Active vs Passive
In an active sentence, the subject does the action. In a passive sentence, the subject receives the action. Use passive when the action is more important than who did it, or when you don’t know who did it.
Unknown doer
You don’t know or don’t need to say who.
My car was stolen. (by someone unknown)
Action focus
The action matters more than the doer.
The bridge was built in 1890.
Formal writing
Science, news, official documents.
The results were analysed carefully.
Obvious doer
Everyone knows who did it.
He was arrested. (obviously by police)
Formula for All Tenses
Passive = to be (correct tense) + past participle
Present Simple→is/are + pp
Past Simple→was/were + pp
Present Perfect→has/have been + pp
Future (will)→will be + pp
pp = past participle (made, built, stolen, written…)
Examples
English is spoken worldwide. (PS)
Present Simple passive
The letter was written in 1850. (PSt)
Past Simple passive
The project has been completed. (PP)
Present Perfect passive
The results will be announced tomorrow.
Future passive
The pyramid was built by the Egyptians.
by = the doer (when mentioned)
💡 Memory Hack
Passive = to be + done
The pattern never changes: whatever tense you need, put to be in that tense, then add the past participle. Need present passive? is/are + done. Need past? was/were + done. Need future? will be + done. The past participle stays the same — only “to be” changes tense.