Another important topic in Portuguese grammar we have to study today. Of course, you can skip this topic, never use it, but you won’t look fluent. In addition, you can hear it in someone else’s speech or see it in the text. So today’s topic is the Passive Voice.
Creation
In the Passive Voice, the subject (noun or pronoun) expresses the person or thing the action is directed at.
That is, in Portuguese it would be expressed through the obligatory verb “ser” (to be). And also, we need to remember the past participle (particípio passado), into which the main verb of the action turns. For example:
Todos os dias eles compram leite no supermercado. (Every day they buy milk in the supermarket.)
Todos os dias o leite é comprado no supermercado. (Every day milk is bought at the store.)
The verb “ser” (to be) is put in the right tense and the right form. That is, it changes forms and endings depending on the time of what is happening, the type and number of the object. That is, you can say “o leite foi comprado” (the milk was bought) or “vai ser comprado” (the milk will be bought).
We will look at the plural cases in the next paragraph.
Past Participle
Let’s remember that the past participle for regular verbs is formed by changing their endings “-ar” and “-er, –ir” to “-ado” and “-ido” respectively. Part of the past participles we have already seen in the theme Pretérito Mais-que-Perfeito Composto do Indicativo. Let’s add a few more for this topic, in this case some irregular ones, those most frequently used:
| Verbs | Particípio Passado |
| aceitar (to accept) | aceite |
| acender (to turn on) | aceso |
| entregar (to deliver) | entregue |
| matar (to kill) | morto |
| prender (to arrest) | preso |
| salvar (to save) | salvo |
However, this time, in the case of the Passive Voice, the ending of the past participle must be changed depending on the gender and number of the object. That is, consider the plural variant of the object:
Estes livros foram escritos há muito tempo. (These books were written long ago.)
As flores serão plantadas daqui a um mês. (Flowers will be planted in a month.)
In these examples, you can see that both the verb “ser” and the past participle change accordingly.
There are double past participles, which in Tempos Compostos are changed as regular verbs, and in the Passive Voice as irregular. These are just all those participles of the past that we indicated in the table earlier.
Preposition “por”
If an action is performed on an object, then there is someone who performs it. To indicate this, we need to use the preposition “por“. Don’t forget that the preposition “por” merges with definite articles:
O bolo mais doce foi feito pela Maria. (The sweetest cake was made by Maria.)
O projeto foi feito pelos meus colegas. (The project was made by my colleagues.)
“Attractors”
Often we have to deal with reflexive particles, pronouns of direct and indirect objects. They change their location if “attractive” words appear (não, quando, como, se, etc.), so you need to know where they go within a given topic. Examples will make everything clear.
A Elisa está de castigo. Não lhe vai ser oferecido um presente. (Elise is punished. The gift will not be given to her.)
O David não veio à reunião, porque a informação não lhe foi transmitida. (David did not come to the meeting because the information was not given to him.)
In short, the particle moves ahead of the whole structure, but after the attracting word.
The Verb “estar”
In the Passive Voice topic, we can also use the verb “estar”. In this case, we state the result and describe the state of the object. Compare the following examples:
A Elena leu o livro. (Elena read the book.)
O livro foi lido pela Elena. (The book was read by Elena.)
O livro está lido. (Book read.)
The first example is Active Voice. The second example is the Passive Voice, the third is the Passive Voice of the State.
Passive Voice in Tempos Compostos
You already know that Tempos Compostos are formed in the following way: ter + partcípio passado. But in the Passive Voice there are two main verbs: “ser” and the semantic verb. What is the communion of the past made of? It is logical that from both verbs. Only past participle from the verb “ser” does not change according to the genders and numbers of the object, while past participle from the semantic verb does.
Namely:
Os dentes dele já tinham sido tratados quando ele foi participar num concurso de beleza. (His teeth had already been fixed when he entered the beauty pageant.)
A polícia anunciou que os criminosos tinham sido presos no dia anterior. (The police announced that the criminals had been caught the day before.)
Conclusion
We did not deal with this topic earlier, because first it was necessary to look at all kinds of verbal tenses and verb forms. As soon as you were ready for it, we wrote this article. We may not be paying attention, but every day we use the Passive Voice as often as the Active Voice. And now you know how to do it in Portuguese!