Passive Voice in Every Tense: The Complete Transformation Guide
Learn how to form passive voice in every English tense — present, past, future, perfect, and continuous — with rules, examples, and practice for exams.
In active voice, the subject does the action. In passive voice, the subject receives it.
Active: They built the bridge in 1990.
Passive: The bridge was built in 1990.
The passive shifts focus from the doer to the action or its receiver. It is common in academic writing, news reports, and formal contexts.
This article shows you how to form the passive in every tense and how to transform active sentences into passive correctly.
For related reading, see Present Perfect vs Past Simple and Correct Tense in Error Spotting.
Passive voice makes the receiver of the action the subject of the sentence. The verb uses a form of be + past participle. The doer (agent) can be mentioned with by or left out.
Rule box: Transform object to subject. Keep the tense in the verb be. Use by + agent only when the doer is important.
| Active | Passive |
|---|---|
| Subject + verb + object | Object + be + past participle (+ by subject) |
Active: They make cars here.
Passive: Cars are made here.
Use am/is/are + past participle.
Active: They built the bridge.
Passive: The bridge was built.
Use was/were + past participle.
Active: They will announce the results.
Passive: The results will be announced.
Use will be + past participle.
Active: They are building a new school.
Passive: A new school is being built.
Use am/is/are + being + past participle.
Active: They were painting the house.
Passive: The house was being painted.
Use was/were + being + past participle.
Active: They have completed the task.
Passive: The task has been completed.
Use has/have + been + past participle.
Active: They had finished the work.
Passive: The work had been finished.
Use had + been + past participle.
Active: They will have completed the project.
Passive: The project will have been completed.
Use will have + been + past participle.
Active: You must complete this.
Passive: This must be completed.
Use modal + be + past participle.
Active: They should have informed us.
Passive: We should have been informed.
Use modal + have been + past participle.
| Tense | Active | Passive |
|---|---|---|
| Simple present | make / makes | am/is/are + made |
| Simple past | made | was/were + made |
| Simple future | will make | will be + made |
| Present continuous | am/is/are making | am/is/are + being + made |
| Past continuous | was/were making | was/were + being + made |
| Present perfect | has/have made | has/have + been + made |
| Past perfect | had made | had + been + made |
| Future perfect | will have made | will have + been + made |
| Modal | must/can/should make | must/can/should + be + made |
| Modal perfect | must have made | must + have been + made |
- Identify the object of the active sentence. This becomes the passive subject.
- Identify the tense of the active verb. Use the same tense with be.
- Use the past participle of the main verb.
- Add by + agent only if the doer is important or unknown.
- Check the new sentence. Does it keep the same tense and meaning?
They built the bridge.
- Object: the bridge → new subject.
- Tense: simple past → was/were.
- Past participle: built.
- Passive: The bridge was built (by them).
He has completed the task.
- Object: the task → new subject.
- Tense: present perfect → has/have been.
- Past participle: completed.
- Passive: The task has been completed (by him).
They will announce results.
- Object: results → new subject.
- Tense: simple future → will be.
- Past participle: announced.
- Passive: Results will be announced (by them).
- Cars are made in Japan. (simple present)
- The bridge was built in 1990. (simple past)
- The results will be announced tomorrow. (simple future)
- A new hospital is being constructed. (present continuous)
- The road was being repaired yesterday. (past continuous)
- The task has been completed. (present perfect)
- The work had been finished before I arrived. (past perfect)
- The project will have been completed by next year. (future perfect)
- This must be done immediately. (modal)
- We should have been informed earlier. (modal perfect)
Wrong: The work is doing.
Right: The work is being done.
Present continuous passive needs being + past participle.
Wrong: The task has completed.
Right: The task has been completed.
Present perfect passive needs has/have + been + past participle.
Wrong: The bridge was build.
Right: The bridge was built.
Always use the past participle, not the base form.
Wrong: The bed was slept by him.
Right: He slept in the bed.
Intransitive verbs (sleep, come, go, happen) cannot be made passive because they have no object.
Wrong: The letter was written by someone.
Right: The letter was written.
If the agent is unknown or unimportant, leave it out.
| Wrong | Right | Why |
|---|---|---|
| The work is doing. | The work is being done. | Present continuous passive. |
| The task has completed. | The task has been completed. | Need been in perfect passive. |
| The bridge was build. | The bridge was built. | Past participle required. |
| The results will announced. | The results will be announced. | Need be in future passive. |
Transform to passive voice.
- They make these phones in China.
- She wrote the report yesterday.
- They are building a new bridge.
- He has finished the work.
- Error spotting: The work is doing by the team.
- Error spotting: The task has completed on time.
- Error spotting: The letter was wrote by him.
- Fill in the blank: The road ___ last year. (repair)
- Rewrite in passive: They will announce the results tomorrow.
- Choose: The project ___ by next month. (will complete / will have been completed)
- These phones are made in China.
- The report was written yesterday.
- A new bridge is being built.
- The work has been finished.
- The work is being done by the team.
- The task has been completed on time.
- The letter was written by him.
- was repaired — simple past passive.
- The results will be announced tomorrow.
- will have been completed — future perfect passive.
Rule: Passive = receiver as subject + be (in the right tense) + past participle. Add by + agent only when needed.
Memory trick: Active = who did it. Passive = what happened to it.
Revise these:
- Cars are made in Japan. (present)
- The bridge was built in 1990. (past)
- The task has been completed. (present perfect)
- The results will be announced. (future)