Passive Voice

Uso

A forma ativa dos verbos é a que estamos acostumados a usar na língua inglesa até agora, em que o sujeito executa a ação, portanto a frase mostra o que o sujeito está fazendo:

Ex.: John plays the piano. (Está claro quem pratica a ação).

A forma passiva mostra o que acontece com o objeto.

The piano is played. (O fato de importância é o que acontece ao piano, e não quem o toca).
A forma passiva será usada quando o que ocorre com o objeto for mais importante ou quando o sujeito não for importante ou for desconhecido.

Ex.: We were robbed on that street. (Não se sabe quem nos assaltou).
América was discovered in 1492. (Queremos ressaltar o descobrimento e não quem descobriu).

Forma

A forma passiva muda de acordo com o tempo verbal usado na frase de origem, mas o verbo to be sempre será o auxiliar, que será colocado no tempo verbal original seguido do past participle.

Tempo verbal da sentença original	Forma Passiva	Exemplo
Simple Present	Am/is/are + past participle	Gorillas inhabit is jungle. à This jungle is inhabited by gorillas
Present Continuous	Am being/is being/ are being + past participle	Sorry, but we are remodelling the airport à Sorry, but the airport is being remodelled.
Simple Past	Was/were + past participle	They didn’t hear me, so I escaped. à I wasn’t heard, so I escaped.
Past Continuous	Was being/ were being + past participle	Someone was playing the violin. à The violin was being played.
Present Perfect	Have been/ has been/ + past participle	The virus has already attacked this country. à This country has already been attacked by the virus.
Past Perfect	Had been + past participle	I realized that they had hit me on purpose. à I realized that I had been hit on purpose.
Will – Future	Will be + past participle	Someone will rob you if you go there. à You will be robbed if you go there.
Going to – Future	Am/is/are going to be + past participle	They are going to build a bridge here. à A bridge is going to be built here.

Inglês - Brasil Escola

Observações (Passive Voice)

1. Verbos com dois objetos podem ter duas construções na passiva:

They asked me many questions.

A) I was asked many questions.
B) Many questions were asked to me.

2. Em português não se faz voz passiva com verbos transitivos indiretos. Em inglês, porém, isso é bastante comum:

Someone is shooting at him.  He’s been shot at.
The manager called off the meeting.  The meeting was called off.

3. Muitas frases em inglês começam com sujeito indeterminado (Dizem que...; espera-se que...; acredita-se que...) especialmente com verbos como say, think, know, expect, believe, report, hope, presume, prove, understand, consider, etc. Quando isso acontecer, teremos duas formas na passiva:

(Voz ativa) They believe that the old castle is haunted.
(Voz passiva) 1. It is believed that the old castle is haunted.
2. The old castle is believed to be haunted.

No primeiro caso o pronome It será o sujeito da passiva.
No segundo caso o sujeito da oração subordinada será o sujeito da voz passiva. O verbo da oração subordinada passa para o infinitivo com “to” ou para o infinitivo perfeito (to have + past. part.). O infinitivo perfeito é usado quando o tempo do verbo da oração subordinada for anterior ao tempo do verbo da oração principal:

People say that he had too many enemies.
He is said to have had too many enemies.

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.