Present Passive Voice

Level Seven

Lesson 74

A good introduction to the passive voice is to use it in the present tense. 

  • Hector is paid on Friday. 
  • The school is attended by over 300 students. 
  • Patients are seen by a doctor. 

What you should notice is that all of these sentences are in the present tense, but they are passive. The passive voice often fools people into thinking the main verb is in the past tense. However, the verb “be” is the helping verb that indicates the verb tense. When you understand that,  you will be able to master any verb in the passive voice. 

74a. present passive

am, are, or is + past participle

In the passive voice, the verb “be” determines the tense. The main verb is always in the form of a past participle. 

  • I am paid every two weeks. 
  • The animals are fed regularly.
  • An announcement is made every morning. 

Some students mistake the passive voice for the past tense because the main verb looks like it’s in the past tense. Let’s see what these sentences look like in the present active voice

  • My company pays me every two weeks. 
  • The farmer feeds the animals regularly. 
  • The principal makes an announcement every morning. 

In sentences above, the subject (company, farmer, principal) does the action.  In the first set of sentences, the subject does not do the action. 

74a. present passive

The main verb in the sentence below is in the form of a past participle. The verb “be” indicates the verb tense. 

A field of sunflowers backlit by low sun in a warm sky.

Sunflowers are grown for their seeds and their beauty. 

man in brown jacket and black pants sitting on white metal railings

Packages are delivered to the front door of the house. 

The subject in each sentence does not perform any sort of action. The action is performed by a person, but as you can see the person is not mentioned. This is one of the benefits to using the passive voice. 

  • Colleges teach doctors medicine. (present active) 
  • Medicine is taught in colleges. (present passive) 
  • The college taught them how to prepare for a career in medicine. (past) 
  • They were taught by the school. (past passive) 
  • They will practice medicine after they graduate. (future) 
  • Medicine will be practiced by them after they graduate. (future passive) 
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