Passive Voice — Present, Past & Perfect
B1 — grammar, vocabulary, listening, reading, writing
Kenji: Did you know? Coffee is grown in 22 departments of Colombia. I read it in a museum!
Sofía: This logo was designed by me... and it is being changed by the client. Again.
Ben: My phone was stolen! ...No, wait. It has been found. It was in my pocket.
Abuela Carmen: In this house, dinner is served at seven. The rule was made in 1985, and it has never been broken.
Common mistake: “This house built in 1980.” — Correct: “This house was built in 1980.”
The passive voice puts the spotlight on what receives the action, not on who does it — and it always needs two pieces: the verb 'to be' + a past participle.
One sentence through the tenses: coffee + grow| Tense | Passive = be + participle | Example |
|---|
| Present simple | is / are + grown | Coffee is grown in Colombia |
| Present continuous | is / are being + grown | A new blend is being grown this year |
| Past simple | was / were + grown | This coffee was grown by my grandfather |
| Past continuous | was / were being + grown | The beans were being grown organically |
| Present perfect | has / have been + grown | Coffee has been grown here since 1900 |
| Active vs Passive | doer in focus → receiver in focus | Farmers grow coffee → Coffee is grown (by farmers) |
- ew/own grow · grew · grown — cultivar / crecer
- 2 forms make · made · made — hacer / fabricar
- 2 forms build · built · built — construir
- 2 forms sell · sold · sold — vender
- 2 forms find · found · found — encontrar
- i-o-en steal · stole · stolen — robar
- i-o-en speak · spoke · spoken — hablar
- i-o-en break · broke · broken — romper
- i-o-en write · wrote · written — escribir
- -ed invent · invented · invented — inventar
- -ed produce · produced · produced — producir
- -ed export · exported · exported — exportar
- Coffee is grown in Colombia.
- This house was built in 1980.
- The logo is being changed by the client. Again.
- Coffee has been grown here since 1900.
- The beans were being dried when it started to rain.
- Rice isn't grown in the desert.
- The email wasn't sent yesterday.
- The rule has never been broken.
- The room isn't being used right now.
- Where is coffee grown?
- Was this house built in 1980?
- Has the email been sent?
- Is coffee grown in Colombia? Yes, it is.
- Was the window broken by the ball? Yes, it was.
- Has the task been finished? No, it hasn't.
Practice
- Coffee ___ in Colombia. (is grown, is grow, grows itself)
- This house ___ in 1980. (is being built, was built, has built)
- The email hasn't ___ yet. (being sent, be sent, been sent)
- Right now, the logo ___ by the client. (is being changed, is changed, was changed)
- The passive voice always needs the verb 'to be' + a past participle.
- 'The window broke by the ball' is a correct passive sentence.
- Spanish ___ (speak) in Colombia. — present simple passive
- The beans ___ (dry) when it started to rain. — past continuous passive
- Coffee ___ (grow) here since 1900. — present perfect passive
- Unscramble: coffee, is, grown, in, Colombia
- Unscramble: was, this, house, built, in, 1980
- Find the mistake: This house built in 1980.
- Find the mistake: The email has been send.
- Find the mistake: The dinner is serving at seven.
- Farmers grow coffee. — Change to passive voice (keep 'by farmers').
- Somebody stole my phone. — Change to passive voice (omit 'somebody').
- The client is changing the logo. — Change to passive voice.
- The rule has been broken. — Write the negative form.
- The room isn't being used. — Write the affirmative form.
- Is coffee grown in Colombia? (short answer)
- Was your house built by the Romans? (short answer, No)
Listening
Kenji: Welcome to my coffee tour! First fact: coffee was brought to Colombia in the 18th century.
Sofía: Nice fact. Where is it grown today?
Kenji: It is grown in 22 departments. And the best beans are picked by hand, one by one.
Ben: And then what happens?
Kenji: The beans are dried in the sun, and the coffee is exported to the whole world.
Abuela Carmen: And in this house, it has been prepared the same way since 1985. Cups are on the table!
Reading
The old house on the corner has a story. It was built in 1923 by an Italian architect who never saw it finished. For decades, it was used as a school, and thousands of children were taught there — Abuela Carmen was one of them. Then it was abandoned for twenty years. Today, everything is different: the house is being restored by a group of young artists. The walls have been painted, the garden has been replanted, and a new roof is being installed this month. 'Beautiful things are not destroyed,' says Abuela Carmen. 'They are just forgotten for a while.'
- The house was built by an Italian architect.
- It was used as a hospital for decades.
- The house is being restored by young artists.
- The garden hasn't been replanted yet.