Lesson 55: Passive / Il Passivo

The passive voice (la forma passiva) is a construction in which the direct object becomes the subject and the subject becomes the agent. The passive voice is used with transitive verbs (that is, verbs that take a direct object) - verbs such as venire, sembrare, arrivare, dormire, etc. cannot be used passively (as they do not take direct objects).

Let's compare the two following sentences:

Active voice: John hit the ball.
Passive voice: The ball is hit by John.

In the active sentence, John is the subject. The ball is the direct object - the receiver of the action (hitting). In the passive sentence, the subject is the ball and John is now the agent.

1. The Italian passive voice is form exactly the same way as in English. The passive can be formed with essere or venire. The only caveat with venire is that it cannot be used passively in compound tenses.
   
   It is formed in the following manner:
   
   subject + essere/venire¹ + past participle (+ da² + person/agent)
   
   
   • Present/Presente:
     
     The car is bought by Jane.
     La macchina è comprata da Giovanna.
     La macchina viene comprata da Giovanna.
     
     
   • Passato Prossimo:
     
     The car has been bought by Jane.
     La macchina è stata comprata da Giovanna.
     Only essere can be used passively with the passato prossimo!
     
     
   • Passato Remoto:
     
     The car was bought by Jane.
     La macchina venne comprata da Giovanna.
     La macchina fu comprata da Giovanna.
     
     
   • Imperfect/Imperfetto:
     
     The car was bought by Jane.
     The car was being bought by Jane.
     La macchina era comprata da Giovanna.
     La macchina veniva comprata da Giovanna.
     
     Remember, that the imperfect also has the meaning, "used to":
     
     The cheese used to be eaten by the mice until we bought a cat.
     Il formaggio era mangiato dai topi finchè abbiamo comprato un gatto.
     
     
   • Trapassato Prossimo:
     
     The car had been bought by Giovanna.
     La macchina era stata comprata da Giovanna.
     
     
   • Future/Futuro:
     
     The car will be bought by Jane.
     La macchina sarà comprata da Giovanna.
     La macchina verrà comprata da Giovanna.
     
     
   • Conditional/Condizionale:
     
     The car would be bought by Jane.
     La macchina sarebbe comprata da Giovanna.
     La macchina verebbe comprata da Giovanna.
     
     
2. The passive can also be formed with andare + past participle, but this implies an obligation or necessity, and is synonymous with dovere essere + past participle (has to be, must be):
   
   The bills must be paid.
   I conti devono essere pagati.
   I conti vanno pagati.
   
   NB: In compound tenses, past participles (that of essere and the second verb) must agree with the subject.
   

¹Venire can be used passively only with these tenses:

• presente indicativo
• presente congiuntivo
• passato remoto
• imperfetto
• congiuntivo imperfetto
• futuro semplice
• condizionale
  
  Essere must be used for all compound tenses in the past.

²If the person or agent performing the action is expressed after the verb, then da precedes it.

³Make sure that the past participle agrees with your subject (not the agent).

last updated: 07 May 2009