La forma passiva - The passive voice
Uso
La forma passiva (passive form) dei verbi inglesi si usa:
per mettere in evidenza l’azione o il suo risultato. Spesso l’autore dell’azione (rappresentato dal complemento d’agente) non è espresso. In italiano la forma passiva è spesso espressa con il si “impersonale”
La mela è mangiata da John
An apple pie is made by John
quando l’azione è più importante di chi la compie:
Quel vecchio edificio è stato restaurato lo scorso anno
That old building was restored last year.
descrizioni scientifiche, tecniche o accademiche:
In quella fabbrica vengono prodotti occhiali di ottima qualità.
High quality glasses are made in that factory.
per dare ordini, istruzioni, regolamenti:
Il parcheggio non è consentito in questa piazza.
Parking is not allowed in this square.
Nell’inglese informale, si può costruire la forma passiva con una forma del verbo get + participio passato quando si parla di qualcosa che capita inaspettatamente o per caso
John fu punto da un’ape.
John got stung by a bee.
Trasformazioni del verbo | ||
Tempo | Forma attiva | Forma passiva |
Present simple | John locks the car. | The car is locked by John. |
Present continuous | They are washing the car. | The car is being washed. |
Past simple | They made a cake. | A cake was made. |
Past continuous | They were watching a film. | A film was being watched. |
Present perfect | Someone has eaten the apple pie. | The apple pie has been eaten. |
Past perfect | They had stolen a radio. | A radio had been stolen. |
Future simple | They will pay you soon. | You will be paid soon. |
Future with be going to | They are going to drink beers. | Beers are going to be drunk. |
Future perfect | They will have locked the door. | The door will have been locked. |
Present conditional | I would buy that house. | That house would be bought. |
Past conditional | I would have bought that house | That house would have been bought. |
Modals | They can drive the car. We must eat We must eat that meat soon. | The car can be driven. That meat must be eaten That meat must be eaten soon. |
Present infinitive | I need to repair the car. | The car needs to be repaired. |
Past infinitive | You ought to have paid the car soon. | The car ought to have been paid. |