English Active and Passive Voice

The places of subject and object in sentence are inter-changed in passive voice.
3rd form of verb (past participle) will be used only (as main verb) in passive voice.
Auxiliary verbs for each tense are given below in the table.

Present Simple Tense (passive Voice) Auxiliary verb in passive voice: am/is/are
Active voice: He sings a song. He does not sing a song.Does he sing a song?	Passive voice: A song is sung by him. A song is not sung by him. Is a song sung by him?

Present Continuous Tense (passive Voice) Auxiliary verb in passive voice: am being/is being/are being
Active voice: I am writing a letter I am not writing a letter. Am I writing a letter?	Passive voice: A letter is being written by me. A letter is not being written by me. Is a letter being written by me?

Present Perfect Tense (passive Voice) Auxiliary verb in passive voice: has been/have been
Active voice: She has finished his work She has not finished her work. Has she finished her work?	Passive voice: Her work has been finished by her. Her work has not been finished by her. Has her work been finished by her?

Past Simple Tense (passive Voice) Auxiliary verb in passive voice: was/were
Active voice: I killed a snake I did not kill a snake. Did I kill a snake?	Passive voice: A snake was killed by me. A snake was not killed by me. Was a snake killed by me?

Past Continuous Tense (Passive Voice) Auxiliary verb in passive voice: was being/were being
Active voice: He was driving a car. He was not driving a car. Was he driving a car?	Passive voice: A car was being driven by him. A car was not being driven by him. Was a car being driven by him?

Past Perfect Tense (Passive Voice) Auxiliary verb in passive voice: had been
Active voice: They had completed the assignment. They had not completed the assignment. Had they completed the assignment?	Passive voice: The assignment had been completed by them. The assignment had not been complete by them. Had the assignment been completed by them?

Future Simple Tense (Passive Voice) Auxiliary verb in passive voice: will be
Active voice: She will buy a car. She will not buy a car. Will she buy a car?	Passive voice: A car will be bought by her. A car will not be bought by her. Will a car be bought by her?

Future Perfect Tense (passive Voice) Auxiliary verb in passive voice: will have been
Active voice: You will have started the job. You will have not started the job. Will you have started the job?	Passive voice: The job will have been started by you. The job will not have been started by you. Will the job have been started by you?

Note: The following tenses cannot be changed into passive voice.

Present perfect continuous tense
Past perfect continuous tense
Future continuous tense
Future perfect continuous tense
Sentence having Intransitive verbs

Fundamental Rules

The places of subject and object in sentence are inter-changed in passive voice.
3rd form of verb (past participle) will be used only (as main verb) in passive voice.
Auxiliary verbs for each tense are given below in the table.

Active and Passive Voice: Tense-wise Rules

Simple Present tense

An Active sentence in the simple present tense has the following structure: Subject + first form of the verb + object A passive sentence in the simple present tense has the following structure: Object of the active sentence + is/am/are + past participle form of the verb + by + subject of the active sentence

Changing an assertive sentence into the passive

Active: I write a letter. Passive: A letter is written by me. Active: I help you. Passive: You are helped by me. Active: I love my parents. Passive: My parents are loved by me. Active: We love our country. Passive: Our country is loved by us.

Changing a negative sentence into the passive

Active: I do not write a letter. Passive: A letter is not written by me. Active: I do not abuse my servants. Passive: My servants are not abused by me. Active: I do not write novels. Passive: Novels are not written by me. Active: He does not tease her. Passive: She is not teased by him.

Changing an interrogative sentence into the passive

Structure: Is/are/am + object of the active verb + past participle form of the verb + by + subject of the passive verb Active: Do you write a letter? Passive: Is a letter written by you? Active: Do you write stories? Passive: Are stories written by you? Active: Does she make candles? Passive: Are candles made by her? Active: Who does not obey you? Passive: By whom are you not obeyed? Active: Which newspaper do you read? Passive: Which newspaper is read by you? Active: Does she do her duty? Passive: Is her duty done by her? Notes: The object of the active verb becomes the subject of the passive verb. Therefore, sentences which do not have an object cannot be changed into the passive. The following sentences, for instance, cannot be changed into the passive because they do not have objects. The old man sat in a corner. The child sleeps. The wind blows. The dog barks. The fire burns. He laughed aloud.

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