Active And Passive Voice For Class 5

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Consider the following two sentences.

Shivani was eating the food.
The food was eaten by Shivani.

Do you know the difference between these two sentences? As you see in the above sentences, in the first sentence the subject is Shivani, the verb is ‘was eating’ and the object is ‘food’. In the Second sentence, the subject is ‘the food’, the verb is ‘was eaten’ and the object is ‘Shivani’. The active voice sentence subject becomes the passive voice object. The meanings of both sentences remain the same but the structure is different. The passive voice describes what the person performs in action, whereas the active voice describes what happens to the person who does the action.

Active Voice

In an Active voice, a sentence tells what a person or thing does in which the subject performs the action on an object.

Example:-

Mehak is eating a banana.

Passive Voice

In Passive voice, a sentence tells us what is done to someone or the subject is being acted upon. The action is on the subject not by the subject.

Example:-

The bananas are being eaten by Mehak.

Let us learn more examples of active and passive voice.

Active Voice	Passive voice
Reema sung a lovely song.	Lovely song is sung by Reems.
She helped me.	I was helped by her.
Mr. Sharma teaches poor people	Poor people are taught by Mr. Sharma.
He throw the ball far away.	The ball was thrown by him far away.
They are watching Tv.	The TV is being watched by them.
They eat the food in the morning.	The food was eaten by them in the morning.
She makes a cake.	A cake is made by her.
He play football.	Football is played by him.
I completed my homework.	My homework is completed.
He hit the ball.	The ball was hit by him.

Table of Pronouns used in the active and passive voice.

Active Voice Pronoun	Passive Voice Pronoun
I	Me
We	Us
He	Him
She	Her
They	Them
You	You
It	It

Change of tense in the Active and Passive Voice

1. Simple present tense

It expresses an action that is present or usually done on regular basis.

Active voice (subject + verb + object)

Passive voice (object + is / am / are + V3 + by + subject)

Active voice	Passive voice
The teacher teaches the students.	The students are taught by the teacher.
I love my pet dog.	My pet dog is loved by me.
Riya is washing the utensils.	The utensils are washed by Riya.
Do you read novels?	Is novels read by you?
He speaks both languages German and French.	German and French both language spoken by him.

2. Present continuous tense

It expresses continued action which is progress at the time of speaking.

Active voice (Subject+ is/ am/ are + V1 + ing+ object)

Passive voice (Object + is / am/ are + being +V3 + by + subject)

Active voice	Passive voice
He is eating food.	A food is being eaten by him.
They are laughing at Myra.	Maya is being laughed by them.
Pihu is reading a book.	A book is being read by Pihu.
Someone is helping Shreya.	Shreya is being helped by someone.
She is making coffee.	Coffee is being made by her.

3. Present perfect tense

It expresses the action that happened or complete a short time before but not for a very long time.

Active voice (Subject+ has/ have+ V3 + Object)

Passive voice (Object + has / have + been + V3 + by + subject)

Active voice	Passive voice
She has eaten an orange.	An Orange has been eaten by her.
She has lost the watch.	The watch has been lost by her.
He has finished the work.	The work has been finished by him.
He has told a lie.	A lie has been told by him.
Someone has stolen my purse.	My purse has been stolen by someone.

4. Simple Past tense

An action that happened or was completed in past.

Active voice (Subject+ V2 + Object)

Passive voice (Object+ was/were + V3+ by+ Subject)

Active voice	Passive voice
He wrote a letter.	A letter was written by him.
They won the match.	The match was won by them.
She purchased a pen.	A pen was purchased by her.
The child did not complete his homework.	The homework was not completed by the child.
The teacher gave me a chocolate.	I was given chocolate by my teacher.

5. Past continuous tense

It expresses and continues or ongoing action that occurred in past and was completed in past.

Active voice (Subject+ was/ were + V1 + ing+ object)

Passive voice (Object+ was/were + being + V3 + by+ subject)

Active Voice	Passive voice
Siya was cooking food.	Food was being cooked by Siya.
Saira was driving a car.	A car was being driven by Saira.
Tom was writing a letter.	A letter was being written by him.
The girls were making a project.	A project was made by the girls.
The gardener was watering the plants.	The plants were being watered by the gardener.

6. Past perfect tense

It expresses an action that has occurred in the past and an action in past.

Active voice (Subject+ has + V3 + Object)

Passive voice (Object+ had+ been+ V3+ by+ subject)

Active voice	Passive voice
He had written a letter.	A letter had been written by him.
Had she spoken a lie?	Had a lie been spoken by her?
They informed the police.	The police had been informed by them.
She had completed the work.	The work had been completed by her.
The father scolds his son.	His son has been scolded by his father.

7. Simple Future tense

It expresses an action that will occur in the future.

Active voice (Subject+ shall/ will+ V1+ Object)

Passive voice (Object+ shall/ will + be+ V3+ by+ Subject)

Active voice	Passive voice
They shall help him.	He will be helped by them.
She will do the work.	The work will be done by her.
She will give you a surprise.	The surprise will be given to you by her.
He shall do the sum.	The sun will be done by him.
Her mother will clean the kitchen.	The kitchen was cleaned by her mother.

8. Future perfect tense

It expresses an action that will occur in the future completely in future.

Active voice (Subject+ shall /will + have + V3 + object)

Passive voice (Object+ shall/ will + have + been + V3 + by+ Subject)

Active voice	Passive voice
She shall buy a pen.	A pen shall have been bought by her.
She will have written a poem.	A poem will have been written by her.
They will have completed the work.	The work will have completed by them.
She will have finished the work.	The work will have been finished by her.
The girl will sing a song.	The song will have been sung by a girl.

9. Future continuous tense

It expresses continued ongoing action in the future.

Active voice (Subject+ will/shall+ be + verb + ing + object)

Passive voice (Object+ shall/ will + be+ being+ V3 + by+ subject)

Active voice	Passive voice
The teacher will be teaching maths.	Maths will be being taught by the teacher.
He shall be playing football.	Football shall be being played by him.
My sister will be receiving the gift.	The gift will be being received by my friend.
Mr. Sharma will be typing the poem.	The poem will be being written by Mr Sharma.
Tom will be making breakfast for everyone	Everyone's breakfast will be made by Tom.