Introducción

La voz pasiva se usa más comúnmente para:

• contextos formales o académicos; ensayos, informes, artículos
• noticias: titulares,en informes.

Se usa la voz pasiva cuando el objeto (persona o cosa) que recibe la acción es más importante que la persona o cosa que realiza la acción, por ejemplo:

• The fire was started by Robin.

o cuando no sabemos quién o qué realiza la acción:

• My car was stolen last night.

Forma

Se forma la voz pasiva con:
"to be" + participio pasado del verbo principal.

El presente pasivo simple - ejemplos:

Objeto	Verbo "be"	Verbo principal	Complemento	Sujeto
The experiment	is isn't is not	carried out	every week	by scientists at the university.
The experiments	are aren't are not	carried out	every week.

Verbo "be"	Objeto	Verbo principal	Complemento	Sujeto
Are	the experiments	carried out	every week?

Ejemplos del pasado pasivo simple:

Objeto	Verbo "be"	Verbo principal	Complemento	Sujeto
The experiment	was wasn't was not	carried out	every week	by scientists at the university.
The experiments	were weren't were not	carried out	every week.

Verbo "be"	Objeto	Verbo principal	Complemento	Sujeto
Were	the experiments	carried out	every week?

La voz pasiva se puede usar en cualquier tiempo verbal:

objeto (recibe la acción)	Verbo "be" ( varios tiempos verbales)	Verbo principal (participio pasado)
The dogs	are	fed.
	are being
	were
	were being
	are going to be
	will be
	have been
	will be being
	have been being
	had been

En los ejemplos anteriores no sabemos quien está alimentando a los perros. No es importante. Lo que es importante es que los perros están recibiendo alimentos.

Si queremos incluir a la persona o cosa que realiza la acción, se puede incluir con la preposición "by":

• The dogs are being fed by a charity worker.

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Práctica

Complete las frases con la forma pasiva correcta del pasado simple del verbo entre paréntesis:

• The Eiffel Tower in 1889. (build)
   
• Two World Wars during the 20th century. (fight)
   
• How many sonnets by William Shakespeare? (write)
   
• The internet by many different people. (create)
   

Compruebe sus respuestas

Further practice

• The orchestra ____ by Mario Lopez.


be conducted will be conducted will being conducted conducts



• The houses ____.


has been demolished be demolished have demolished have been demolished



• The costumes ____ by the art department.


is being prepared are being prepared are been prepared is prepared



• The new law ____.


going to be passed have been passed will passed is going to be passed



• The trees ____ cut down.


were been was being were being had being 



• The grass ____ cut too many times.


had been have been is been will been

Compruebe sus respuestas

Otros aspectos del lenguaje

Se puede usar la voz pasiva cuando no se quiere decir quién o qué realiza la acción:

• "I’m sorry but your vase was broken."
• "My homework was lost."
• "The accounts have been messed up."

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Los verbos modales se pueden usar en la voz pasiva:

Presente

Activo – The staff should make the beds every day.
Pasivo – The beds should be made every day.

Pasado
Activo – The staff should have made the beds every day.
Pasivo – The beds should have been made every day.

Punto lingüistico avanzado

Otros ejemplos con la voz pasiva:

• futuro perfecto –
  The dogs will have been fed.
• futuro perfecto continuo –
  The dogs will have been being fed.
• pasado perfecto continuo –
  The dogs had been being fed.

Aunque gramaticalmente correcto, los tiempos verbales de perfecto continuo no se usan generalmente en la voz pasiva y suenan un poco forzados.