Active and passive voice

If you want to turn an active sentence into a passive one, or generally want to know how to use the passive voice, you've come to the right place; on this page I'll explain the active and passive voice.

In an active sentence, the subject (of this sentence) is actively doing something.

Examples: I baked a cake. My boyfriend is painting miniatures. We bought our Christmas tree last weekend.

In a passive sentence something is done to the subject (of this sentence).

Examples: The cake was baked by me. These miniatures are being painted by my boyfriend. Our Christmas tree was bought last weekend.

As you can see, the object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence.

Just follow these simple steps. As an example I will use this sentence:

At the moment I am writing a blog entry.

1. Find the object of the active sentence. This will be the subject of the passive sentence.

Active sentence:     At the moment I am writing a blog entry. --> What am I writing at the moment? - "a blog entry"

Passive sentence:  A blog entry 

2. Which tense is being used in the active sentence?

Active sentence:     At the moment I am writing a blog entry. -->  "I am writing" - present progressive

Passive sentence:  A blog entry (present progressive)

3. There has to be a form of "to be" in the passive sentence.

This form depends on the tense in which the active sentence is written.

Simple present / present progressive --> am, are, is

present perfect --> has been, have been

simple past / past progressive --> was, were

past perfect --> had been

Now choose the verb form that fits the subject in the passive sentence:

Active sentence:     At the moment I am writing a blog entry. -->  present progressive - am, are, is

Passive sentence:  A blog entry is 

4. Take the third form of the verb in the active sentence.

Active sentence:     At the moment I am writing a blog entry. -->  write - 3rd form: written

Passive sentence:  A blog entry is written

5. Is there a progressive form in the active sentence?

Active sentence:     At the moment I am writing a blog entry. -->  Yes, there is an ing-form --> insert "being" between the form of "to be" and the 3rd form of the verb:

Passive sentence:  A blog entry is being written

6. Do we know who the subject in the active sentence is?

Active sentence:     At the moment I am writing a blog entry. -->  "I" now becomes a by-agent: by me.

If you don´t know who the person is, you can also leave out the "by someone".

Passive sentence:  A blog entry is being written by me

7. Other information

Just copy information on the place, time, the way it is done or other information from the active sentence and put it in the right place:

Active sentence:     At the moment I am writing a blog entry. -->  Something left? - "at the moment"

Passive sentence:  A blog entry is being written by me at the moment. or  At the moment a blog entry is being written by me.

Simple present:

Active: I often paint pictures. 

Passive: Pictures are often painted by me.

Present progressive:

Active: I am painting a picture at the moment.

Passive: At the moment a picture is being painted by me. / A picture is being painted by me at the moment.

Present perfect simple:

Active: I have just painted a picture, that's why my hands are so dirty.

Passive: A picture has just been painted by me, that's why my hands are so dirty.

Present perfect progressive:

Active: I have been painting this picture all day, but it still isn't ready.

Passive: -- [there is no passive form in this tense] --

Simple past:

Active: I painted many pictures when I was young.

Passive: Many pictures were painted by me when I was young. / When I was young, many pictures were painted by me.

Past progressive:

Active: I was painting a picture when I ran out of blue colour.

Passive: A picture was being painted by me when I ran out of blue colour.

Past perfect:

Active: I had painted a picture before I started cleaning the house.

Passive: A picture had been painted by me before I started cleaning the house.

Past perfect progressive:

Active: I had been painting the picture for three weeks before I sold it.

Passive: -- [there is no passive form in this tense] --

As you can see, there are no passive forms with the present perfect progressive and the past perfect progressive.

Will-future:

Active: I will paint a picture.

Passive: A picture will be painted by me.

Going-to-future:

Active: I'm going to paint a picture.

Passive: The picture is going to be painted by me.

Would/should/could:

Active: I really should paint the picture.

Passive: The picture really should be painted by me.

Warning: The meaning of the sentence slightly changed! While the active sentence has a connotation like: "I really should paint the picture, but I'm too lazy / too busy doing other things / ...", the passive sentence sounds more like: "I and no-one else should be the person to paint this picture!" Make sure you make it clear (by adding other words or sentences) what you want to say.

It also depends on how you say a sentence.

Active: I could do the laundry.

Passive: The laundry could be done by me.

Can:

Active: I can paint the picture.

Passive: The picture can be painted by me.