The Passive Voice is formed by: Subject + finite form of to be + Past Participle.
Example: A letter was written.
When rewriting active sentences in the passive voice, note the following:
Note the differences between Dutch and English:
Dutch | English | ||
---|---|---|---|
o.t.t. | Het boek wordt gelezen | present simple | The book is read |
o.v.t. | Het boek werd gelezen | past simple | The book was read |
v.t.t. | Het boek is gelezen | present perfect | The book has been read |
v.v.t. | Het boek was gelezen | past perfect |
The book had been read |
Passive voice is used when the focus is on the action.
It is not important or not known, however, who or what is performing the action.
Example: My bike was stolen.
In the example above, the focus is on the fact that my bike was stolen.
I do not know, however, who did it.
Sometimes a statement in the passive voice is more polite than the active voice,
as the following example shows:
Example: A mistake was made.
In this case, I focus on the fact that a mistake was made, but I do not blame anyone
(e.g. You have made a mistake.).
Tense | Subject | Verbs | (prepositional) Object | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Simple Present | Active: | Rita | writes | a letter |
Let op: bij I gebruik 'am', bij he/she/it gebruik 'is', bij de rest gebruik 'are' | Passive: | A letter | is written | by Rita |
Simple Past | Active: | Rita | wrote | a letter |
Let op: bij I/he/she/it gebruik 'was', bij de rest gebruik 'were' | Passive: | A letter | was written | by Rita |
Present Perfect | Active: | Rita | has written | a letter |
Passive: | A letter | has been written | by Rita | |
Future | Active: | Rita | will write | a letter |
Passive: | A letter | will be written | by Rita | |
Auxiliary verbs | Active: | Rita | can write | a letter |
Passive: | A letter | can be written |
by Rita |
VWO
Tense | Subject | Verbs | (prepositional) Object | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Present Continuous | Active: | Rita | is writing | a letter |
Passive: | A letter | is being written | by Rita | |
Past Continuous | Active: | Rita | was writing | a letter |
Passive: | A letter | was being written | by Rita | |
Past Perfect | Active: | Rita | had written | a letter |
Passive: | A letter | had been written | by Rita | |
Future Perfect | Active: | Rita | will have written | a letter |
Passive: | A letter | will have been written | by Rita |