Passive Voice

Usamos a voz passiva em inglês quando destacamos a ação do verbo em si, o objeto que recebe a ação. A pessoa que praticou a ação – o agente – fica em segundo plano e freqüentemente não é mencionado. Prefere-se a voz passiva, por exemplo, na linguagem impessoal, quando não interessa o agente ou ele é indefinido, ou desconhecido, ou óbvio. A voz passiva é formada em inglês com o auxiliar to be + past. participle do verbo principal. Veja a tabela abaixo:

Tempo verbal	Voz ativa	Voz passiva
Simple present	Take/takes	Is/are taken
Simple past	Took	Was/were taken
Present Continuous	Am/is/are taking	Am/is/are being taken
Past continuous	Was/were taking	Was/were being taken
Simple Future	Will take	Will be taken
Simple conditional	Would take	Would be taken
Present perfect	Have/has taken	Have/has been taken
Past perfect	Had taken	Had been taken
Modal auxiliary	Can/could/must/etc...	Modal+be+past.part.

Exemplos:

Voz ativa	Voz passiva
My father is a builder. He builds the house.	The house is built (by my father).
My father built the house.	The house was built.
My father is building the house.	The house is being built.
My father was building the house.	The house was being built.
My father will build the house.	The house will be built.
My father would build the house.	The house would be built.
My father has built the house.	The house has been built.
My father had built the house.	The house had been built.
My father could build the house.	The house could be built.

Compare estes outros exemplos:

Somebody cleans this room everyday.
This room is cleaned everyday.

Martin washed his car yesterday.
His car was washed yesterday.

The maid will do the dishes later.
The dishes will be done later.

The room looks nice. Somebody has put it away.
It has been put away.

The room looked nice. Somebody had put it away.
It had been put away.

She is making a cornmeal cake now.
The cornmeal cake is being made now.

She was making the cornmeal cake when I arrived.
The cornmeal cake was being made when I arrived.