Let's play with active and passive voice (simple past tense)

Question

Grammar game: Active and Passive Voice - Simple Past Tense

To make a past passive form we use was/were + past participle of the verb.

These are the rules:

Write a sentence using first active and then passive voice

Write both in Spanish and English

Note: Use any verb and pronoun, but just in past tense

Example:

Voice	English	Spanish
Active	I played tennis last sunday	Jugué tenis el domingo pasado
Passive	Tennis was played by me last sunday	El tenis fue jugado por mí el domingo pasado

This is the table template if you want to use it (just copy and paste the blue code):

<table border=3 bgcolor=#DD7500;>
<tr><td><i>Voice</i></td>
<td><i>English</i></td><td>
<i>Spanish</i></td>
<tr><td><b>Active</b></td>
<td>English active sentence</td>
<td>Spanish active sentence</td>
<tr><td><b>Passive</b></td>
<td>English passive sentence</td>
<td>Spanish passive sentence</td>
</table>

dear Carlos, you don't need 'the' before last Sunday. Gracias por este hilo. :) - galsally, Apr 20, 2010

Carlos, in your title it should be "active *and* passive"....you just forgot the "d" ;) - hlsbookworm, Apr 20, 2010

Thanks for doing this Carlos...these excercises are really great! - --Mariana--, Apr 20, 2010

Thank you very much for your corrections... - Carlos-F, Apr 20, 2010

Such pretty colors!! Scrolling down fast makes it look like a rainbow!!! Hahahaha!! :-) - kanani142, Apr 20, 2010

Answer 1

Voice	English	Spanish
Active	A huge cloud of volcanic ash caused the greatest crisis in civil aviation.	Una enorme nube de ceniza volcánica causó la mayor crisis de aviación civil.
Passive	The greatest crisis in civil aviation was caused by a huge cloud of volcanic ash.	La mayor crisis de aviación civil fue causada por una enorme nube de ceniza volcánica.

Corregid mi español, por favor :)) - Issabela, Apr 20, 2010

That's just what I was reading about! :)) - swing, Apr 20, 2010

Well, it's hard not to read, isn't it :) And it seems that the volcano hasn't said its last word yet - Issabela, Apr 20, 2010

Yes... That's why I'm going to Poland by bus :) - swing, Apr 20, 2010

And where exactly are you going to? :) - Issabela, Apr 20, 2010

To Warsaw and Lodz. And where do you live? :) - swing, Apr 20, 2010

Bielsko-Biala, in the south of Poland. - Issabela, Apr 20, 2010

I believe it should be singular (one big cloud)or...A huge cloud of volcanic ash... - MattM, Apr 20, 2010

gracias :) - Issabela, Apr 20, 2010

Excelente... - Carlos-F, Apr 20, 2010

Answer 2

Voice	English	Spanish
Active	The man walked on the moon	El hombre caminó en la luna
Passive	The man was walking on the moon Moon was walked on by the man	La luna fue caminado caminada por el hombre

Be careful. Your passive sentence can't work like that. Read this response I typed to someone else about making a passive sentence: http://www.spanishdict.com/answers/128568/active-voice-to-passive-voice - Luciente, Apr 20, 2010

Ok hopefully that is better - voeglerd, Apr 20, 2010

Question: Does caminada mean walked, or walked on? - Maria-Russell, Apr 20, 2010

Good catch Maria, I think "caminada" is just "walked"... - Carlos-F, Apr 20, 2010

thanks for fixing my sentence, i am a beginner at spanish - voeglerd, Apr 20, 2010

Does that mean he did the moonwalk? - fatchocobo, Apr 21, 2010

Answer 3

Voice	English	Spanish
Active	They translated the exercise correctly.	(Ellos) Tradujeron el ejercicio correctamente.
Passive	The exercise was translated correctly by them	El ejercicio fue traducido correctamente (por ellos)

Answer 4

English Active: I read the newspaper last night. English Passive: The newspaper was read by me last night.

Spanish Active: Leí el periódico anoche.

Spanish Passive: El periódico fue leído por mí anoche.

Excelente... - Carlos-F, Apr 20, 2010

Answer 5

Voice	English	Spanish
Active	She cut the grass on Monday.	Ella cortó el césped el lunes.
Passive	The grass was cut by her on Monday.	El césped fue cortado por ella el lunes.

I needed to use the personal pronoun here, de verdad? So we know the person is female? (It's always me who cuts the grass around here - until the guinea pigs arrive!!!)

Very good... - Carlos-F, Apr 20, 2010

If we don't have more context (in this example) probably it would be better to specify the pronoun... - Carlos-F, Apr 20, 2010

Are they (guinea pigs) good gardeners? - Carlos-F, Apr 20, 2010

They love eating grass! ;) - galsally, Apr 21, 2010

Answer 6

Voice	English	Spanish
Active	I held a meeting today.	Conduje una reunión hoy.
Passive	A meeting was held by me today.	Una reunión fue conducido conducida por mí hoy.

My comments (Carlos F.)

hold a meeting celebrar una reunión | reunirse | convocar una reunión

hold a meeting (idiom) organize and conduct a meeting

I wasn´t sure about the best Spanish verb to use for¨holding a meeting. - 008f2974, Apr 21, 2010

Very good... - Carlos-F, Apr 21, 2010

gracias - 008f2974, Apr 21, 2010

Answer 7

Voice	English	Spanish
Active	I copied this table yesterday for the first time.	Copié esta tabla ayer por primera vez.
Passive	The table was copied by me for the first time yesterday.	La tabla fue copiada por mí por primera vez ayer.

Very good... - Carlos-F, Apr 21, 2010

Answer 8

Voice	English	Spanish
Active	Yesterday I mailed fifty invitations to the graduates.	Ayer envié por correo cincuenta invitaciones a los graduados.
Passive	Yesterday, fifty invitations to the graduates were sent by me.	Ayer, cincuenta invitaciones fueron enviadas por correo a los graduados por mi.

Don't forget to make the adjective "enviado" match in number and gender with "invitaciones". - Luciente, Apr 20, 2010

Luciente, gracias. Lucrecia - Lucrecia, Apr 20, 2010

I fixed your table. - Maria-Russell, Apr 21, 2010

Answer 9

Example:

Voice	English	Spanish
Active	You interfered with my plans.	Usted interferiste interfirió con mis planes or Tú interferiste con mis planes.
Passive	My plans were interfered with by you.	Mis planes fueron interferó con interferidos por usted or por tí.

corrections: as follows:

Voice	English	Spanish
Active	You interferred with my plans.	Usted interfirió con mis planes.
Passive	My plans were interferred with by you.	Mis planes fueron interferidos por usted.

"Usted interferiste" .... "Usted" doesn't match with "interferiste". // for "fueron interferó", you need the past participle (-ado-/ido) for the verb "interferir". Then change it in number to match "planes." - Luciente, Apr 20, 2010

I think you have already made the corrections, but does interferidos = interferred with? Thank you ahead of time. - Maria-Russell, Apr 21, 2010

Answer 10

comer = to eat

Voice	English	Spanish
Active	The Knave of Hearts ate the tarts.	La Sota de los Corazones comió las tartas.
Passive	The tarts were eaten by the Knave of Hearts.	Las tartas fueron comido comidas por la Sota de los Corazones.

Don't forget to make the adjective "comido" match "las tartas" in number and gender. - Luciente, Apr 20, 2010

I was wondering about that...thanks. - CrazyDiamond, Apr 21, 2010

Answer 11

Voice	English	Spanish
Active	Her boss warned her: "Never be late again!".	Su jefe le advirtió: "¡Nunca llegue tarde otra vez!".
Passive	She was warned by her boss not to be late again	Fue advertida por su jefe que no llegue tarde otra vez.

Excelente... - Carlos-F, Apr 20, 2010

Don't forget the "u" after the g in the active/Spanish word llegue - christie2, Apr 21, 2010

Thanks - Krama, Apr 21, 2010

Answer 12

Voice	English	Spanish
Active	I attended my cousin's wedding last weekend.	Atendí a la boda de mi primo el fin de semana pasado.
Passive	My cousin's wedding was attended by me last weekend.	La boda de mi primo fue atendida por mí el fin de semana pasado.

Don't forget to make the adjective "atendido" match "la boda" in number and gender. - Luciente, Apr 20, 2010

I believe the verb you want here is Asistir. (to be present) whereas, if I'm not mistaken atender means more along the lines of "assisted by, tended to" - christie2, Apr 21, 2010

...thank you both:) - luz_72, Apr 21, 2010

Answer 13

Voice	English	Spanish
Active	This week we refunded lots of our clients because of the volcano.	Esta semana reembolsamos muchas a muchos de nuestros clientes debido al volcán.
Passive	This week lots of our clients were refunded because of the volcano.	Esta semana muchas muchos de nuestros clientes fueron reembolsados debido al volcán.

¡Corregid mi español, por favor! - Richard-Thomas, Apr 20, 2010

Edited because I didn't spot the fact we were supposed to be using the past tense! ;-) - Richard-Thomas, Apr 20, 2010

Don't forget to make the adjective "reembolsado" match "clientes" in number and gender. - Luciente, Apr 20, 2010

You refunded money, not clients. - Maria-Russell, Apr 20, 2010

Luciente y Carlos - gracias por la corrección. Maria - Thanks, do those corrections cover the point you are making or do I need to change something else? - Richard-Thomas, Apr 21, 2010

Answer 14

Voice	English	Dpanish.
Active	I cleaned the ditch today.	Limpié la acequia hoy.
Passive	The ditch was cleaned today by me.	La acequia fue limpiado limpiada hoy por me mí.

Very good... - Carlos-F, Apr 21, 2010

thanks - nizhoni1, Apr 21, 2010

Answer 15

Voice	English	Spanish
Active	Many doctors and nurses ran the clinic.	Muchos doctores y enfermeros dirigieron la clínica.
Passive	The clinic was run by many doctors and nurses.	La clínica fue dirigido dirigida por muchos doctores y enfermeros.

Very good... - Carlos-F, Apr 20, 2010