Introduction to passive

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How to make the Passive in English

We make the passive by putting the verb 'to be' into whatever tense we need and then adding the past participle. For regular verbs, we make the past participle by adding 'ed' to the infinitive. So play becomes played.

Tense Active Passive
present simple I make a cake. A cake is made (by me).
present continuous I am making a cake. A cake is being made (by me).
past simple I made a cake. A cake was made (by me).
past continuous I was making a cake. A cake was being made (by me).
present perfect I have made a cake. A cake has been made (by me).
pres. perf. continuous I have been making a cake. A cake has been being made (by me).
past perfect I had made a cake. A cake had been made (by me).
future simple I will make a cake. A cake will be made (by me).
future perfect I will have made a cake. A cake will have been made (by me).

Last modified: Tuesday, 14 February 2017, 9:42 PM