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Active & Passive

Present
singular
plural
1st person
I was + pp
we were + pp
2nd person
you were + pp
you were + pp
3rd person
he, she, it was + pp
they were + pp
Past
singular
plural
1st person
I am + pp
we are + pp
2nd person
you are + pp
you are + pp
3rd person
he, she, it is + pp
they are + pp
Future
singular
plural
1st person
I will be + pp
we will be + pp
2nd person
you will be + pp
you will be + pp
3rd person
he, she, it will be + pp
they will be + pp

A sentence is passive when the thing that is receiving the action is the subject. Active and passive work the same in English as they do is Spanish. To make a sentence passive, put the verb in the past participle, even when using the future passive. To conjugate it in different tenses, simply put the to be verb in the correct tense in front of the verb.

        Examples

Past passive- This car was made in Japan.

Present passive- These cars are made in Japan.

Future passive- These cars will be made in Japan.

        Practice

        Put these sentences in the appropriate passive tense.

1) This car was made (to make) in Sweden.

2) The packages will be shipped (to ship, mail, send) out next Friday.

3) These toys are made (to make) in China.

4) When are you going to be made (to make) supervisor?

5) This book has been used well. It has been read (to read) many times.

         * When making passive sentences, because the thing receiving the action is the subject, the thing that is doing the action is of lesser importance, so it is not always necessary to include it in the sentence. For example, instead of saying, "my refrigerator is cleaned every three months by me," you could just say, "my refrigerator is cleaned every three months".

      

   * Usually, when we are talking about something that is passive, we avoid using the passive form because it takes too many words, so we use the words, you and they as substitutes to make it active:

Example- You can do a lot of things with a swiss army knife. Instead of: A lot of things can be done with a swiss army knife.
They built that building in just three months. Instead of: That building was built in just three months.

        Example: My mother will take me to school tomorrow.
I will be taken to school tomorrow by my mother.

        Practice: Put these sentences in the appropriate passive tense.

1) I painted my house last year.

My house was painted last year.

2) I need to buy new tires for my car every three months.

New tires need to be bought for my car every three months.
(This is an example of how the passive tense is more complicated than the active)

3) You make orange juice with oranges, water, and a little sugar.

Orange juice is made with oranges, water, and a little sugar.

4) Paola will sing this song tomorrow.

This song will be sung by Paola tomorrow.

5) Indians used to hunt buffalo.

Buffalo used to be hunted by Indians.

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