LA VOZ PASIVA

FORMA

La voz pasiva se forma con el verbo to be en el mismo tiempo verbal que el verbo activo + el participio del verbo principal.

Ejemplo:

They make Nissan cars in Ávila. – Nissan cars are made in Ávila.

Ellos hacen coches Nissan en Ávila. – Los coches Nissan son hechos en Ávila.

El sujeto del verbo activo es introducido por by en la oración en voz pasiva:

Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet.

Romeo and Juliet was written by Shakespeare.

Se puede omitir el agente:

a) Cuando está claro quién es:

The letter was delivered early this morning (by the postman).

b) Cuando no es importante o se desconoce:

My wallet was found yesterday. (Es más importante que encontraron la cartera que quién la encontró)

My bike was stolen last week. (No sabemos quién robó la bici).

CAMBIOS DE TIEMPOS VERBALES EN PASIVA.

TIEMPO	ACTIVA	PASIVA
Presente simple	write / writes	is /are written
Presente continuo	am /is / are writing	am /is / are being written
Pasado simple	wrote	was / were written
Pasado continuo	was / were writing	was / were being written
Presente perfecto	have / has written	have /has been written
Pasado perfecto	had written	had been written
Futuro simple	will write	will be written
Futuro perfecto	will havewritten	will have been written
Condicional	would write	would be written
Condicional perfecto	would have written	would have been written
Infinitivo presente	to write	to have written
Infinitivo perfecto	to have written	to have been written
Gerundio	writing	being written
Gerundio perfecto	having written	having been written
Modales	must write should write …	must be written should be written …

USOS DE LA PASIVA

• El uso de la pasiva es mucho más común en inglés que en castellano. Se utiliza la voz pasiva cuando queremos poner énfasis en la acción o en el objeto más que en la persona que lo realizón=

The walls were painted pink. – Pintaron las paredes de rosa.

• También utilizamos la pasiva cuando el agente es obvio, poco importante o desconocido.

My purse was stolen. (No sabemos quién lo robó)

The letters were typed. (No importa quién lo hizo).

• También utilizamos pasiva cuando de alguna manera queremos ocultar quién realizó la acción.

The boys were punished.

New ideas have been presented with great success.

IT IS SAID THAT… / SHE IS SAID TO…

La pasiva puede emplearse también con verbos como believe, know, think, report, say… Podemos formar dos clases diferentes de estructuras pasivas:

ACTIVA	FORMA 1	FORMA 2
Experts say that this house dates back to the 12th century.	It is said that this house dates back to the 12th century	This house is said to date back to the 12th century.
Los expertos dicen que esta casa data del siglo XII.	Se dice que esta casa data del siglo XII.
They believe this sword belonged to King Arthur.	It is believed that this sword belonged to King Arthur.	This sword is believed to have belonged to King Arthur.
Creen que esta espada perteneció al Rey Arturo.	Se cree que esta espada perteneció al Rey Arturo.
They thought the flowers had arrived from Holland	It was thought that the flowers had arrived from Holland.	The flowers were thought to have arrived from Holland
Pensaron que las flores habían llegado de Holanda.	Se pensaba que las flores habían llegado de Holanda.

HAVE / GET SOMETHING DONE

Empleamos la estructura have / get + objeto + participio pasado con un sentido pasivo para expresar que alguien hace algo por nosotros:

I’m going to repair my car

Voy a reparar mi coche. Esta frase implica que voy a repararlo yo mismo.

I’m going to have / get my car repaired.

Me van a reparar el coche. Lo va a hacer otra persona para nosotros.