

🔗Mastering the Passive Voice in English - https://tinyurl.com/9am4ky9c

🔗Learn Grammar Through Engaging Stories https://tinyurl.com/bvwvckfu

🔗ESL Listening Practice With Engaging Stories https://tinyurl.com/37rf8e23 

Related Posts:

🔗Check out the links below ⬇️

Watch and Learn!  For more ESL reading and listening practice video lessons, subscribe to our YouTube channel.

📖✨ Love This Content? Get more delivered to you! Sign up for our weekly email with fresh ideas for learning English.

Thank you for reading and Happy Learning!