La voz pasiva pone el foco en la acción o en quien la recibe, no en quien la hace. Es muy frecuente en textos periodísticos y científicos, justo el tipo de texto que encontrarás en la PAU. Su estructura es siempre la misma: be en el tiempo del verbo activo + participio. En 1.º de Bachillerato añadimos la pasiva con dos objetos y las construcciones impersonales del tipo «It is said that…».
Objetivos
- Formar la pasiva en todos los tiempos y con verbos modales
- Decidir cuándo incluir el agente con by
- Pasar a pasiva verbos con dos objetos (give, send, offer…)
- Usar la pasiva impersonal: It is said that… / He is said to…
1. La estructura en todos los tiempos
objeto de la activa → sujeto + be (en el tiempo de la activa) + participio
| Tiempo | Activa | Pasiva |
|---|---|---|
| Present simple | They clean the room. | The room is cleaned. |
| Present continuous | They are cleaning the room. | The room is being cleaned. |
| Past simple | They cleaned the room. | The room was cleaned. |
| Past continuous | They were cleaning the room. | The room was being cleaned. |
| Present perfect | They have cleaned the room. | The room has been cleaned. |
| Past perfect | They had cleaned the room. | The room had been cleaned. |
| Future (will) | They will clean the room. | The room will be cleaned. |
| Modal | They must clean the room. | The room must be cleaned. |
| Modal perfecto | They should have cleaned the room. | The room should have been cleaned. |
2. El agente y los verbos con dos objetos
- Se incluye el agente con by solo si es importante: «Guernica was painted by Picasso».
- Se omite si es evidente, desconocido o poco importante: «My bike was stolen» (no «by someone»).
- Verbos con dos objetos (give, send, show, offer, tell, lend): lo más habitual es que la persona sea el sujeto: «They gave Lucía a prize» → «Lucía was given a prize».
- También es posible: «A prize was given to Lucía».
3. La pasiva impersonal
Con verbos de opinión o información (say, think, believe, know, expect, report, consider) hay dos estructuras para presentar algo que «se dice» sin citar fuente:
| Estructura | Ejemplo (People say that the castle is haunted.) |
|---|---|
| It + is said + that + oración | It is said that the castle is haunted. |
| Sujeto + is said + to + infinitivo | The castle is said to be haunted. |
Paso a paso: con un hecho anterior
«People believe that the thief escaped through the window.»
- Con it: It is believed that the thief escaped through the window.
- Con el sujeto: la acción (escaped) es anterior a la creencia (believe) → to have + participio.
- The thief is believed to have escaped through the window.
Recuerda
- Pasiva = be (en el tiempo de la activa) + participio.
- Continuos: being + participio; perfectos: been + participio; modales: modal + be + participio.
- by + agente solo cuando aporta información.
- Con dos objetos, la persona suele ser el sujeto: She was given a prize.
- Pasiva impersonal: It is said that… / X is said to + infinitivo (o to have + participio).
¡Ahora te toca a ti!
Comprueba que lo has entendido con los ejercicios y repasa con el resumen.