English — The Passive Voice (Simple Present and Simple Past) — Grammar Rules, Examples and Exercises — 4th Year Middle School — Algerian Curriculum

The Passive Voice is a grammatical structure used when the focus is on the action or the receiver of the action, rather than the doer. In this lesson, we will learn how to form and use the passive voice in Simple Present and Simple Past tenses, with clear examples and practice exercises for 4th Year Middle School (4ème Année Moyenne) students.

1. What is the Passive Voice?

In English, there are two voices:

• Active Voice: The subject performs the action.
  Example: The chef cooks the meal. (subject = chef, object = meal)
• Passive Voice: The subject receives the action.
  Example: The meal is cooked by the chef. (subject = meal)

2. Structure of the Passive Voice

The passive voice is formed with: Subject + to be (conjugated) + past participle (V3) + (by + agent)

Simple Present Passive

Form: am / is / are + past participle (V3)

• Active: The student writes the report.
  Passive: The report is written by the student.
• Active: They clean the classroom every day.
  Passive: The classroom is cleaned every day.
• Active: People speak English in many countries.
  Passive: English is spoken in many countries.
• Active: The teacher corrects the exams.
  Passive: The exams are corrected by the teacher.

Simple Past Passive

Form: was / were + past participle (V3)

• Active: The boy broke the window.
  Passive: The window was broken by the boy.
• Active: The students wrote the essays.
  Passive: The essays were written by the students.
• Active: They built the school in 2010.
  Passive: The school was built in 2010.
• Active: She painted the picture.
  Passive: The picture was painted by her.

3. When to Use the Passive Voice

• When the agent (doer) is unknown: My phone was stolen.
• When the agent is obvious: The criminal was arrested.
• When the action is more important than the doer: The new hospital was opened in 2025.
• In formal and scientific writing: The experiment was conducted in a laboratory.

4. Practice Exercises

Exercise 1: Change the active sentences to passive voice (Simple Present).

1. The cat eats the fish. → ________
2. The students clean the board. → ________
3. My mother bakes the cake. → ________
4. They speak French in France. → ________
5. The boy plays the guitar. → ________

Exercise 2: Change the active sentences to passive voice (Simple Past).

1. Shakespeare wrote Hamlet. → ________
2. The children ate the cookies. → ________
3. A famous architect designed the building. → ________
4. The storm damaged the houses. → ________
5. She found the lost keys. → ________

5. Home Activity

Write a short paragraph (5-7 sentences) about your school describing what is done there using the passive voice. For example: “The classrooms are cleaned every day. Homework is checked by the teacher.”

📍 Similar Lessons

Check out these related lessons:
• For and Since with Present Perfect Tense — 4th Year Middle School
• Relative Pronouns (Who, Which, That, Whose) — 4th Year Middle School