5-1 Present and Past Passive

Sentences can be active or passive. To learn how to speak English well, you will have to learn the differences between them! Let's look at a quick comparison between these two different types of sentences.

Most sentences are active. In active sentences, the subject is doing the action.

In the example above, the action is "teach." The professor (subject) is teaching the students (object).

Passive sentences are the opposite of active sentences. The subject has an action that has been done to it!

In the example above, the action is "taught." The students (subject) are being taught by the professor (object).

There are many different types of passive sentences. Let's look at 2 of them in this lesson: the present passive and the simple past passive.

To make the present passive, you need subject + am / is / are + past participle. Past participles of regular verbs end with "-ed", and past participles of irregular verbs are the third form (eaten, bought, seen).

The past participle can also be followed with by + noun.

To make the simple past passive, you need subject + were / was + past participle.

You can also add by + noun if you think your sentence needs that extra detail.