What is the passive?

Question

Azerbaijani Turkish marks the passive totally different than in English, so I have trouble identifying the Passive. What are giveways that a certain clause is in the passive in English?

Answer 1

Passive voice is not commonly used in spoken English, but it is used frequently in written English.  We form the passive voice with the auxiliary verb ‘to be’ (in the correct tense) + the past participle.

ACTIVE My father built this bridge in 1964.

PASSIVE This bridge was built by my father in 1964.

ACTIVE They grow rice in China.

PASSIVE Rice is grown in China.

In active voice the subject does the action.  In passive voive the action is done to the subject.  Hope this helps you.

Answer 2

ACTIVE:

People eat frogs in France.

People ate frogs in France.

People will eat frogs in France.

PRESENT PASSIVE:

Frogs are eaten in France.

PAST PASSIVE:

Frogs were eaten in France.

FUTURE PASSIVE;

Frogs will be eaten in France.

You can also complicate things more with Present Perfect Passive (Frogs have been eaten in France), Past Perfect Passive (Frogs had been eaten in France ) , Present Continuous Passive (Dogs are being eaten in France), etc.