Passive voice -2Bac -Cours & Exercices

Passive voice -2Bac -Cours & Exercices

The passive forms of a verb are created by combining a form of the “to be verb” with the past

participle of the main verb. Other helping verbs are also sometimes present: “The measure could  have been killed in committee.” The passive can be used, also, in various tenses. Let’s take a

look at the passive forms of “design.”

Tense	Subject	Auxiliary		Past Participle
		Singular	Plural
Present	The car/cars	is	are	designed.
Present perfect	The car/cars	has been	have been	designed.
Past	The car/cars	was	were	designed.
Past perfect	The car/cars	had been	had been	designed.
Future	The car/cars	will be	will be	designed.
Future perfect	The car/cars	will have been	will have been	designed.
Present progressive	The car/cars	is being	are being	designed.
Past progressive	The car/cars	was being	were being	designed.

Forme

INFINITIF
infinitif actif	to clean (nettoyer)
infinitif passif	to be cleaned (être nettoyé)
passé de l’infinitif	to have cleaned (avoir nettoyé)
passé de l’infinitif passif	to have been cleaned (avoir été nettoyé)

	Simple	Continu
présent	is cleaned	is being cleaned
prétérit	was cleaned	was being cleaned
futur	will be cleaned	will be being cleaned
Present Perfect	has been cleaned	Ne s’emploie pas
Past Perfect	had been cleaned

EXEMPLES
Actif	Passif
A sees B	B is seen by A
A is seeing B	B is being seen by A
A saw B	B was seen by A
A was seeing B	B was being seen by A
A has seen B	B has been seen by A
A will see B	B will be seen by A

Emploi :

En général, on emploie la forme passive lorsqu’on ne s’intéresse pas à, ou ne connaît pas, l’agent:

• On ne connaît pas l’agent, Ex. My car has been stolen. On a volé ma voiture; je nesais pas qui l’a fait. J’aurais pu dire ‘Somebody has stolen my car’ (voix active).
• On ne s’intéresse pas tellement à l’agent mais plutôt à l’action ou au résultat de l’action, Ex. A new office block is being built in the city centre. Tout ce qui m’intéresse est qu’un nouvel immeuble est en train d’être construit; je ne m’intéresse pas à quelle société effectue les travaux.
• On s’intéresse plutôt à l’action (ou au résultat de l’action) qu’à l’agent, Ex. A new cancer treatment has been discovered by scientists in Sweden. Ce qui est intéressant est la découverte d’un nouveau traitement pour le cancer; le fait que cela ait été fait en Suède est moins important pour celui qui en parle.
• L’agent est trop évident pour qu’on se donne la peine de le mentionner, Ex. The suspect was questioned before being released. Il est évident que c’est la police qui a interrogé le suspect avant de le relâcher; tout le monde comprend sans qu’on le dise.
• Le passif est employé pour traduire des phrases du français qui:
• sont à la voix passive aussi;
• ont un verbe pronominal, Ex. Cela ne se fait pas — That just isn’t done;
• sont du genre “on…”, Ex. On m’a invité à une fête — I’ve been invited to a party.

Exemples

Voici quelques exemples:

• Présent simple: Ex. Football is played in most countries — le football est joué dans la plupart des pays.
• Présent continu: Ex. My car is being repaired — ma voiture est en train d’être réparée.
• Prétérit simple: Ex. The eclipse was seen only in the northern hemisphere — l’éclipse a été vue seulement dans l’hémisphère nord.
• Prétérit continu: Ex. My hair was being cut when the accident happened — j’étais en train de me faire couper les cheveux lorsque l’accident s’est produit.
• Present Perfect simple: Ex. The fugitive has been arrested — on a arrêté le fugitif.
• Futur: Ex. A new version of Linux will be released soon — une nouvelle version de Linux sera bientôt commercialisée.
• Infinitif: Ex. Computer discs should be defragmented regularly — les disques durs devraient être défragmentés régulièrement.
• Passé de l’infinitif: Ex. My car must have been stolen; it’s no longer where I left it — ma voiture a dû être volée; elle n’est plus là où je l’ai laissée.
• Gérondif: Ex. Most people like receiving presents — la plupart des gens aiment recevoir des cadeaux.
• Gérondif passé: Ex. We were angry at having been deceived — nous étions en colère parce qu’on nous avait trompés.

 Exercices :

a. Turn these sentences into the passive.

1. My uncle manages a huge firm.
2. My children like toys very much.
3. My little sister sometimes asks stupid questions.
4. Those people are talking about politics.
5. They are writing the test exercises at the present time.
6. Kamal is carrying a heavy box.
7. I have sent a parcel to the USA.
8. Jalil has received two letters.
9. Willy has bought a limousine.

b. Turn these sentences into the passive.

1. Ziryab composed some beautiful love songs.
2. Hind lost her family in a road accident.
3. The customer ordered a green salad and a cheese sandwich.
4. I was cleaning my room when the light went out.
5. My wife was making a pizza when I arrived home.
6. The teacher was explaining the irregular verbs to the students.
7. She had taken all my books.
8. I replied the teacher’s question politely.
9. Pablo Picasso had painted Guernica in 1937.

c. Turn these sentences into the passive.

1. Jalil and Jamal will finish the job tomorrow.
2. The dog will eat the bone.
3. They will move before June.
4. He will have begun the job by next week.
5. Man will have set colonies in the moon by the year 2050.
6. I will have completed his high studies by the end of next year.
7. They are going to have some Chinese food for dinner.
8. Jalil is going to offer me a watch for my coming birthday.
9. She is going to invite her friends for lunch next weekend.

d. Turn these sentences into the passive.

1. Jalil can speak two foreign languages.
2. The firm may give a high rise to the workers.
3. The lazy students might get weak marks in the test.
4. Jamal should learn the irregular verbs.
5. Drivers ought to respect the traffic law.
6. Obese people had better practise sport everyday.
7. Moroccan people must apply for visas to travel to the UK.
8. The prisoners have to clean their cells every weekend.

e. Turn these sentences into the passive.

1. My little brother should have broken the vase.
2. He should have got a bad mark in the French test.
3. Students ought to have learned the irregular verbs by heart.
4. The bank may have received my fax.
5. The boss may have offered Jamal a new duty in the company.
6. She might have done the homework correctly.
7. They might have had dinner in a Chinese diner.
8. The ministers of foreign affairs might have talked about the world economic crisis.

Pour tester si vous avez bien compris, essayez ces deux exercices: exercice 1, exercice 2