Active And Passive Voice Tense Wise Rules

We all know that English grammar has different tenses. So let’s see how to write passive voice of the sentences which are in different tenses.

Present Tense

Simple Present Tense

Normal structure of sentence in active voice for simple present tense is

Subject + Verb + Object (Active Voice)

Ex: She cooks the food. (Active Voice)
(Here ‘she’ is subject, ‘cooks’ is verb and ‘the food’ is object.)

While changing the sentence into passive, this structure becomes

Subject + is + V-3 + by + Agent. (Passive Voice)

(Agent = person or thing which is doing the action)

Ex: The food is cooked by her. (Passive Voice)
(Here ‘The food’ becomes subject in passive voice, ‘cooked’ is V-3 (past participle) of cook, and ‘her’ is agent (doer))

See some more examples to clarify this.

Shubham writes homework. (Active Voice)
Homework is written by Shubham. (Passive Voice)

Simran learns English. (Active Voice)
English is learnt by Simran. (Passive Voice)

Sachin plays cricket. (Active Voice)
Cricket is played by Sachin. (Passive Voice)

Present Continuous Tense

Normal structure of sentence in active voice for simple continuous tense is

Subject + am/is/are + verb + ing + object. (Active Voice)

Ex: She is cooking the food. (Active Voice)
(Here ‘she’ is subject, ‘cooking’ is verb and ‘the food’ is object.)

While changing the sentence into passive, this structure becomes

Subject + is + being + V-3 + by + agent. (Passive Voice)

Ex: The food is being cooked by her. (Passive Voice)
(Here ‘The food’ becomes subject in passive voice, ‘cooked’ is V-3 (past participle) of cook, and ‘her’ is agent (doer))

See some more examples to clarify this.

Shubham is writing homework. (Active Voice)
Homework is being written by Shubham. (Passive Voice)

Simran is learning English. (Active Voice)
English is being learnt by Simran. (Passive Voice)

Sachin is playing cricket. (Active Voice)
Cricket is being played by Sachin. (Passive Voice)

Present Perfect Tense

Normal structure of sentence in active voice for present perfect tense is

Subject + has/have + V-3 + object. (Active Voice)

Ex: She has cooked the food. (Active Voice)
(Here ‘she’ is subject, ‘cooked’ is V-3 (past participle) of cook and ‘the food’ is object.)

While changing the sentence into passive, this structure becomes

Subject + has been + V-3 + by + agent. (Passive Voice)

Ex: The food has been cooked by her. (Passive Voice)
(Here ‘The food’ becomes subject in passive voice, ‘cooked’ is V-3 (past participle) of cook, and ‘her’ is agent (doer))

See some more examples to clarify this.

Shubham has written homework. (Active Voice)
Homework has been written by Shubham. (Passive Voice)

Simran has learnt English. (Acive Voice)
English has been learnt by Simran. (Passive Voice)

Sachin has played cricket. (Acive Voice)
Cricket has been played by Sachin. (Passive Voice)

Past Tense

Simple Past Tense

Normal structure of sentence in active voice for simple past tense is

Subject + V-2 + object. (Active Voice)

Ex: She cooked the food. (Active Voice)
(Here ‘she’ is subject, ‘cooked’ is V-2 of cook and ‘the food’ is object.)

While changing the sentence into passive, this structure becomes

Subject + was + V-3 + by + agent. (Passive Voice)

Ex: The food was cooked by her. (Passive Voice)
(Here ‘The food’ becomes subject in passive voice, ‘cooked’ is V-3 (past participle) of cook, and ‘her’ is agent (doer))

See some more examples to clarify this.

Shubham wrote homework. (Active Voice)
Home was written by Shubham. (Passive Voice)

Simran learned English. (Active Voice)
English was learnt by Simran. (Passive Voice)

Sachin played cricket. (Active Voice)
Cricket was played by Sachin. (Passive Voice)

Past Continuous Tense

Normal structure of sentence in active voice for past continuous tense is

Subject + was/were + verb + ing + object. (Active Voice)

Ex: She was cooking the food. (Active Voice)
(Here ‘she’ is subject, ‘cooking’ is verb and ‘the food’ is object.)

While changing the sentence into passive, this structure becomes

Subject + was + being + V-3 + by + agent. (Passive Voice)

Ex: The food was being cooked by her. (Passive Voice)
(Here ‘The food’ becomes subject in passive voice, ‘cooked’ is V-3 (past participle) of cook, and ‘her’ is agent (doer))

See some more examples to clarify this

Shubham was writing homework. (Active voice)
Homework was being written by Shubham. (Passive voice)

Simran was learning English. (Active voice)
English was being learnt by Simran. (Passive voice)

Sachin was playing cricket. (Active Voice)
Cricket was being played by Sachin. (Passive Voice)

Past Perfect Tense

Normal structure of sentence in active voice for past perfect tense is

Subject + had + V-3 + object. (Active Voice)

Ex: She had cooked the food. (Active Voice)
(Here ‘she’ is subject, ‘cooked’ is V-3 (past participle) of cook and ‘the food’ is object.)

While changing the sentence into passive, this structure becomes

Subject + had been + V-3 + by + agent. (Passive Voice)

Ex: The food had been cooked by her. (Passive Voice)
(Here ‘The food’ becomes subject in passive voice, ‘cooked’ is V-3 (past participle) of cook, and ‘her’ is agent (doer))

See some more examples to clarify this

Shubham had written homework. (Active voice)
Homework had been written by Shubham. (Passive voice)

Simran had learnt English. (Active voice)
English had been learnt by Simran. (Passive Voice)

Sachin had played cricket. (Active voice)
Cricket had been played by Sachin. (Passive Voice)

Future Tense

Simple Future Tense

Normal structure of sentence in active voice for simple future tense is

Subject + will/shall + verb + object. (Active Voice)

Ex: She will cook the food. (Active Voice)
(Here ‘she’ is subject, ‘cook’ is verb and ‘the food’ is object.)

While changing the sentence into passive, this structure becomes

Subject + will be + V-3 + by + agent. (Passive Voice)

Ex: The food will be cooked by her. (Passive Voice)
(Here ‘The food’ becomes subject in passive voice, ‘cooked’ is V-3 (past participle) of cook, and ‘her’ is agent (doer))

See some more examples to clarify this

Shubham will write homework. (Active Voice)
Homework will be written by Shubham. (Passive Voice)

Simran will learn English. (Active Voice)
English will be learnt by Simran. (Passive Voice)

Sachin will play cricket. (Active Voice)
Cricket will be played by Sachin. (Passive Voice)

Future Perfect Tense

Normal structure of sentence in active voice for simple future tense is

Subject + will/shall have + V-3 + object. (Active Voice)

Ex: She will have cooked the food. (Active Voice)
(Here ‘she’ is subject, ‘cooked’ is V-3 (past participle) of cook and ‘the food’ is object.)

While changing the sentence into passive, this structure becomes

Subject + will have been + V-3 + by + agent. (Passive Voice)

Ex: The food will have been cooked by her. (Passive Voice)
(Here ‘The food’ becomes subject in passive voice, ‘cooked’ is V-3 (past participle) of cook, and ‘her’ is agent (doer))

See some more examples to clarify this

Shubham will have written homework. (Active Voice)
Homework will have been written by Shubham. (Passive Voice)

Simran will have learnt English. (Active Voice)
English will have been learnt by Simran. (Passive Voice)

Sachin will have played cricket. (Active Voice)
Cricket will have been played by Sachin. (Passive Voice)

Future Tense with Going To

Normal structure of sentence in active voice for future tense with going to is

Subject + am/is/are + going to + verb + object. (Active Voice)

Ex: She is going to cook the food. (Active Voice)
(Here ‘she’ is subject, ‘cook’ is verb and ‘the food’ is object.)

While changing the sentence into passive, this structure becomes

Subject + am/is/are + going to + be + V3 + by + agent. (Passive Voice)

Ex: The food is going to be cooked by her. (Passive Voice)
(Here ‘The food’ becomes subject in passive voice, ‘cooked’ is V-3 (past participle) of cook, and ‘her’ is agent (doer))

See some more examples to clarify this