Active and Passive Voices

A transitive verb (one requiring an object) has two voices, the active and the passive. In the active voice the person or thing (subject) is said to do something to something else: Tom kills a snake. (Here Tom does something to a snake.) In the passive voice the person or thing (subject) is said to suffer something from something else: A snake is killed by Tom. (Here a snake suffers something from Tom.) The structure of the passive voice is quite simple: Subject + auxiliary verb (to be) + main verb (past participle)+ complement (complement is optional). (A snake)(is)(killed)by Tom. The main verb is always in its past participle form. The Portuguese language also has an active and passive voice and the passive voice is constructed in exactly the same way: Subject + auxiliary verb (ser) + main verb (past participle) Tom matou uma cobra (Active voice) Uma cobra foi matado por Tom. (Passive voice) In English the active voice is preferred by most writers as it is considered more direct. The passive voice is used when we want to emphasise the object, or the active subject is unknown. The passive voice is much used in newspaper reporting. The king was killed by a snake. (Passive voice, emphasising the king) The snake has been killed. (Active subject unknown,{ ie who killed the snake?}) We always precede the passive object with by. In Portuguese, we always precede the passive object with por (pelo, pela). The passive voice can be formed in any tense. The main verb is always in past participle form and the auxiliary verb is always to be. The tenses are changed by altering the auxiliary verb. This is the same as Portuguese. Here are some examples:

Infinitive Simple present past future conditional Continuous present past future conditional Perfect simple present past future conditional Perfect continuous present past future conditional

to be killed It is killed. It was killed. It will be killed. It would be killed. It is being killed. It was being killed. It will be being killed. It would be being killed. It has been killed. It had been killed. It will have been killed. It would have been killed. It has been being killed. It had been being killed. It will have been being killed. It would have been being killed.