Passive Voice in English: Use it like a native speaker!

Are you confused about active voice and passive voice in English? Don't worry. By the end of this video, you'll clearly understand when we use the passive voice and how to form it in all the verb tenses. And here's some more good news. Today's free PDF has everything in this lesson plus a bonus exercise to help you transform sentences from active to passive so you can really master this structure in English. To download that free PDF guide, click on the link in the video description, enter your email address, and then check your email. Easy! Okay, here are two quick examples of changing a sentence from active voice to passive voice to show when we use it. We use the passive voice when the focus is on the action, the result, or the receiver of the action, not on who does it, either because who does it is not as important or when we don't know who does the action. For example, active voice, someone stole the money. Passive voice, the money was stolen. In this case, the doer of the action is unknown. We don't know who stole the money, so we use the passive voice. The money was stolen. Here's another example. Active voice, the teacher has graded all the exams. Passive voice, all the exams have been graded. And we could add, by the teacher. In this case, we know who graded the exams, but the teacher isn't really important. What we want to focus on is the result, that all the exams have been graded. The basic structure of the passive voice is a form of the verb to be plus the past participle of the main verb, was stolen, have been graded. Now, let's see examples of how this works in all the different verb tenses. We'll start with the present simple. Active voice, people speak English all over the world. Passive voice, English is spoken all over the world. Active voice, they clean the offices every day. Passive voice, the offices are cleaned every day. Now, the present continuous. Active voice, the workers are repairing the road. Passive voice, the road is being repaired. Active voice, the publisher is updating the textbooks. Passive voice, the textbooks are being updated. In the past simple, we have active voice, they built this hospital in 1980. Passive voice, this hospital was built in 1980. Active voice, the company hired five new employees. Passive voice, five new employees were hired. Next, the past continuous. Active voice, a detective was questioning the suspect. Passive voice, the suspect was being questioned. Active voice, the workers were painting the walls. Passive voice, the walls were being painted. Let's look at the present perfect. Active voice, they have finished the project. Passive voice, the project has been finished. Active voice, volunteers have wrapped the gifts. Passive voice, the gifts have been wrapped. Moving on to the past perfect. Active voice, they had completed the work before the deadline. Passive voice, the work had been completed before the deadline. Active voice, I was surprised that he hadn't signed the contract. Passive voice, I was surprised that the contract hadn't been signed. Now let's look at the future tenses, starting with the future simple. Active voice, they will announce the results tomorrow. Passive voice, the results will be announced tomorrow. Active voice, the company will publish the book in January. Passive voice, the book will be published in January. When it comes to the future continuous, I'm going to skip this one because we pretty much never use it in real life. This would be an example. Active voice, they will be interviewing the candidates at 9 AM. Passive voice, the candidates will be being interviewed at 9 AM. Will be being just sounds so weird, so we tend to use just the future simple. The candidates will be interviewed at 9 AM, so don't worry about that tense in the passive voice. We'll move on to the future perfect. Active voice, I will have delivered all the packages by the end of the day. Passive voice, all the packages will have been delivered by the end of the day. Active voice, they will have renovated the building by the summer. Passive voice, the building will have been renovated by the summer. We can also use the passive voice with modal verbs. For example, active voice, they can solve the problem. Passive voice, the problem can be solved. Active voice, you must follow the rules. Passive voice, the rules must be followed. Active voice, they should tell their story. Passive voice, their story should be told. Active voice, the owners might sell that old house soon. Passive voice, that old house might be sold soon. Now you've seen the passive voice in many different verb tenses, and more importantly, how it's actually used. Remember, we use the passive voice when the action or result is more important than the person doing it. The best way to really master this is through practice, so go ahead and download the free lesson guide to try the exercise of transforming sentences from active to passive. The more you practice, the easier and more natural it'll become. That's why my advanced English grammar course has tons of practice opportunities in each lesson, so you not only learn the grammar, you also use the grammar right away. That's how it'll become part of your English, so you can use the correct grammar without thinking too much about it. Click on the link in the video description to learn more about my advanced English grammar course.