6 A passive

passive: be + past participle

Estos dos enlaces con audio:

http://www.curso-ingles.com/gramatica-inglesa/pasiva.php

http://www.shertonenglish.com/resources/es/passive-voice/past.php

Y este enlace a un montón de ejercicios

http://www.agendaweb.org/verbs/passive-exercises.html

La voz pasiva

¿Qué es la voz pasiva?

Para entender este concepto tienes que saber primero qué es la voz activa.

La voz activa es la forma en que hablamos habitualmente. Siempre decimos que alguien (una persona) realiza (o no realiza) una acción.

Por ejemplo:

· Presente: Michael corta la manzana.

· Michael cuts the apple.[maikel catsdiapel]

· Pasado: Michael cortó la manzana.

· Michael cut the apple.[maikel catdiapel]

En este ejemplo decimos que alguien llamado "Michael" realiza (o realizó) la acción de cortar la manzana.

Por tanto, la voz activa se refiere a aquellas frases en las que expresamos que una persona (el sujeto) realiza una acción.

No obstante, hay ocasiones en que no queremos resaltar que una persona es la que realiza la acción. En este caso, hacemos que el objeto (cosas o personas sobre las que recae la acción) cobre el protagonismo de la acción. En el ejemplo que hemos visto, diríamos:

· Presente: La manzana es cortada.

· The apple is cut.[di apelIscat]

· Pasado: La manzana fue cortada.

· The apple was cut.[di apelguascat]

Por tanto, en la voz pasiva utilizamos al objeto de la frase como sujeto.

Es posible que luego desee mencionar quién cortó la manzana. En este caso diríamos:
· The apple was cut by Michael.[di apelguascatbai Maikel]

· La manzana fue cortada por Michael. Pero suena raro en español ¿o no? Eso es porque la forma pasiva no es tan usada como en inglés.

Veamos ahora la estructura de las oraciones en voz pasiva.

Objeto (hace de Sujeto) + verbo "to be" conjugado + participio pasado + complemento. Por ejemplo: This house was built in 1980. [dis hausguasbilt In naiitiineití] Esta casa fue construida en 1980.

¿Cómo transformamos una frase activa en una frase pasiva?

1) Buscamos el objeto (puede ser una cosa o una persona sobre la que recae la acción del sujeto) de la frase activa y lo convertimos en sujeto. Literalmente, le damos la vuelta a la frase.

2) Cambiamos el verbo principal (el que realiza la acción) a la estructura verbo "to be" conjugado + participio del verbo.

Sujeto: He (person) built the house.

Ejemplo transformación:

Frase activa: He (sujeto persona) built (verbo activo) the house (objeto).[hi biltdehaus]. Él construyó la casa.

Frase pasiva: The house (Objeto que hace de sujeto) was built (verbo en forma pasiva) by him. [dehaus guasbiltbaihim]. La casa fue construida por él.

Sujeto "The house" was built..........................................by him.

IMPORTANTE: Hay que hacer coincidir los tiempos verbales del verbo "to be". Si el verbo en la frase activa está en Present Tense diremos, por ejemplo: "is/are + built". Si el verbo está en Past Tense diremos "was/were + built". Si el verbo está en Present Perfect diremos "have/has been + built."

En esta tabla de equivalencias veremos cómo cambiar:


Verbo activo	Verbo pasivo

Present	is/are + verbo en participio

Present Continuous	is/are being + verbo en participio

Past Tense	was/were + verbo en participio

Past Continuous	was/were being + verbo en participio

Present Perfect	have/has been + v.en p.

Veamos algunos ejemplos más:


Activa	Pasiva

He loves her.	She is loved (by him)

Él la ama.	Ella es amada (por él).

They make toys.	Toys are made.

Ellos hacen juguetes.	Los juguetes son hechos.

He killed them.	They were killed (by him).

Él los mató.	Ellos fueron asesinados (por él).

He has said it.	It has been said (by him).

Él lo ha dicho.	Se ha dicho (por él).

Cuestiones generales sobre la voz pasiva

· La voz pasiva se utiliza mucho más en inglés que en español.

· La voz pasiva se utiliza más en el lenguaje periodístico y científico que en el coloquial.

· También la voz pasiva se utiliza para poner mensajes en lugares públicos. Por ejemplos: Dogs are not allowed. No se permiten perros. Algunas veces se suprime el verbo "to be". Por ejemplo: Help wanted [helpguanted]. Se necesitan empleados.

· La expresiones con "se" tales como: "se dice, se habla, etc.; se expresan en inglés con la voz pasiva así: It is said [IrIs sed], It is spoken [Itisspouken], etc.

Active / Passive Verb Forms

Sentences can be active or passive. Therefore, tenses also have "active forms" and "passive forms." You must learn to recognize the difference to successfully speak English.

Active Form

In active sentences, the thing doing the action is the subject of the sentence and the thing receiving the action is the object. Most sentences are active.

[Thing doing action] + [verb] + [thing receiving action]

Passive Form

In passive sentences, the thing receiving the action is the subject of the sentence and the thing doing the action is optionally included near the end of the sentence. You can use the passive form if you think that the thing receiving the action is more important or should be emphasized. You can also use the passive form if you do not know who is doing the action or if you do not want to mention who is doing the action.

[Thing receiving action] + [be] + [past participle of verb] + [by] + [thing doing action]

Active / Passive Overview

	Active	Passive
Simple Present	Once a week, Tom cleans the house.	Once a week, the house is cleaned by Tom.
Present Continuous	Right now, Sarah is writing the letter.	Right now, the letter is being written by Sarah.
Simple Past	Sam repaired the car.	The car was repaired by Sam.
Past Continuous	The salesman was helping the customer when the thief came into the store.	The customer was being helped by the salesman when the thief came into the store.
Present Perfect	Many tourists have visited that castle.	That castle has been visited by many tourists.
Present Perfect Continuous	Recently, John has been doing the work.	Recently, the work has been being done by John.
Past Perfect	George had repaired many cars before he received his mechanic's license.	Many cars had been repaired by George before he received his mechanic's license.
Past Perfect Continuous	Chef Jones had been preparing the restaurant's fantastic dinners for two years before he moved to Paris.	The restaurant's fantastic dinners had been being prepared by Chef Jones for two years before he moved to Paris.
Simple Future will	Someone will finish the work by 5:00 PM.	The work will be finished by 5:00 PM.
Simple Future be going to	Sally is going to make a beautiful dinner tonight.	A beautiful dinner is going to be made by Sally tonight.
Future Continuous will	At 8:00 PM tonight, John will be washing the dishes.	At 8:00 PM tonight, the dishes will be being washed by John.
Future Continuous be going to	At 8:00 PM tonight, John is going to be washing the dishes.	At 8:00 PM tonight, the dishes are going to be being washed by John.
Future Perfect will	They will have completed the project before the deadline.	The project will have been completed before the deadline.
Future Perfect be going to	They are going to have completed the project before the deadline.	The project is going to have been completed before the deadline.
Future Perfect Continuous will	The famous artist will have been painting the mural for over six months by the time it is finished.	The mural will have been being painted by the famous artist for over six months by the time it is finished.
Future Perfect Continuous be going to	The famous artist is going to have been painting the mural for over six months by the time it is finished.	The mural is going to have been being painted by the famous artist for over six months by the time it is finished.
Used to	Jerry used to pay the bills.	The bills used to be paid by Jerry.
Would Always	My mother would always make the pies.	The pies would always be made by my mother.
Future in the Past Would	I knew John would finish the work by 5:00 PM.	I knew the work would be finished by 5:00 PM.
Future in the Past Was Going to	I thought Sally was going to make a beautiful dinner tonight.	I thought a beautiful dinner was going to be made by Sally tonight.