Learn the Passive Voice easily with 20 REAL examples (+video)

What is the passive voice in English grammar?

Passive voice uses the verb to be (am, is, are, was, were) plus the past participle form of the verb in the main action

There is a video at the end of this post that you can watch to review the grammar AND improve your English listening skills.

Passive voice English Grammar

Many of my private and company English students have trouble using the passive voice, so I was inspired to write this blog post.

I will explain the active and passive voice with some simple examples.

A mosquito bit Paul.

Bit is the past tense of the verb TO BITE

~ This sentence is in the active voice. The subject of our sentence does something.

Paul was bitten by a mosquito.

Bitten is the past participle of the verb TO BITE

~ This sentence is in the passive voice. Something happens to the subject of our sentence.

Here is a simple way we can think about the passive voice. If the subject of our sentence gets or receives something (something happens to the subject) we use the correct form of the verb to be (am, is, are, was, were) plus the past participle form of the verb in the main action.

“Paul was bitten by a mosquito.“

The subject of a sentence is the noun (person, place or thing) that did, does or is doing something: 

Ryan drives a Corvette. (Ryan is the subject of this sentence.)

~ or the noun that is being something.

His Corvette is red. (Ryan’s Corvette is the subject of this sentence.)

What are the subjects of our first 2 examples?

① A mosquito bit Paul.
② Paul was bitten by a mosquito.

In sentence ① ‘A mosquito‘ is the subject because it did something  ~ It bit Paul.

In sentence ② ‘Paul‘ is the subject because he was bitten ~ Paul received a bite.

When we want to talk about something that happened to someone or something we will use the passive voice. The grammar from example ②.

“Paul was bitten by a mosquito.”

“…we use the correct form of the verb to be (am, is, are, was, were) plus the past participle form of the verb in the main action.“

was bitten

What is the past participle?

The past participle is a verb form used for making the perfect tense (had given – have given – will have given) and for the passive voice (She was given a new computer). 
Learn more about the perfect tense here – How to use the Present Perfect Tense (English Grammar)

Remember that we use the correct tense of the verb to be with the past participle form of the verb from the main action to make a passive voice sentence.

Paul was bitten by a mosquito. (Bitten is the past participle of the verb To bite.)

Learn more about the past participle here – Past and Past Participle of READ (PDF + Video) Easy Grammar

A common example of the past participle that maybe you have heard before is eaten. This is the past participle of the verb to eat

“When I got to the party I was too late to have cake. My family had eaten everything! They didn’t save me a piece.”

HAD EATEN is the past perfect tense.

The cake had been eaten!

This is the passive voice. (BEEN is the past participle of the verb TO BE.)

In the passive voice, the cause of what happened is often not known or not important. In the passive voice example, whoever ate the cake is not important. The main focus here is that the cake is gone.

The preposition BY with the passive voice

We use the preposition by if we want to say what caused the action.

The preposition by link

“The cake had been eaten BY my family!”

*Remember: “Paul was bitten BY a mosquito.”

Another example:

“Alex had forgotten to pack his toothbrush, so he had to buy one from the drug store beside his hotel.”

Past perfect

“The lost and found office at the station is full of umbrellas that were forgotten on the train.” 

Passive voice

For all regular verbs (verbs whose past tense is ~ed) the past participle and the past tense are the same. 

“My brother said he cleaned his room this morning, but he didn’t He just watched TV.”

Past tense

“The hotel rooms are cleaned every morning before 11:00.” 

Past participle

Some irregular verbs also use the same form for the past and past participle.

“Have you ever bought something and then felt like it was a mistake the next day?”

Past tense with the present perfect

“The painting was bought by a private collector in 1911 and it was given to the museum by his family in 1976.”

Passive voice

a DIFFERENT kind of Digital Study Guide. Click for more info ⇩

Learn MORE

Passive voice in English – More examples

Harry was struck by lightning!

Brian was promoted after just 6 months. 

Compare Passive Voice and Active Voice

The company promoted Brian after just 6 months. 

*The company is the subject in this sentence so we use the active voice. The company did something, it promoted Brian. In this sentence promoted is the past tense of promote, not the past participle. (The past tense and the past participle are the same!)

We can also use the verb GET in the passive voice. (This is used in conversation.)

We will use the correct form of the verb to get instead of to be.

I can’t believe Brian got promoted after only 6 months!

There was a big car accident on the street in front of my office. Luckily no one got hurt.

Hurt is one of a few verbs that don’t change between present, past and the past participle.

The past participle is sometimes used as an adjective.

“The car has a broken window.” ~ in this sentence broken is an adjective. It is describing the condition of the car window. Broken is the past particle of the verb To break.

Different verb tenses with the Passive Voice

Next week is my mother’s birthday and I will order flowers for her online. The flowers will be delivered.
Let’s use this situation with the passive voice using different verb tenses.
Something is happening to the flowers, the subject of our sentences. (except for future continuous!)

Learning a verbs’ past participle form is important for using the passive voice. This is a link for “50 Most Common Irregular Verbs” from ESL-Lounge.com

Watch the video below to review the grammar and improve your English listening skills! Click the image ⇩

• How to use the verbs PLAY, DO, and GO (2021)
  play – We use the verb play for games (like chess or PS3) and for sports that use a ball.“I play baseball every Sunday afternoon.”do …
• IN the Shade – Preposition IN Common expression (2021)
  Summer is here!  Readers of my blog come from all over the world, some places cooler and some places warmer. If you live in the …
• Improve your English listening skills FAST – Real AUDIO
  We all want to improve our English listening. Improving your English listening skills is very important for ESL students, it can also be fun. In …
• How to use the adverb EVEN (Sound like a native)
  In this post, you will learn how to use the adverb EVEN in natural English conversation. Learn 2 ways to use this adverb with 12 …
• Pronunciation – 13 or 30? Sound like a Native (Video)
  English Pronunciation Practice 13 or 30? This post will help with your English pronunciation of numbers like 13 and 30. There is a video at …

Learn English for FREE!

Get an awesome English PDF in your inbox every week for 9 weeks.

Find out how