Active and Passive Voice Rules with Examples (CBSE)

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Many CBSE students find active and passive voice confusing the first time they meet it. The good news is that once you learn the pattern-breaking rules — what changes and what stays the same — converting a sentence becomes a mechanical, repeatable process rather than a guessing game.

This guide walks through those exact rules: how the subject and object switch places, how the verb form changes across each tense, and the special cases for modal verbs, questions, and commands. Once you can apply these rules by structure alone, you won't need to memorise individual sentences.

Let's start with what "voice" actually means in grammar.

What Does "Voice" Mean in a Sentence? 

In everyday language, "voice" means sound. In grammar, it means something different: focus. Voice tells you whether a sentence's focus is on the person doing the action or on the person/thing receiving it. There are two types of voice — active and passive.

What Is Active Voice? 

Active voice is used when the action is performed by the subject. The subject is whoever carries out the action (the verb) in the sentence.

Structure: Subject + Verb + Object

Example: "He will pay the fine." To find the subject, ask a "who" question: Who will pay the fine? — the answer, "he," is the subject. "Pay" is the action (verb), and the focus of the sentence sits on the subject who performs it.

What Is Passive Voice? 

Passive voice is used when the action is received rather than performed — the focus shifts away from who does the action and onto what happens to the object.

Example: "The fine will be paid by him." Here the focus is on the fine itself — what will happen to it — rather than on who is doing the paying.

Structure: Object + Verb (helping verb + past participle) + by + Subject

Compare the two versions of the same idea side by side:

General Rules for Changing Active Voice into Passive Voice

Before working through tense-by-tense formulas, four rules apply every single time you convert a sentence:

1. The subject of the active sentence becomes the object of the passive sentence. Example: "Kanika is cleaning the house" → "The house is being cleaned by Kanika."
2. The third form of the verb (past participle) is always used in the passive sentence.
3. A "be" auxiliary (is, am, are, was, were, being, been) is added before the past participle, matching the tense of the original sentence.
4. "By" is placed before the object that used to be the subject. Example: "The teachers are attending a meeting" → "A meeting has been attended by the teachers."

There is one more rule that applies specifically to pronouns:

Pronouns change into the objective case when converted to passive voice. Names, however, stay exactly as they are — a name never becomes "he," "she," or "it."

Example: "I water my plants every day" → "My plants are watered by me every day."

With these five rules fixed in place, you can move on to how each tense changes shape.

How to Change Tenses While Converting Active to Passive Voice

Each tense has its own passive formula. Two tenses — Present Perfect Continuous and Future Continuous — are not converted into passive voice at all.

Simple Present Tense

Active: Subject + V1(+s/es) + Object Passive: Object + is/am/are + V3 + by + Subject Example: "She plucks flowers from the plant" → "The flowers are plucked from the plant by her."

Present Continuous Tense

Active: Subject + is/am/are + V1+ing + Object Passive: Object + is/am/are + being + V3 + by + Subject Example: "Vaibhav is making a loud noise" → "A loud noise is being made by Vaibhav."

Present Perfect Tense

Active: Subject + has/have + V3 + Object Passive: Object + has/have + been + V3 + by + Subject Example: "Arpita has forgotten his name" → "His name has been forgotten by Arpita."

Simple Past Tense

Active: Subject + V2 + Object Passive: Object + was/were + V3 + by + Subject Example: "Nobody believed their fake stories" → "Their fake stories were believed by nobody."

Past Continuous Tense

Active: Subject + was/were + V1+ing + Object Passive: Object + was/were + being + V3 + by + Subject Example: "She was reading a novel written by K. Thomson" → "A novel written by K. Thomson was being read by her."

Past Perfect Tense

Active: Subject + had + V3 + Object Passive: Object + had + been + V3 + by + Subject Example: "I had watched the movie earlier" → "The movie had been watched earlier by me."

Simple Future Tense

Active: Subject + shall/will + V1 + Object Passive: Object + shall/will + be + V3 + by + Subject Example: "Arijit will never forgive Rinny for her blunder" → "Rinny will never be forgiven for her blunder by Arijit."

Future Perfect Tense

Active: Subject + shall/will + have + V3 + Object Passive: Object + shall/will + have + been + V3 + by + Subject Example: "A scientist will have invented a device for artificial sleep in the future" → "A device for artificial sleep will have been invented in the future by our scientist."

💡 Expert Tip : Present Perfect Continuous Tense and Future Continuous Tense are not converted into passive voice — don't try to force a formula onto these two.

How to Change Modal Verbs (Can, Could, May, Should) into Passive Voice 

Modal auxiliaries — can, could, may, might, should, must, and similar words — follow a different rule. When a sentence in active voice contains a modal auxiliary, the modal verb itself never changes. Only the main verb changes.

Structure: Object + Modal + be + V3 + by + Subject

Example: "Shaurya can cook many international cuisines" → "Many international cuisines can be cooked by Shaurya."

The modal ("can") stays exactly as it was — only "cook" becomes "be cooked."

How to Change Question (Interrogative) Sentences into Passive Voice 

Interrogative sentences fall into two types, and each converts differently.

Wh- Questions (What, Why, When, Where, Which, How)

These question words do not change and stay at the start of the sentence.

Structure: Wh-word + was/were (or is/am/are, or shall/will, matching the original tense) + Object + V3 + by + Subject

Example: "What did you buy?" → "What was bought by you?"

Exception: "Who" is the one Wh- word that does change — it becomes "by whom" in passive voice. Example: "Who told you about tomorrow's holiday?" → "By whom were you told about tomorrow's holiday?"

Yes/No Questions (Do, Does, Did)

Questions that start with the helping verbs do, does, did change into "be" verbs (is, am, are, was, were) in the passive voice.

Example: "Do they perform fine arts?" → "Are fine arts performed by them?"

How to Change Imperative Sentences into Passive Voice 

Imperative sentences — orders, requests, and commands — usually don't mention a subject at all. Even so, they can be converted into passive voice in two ways, depending on the type of sentence.

Type 1: Sentences with Suggestions, Advice, or Requests

Example: "Do not harm the animals" can be written in passive voice as: "You are advised not to harm the animals," or "The animals should not be harmed."

The simplest way to convert this type is to identify whether the sentence is giving a suggestion, advice, or a request, and rephrase it as: "You are advised/requested/ordered/commanded (not) to + verb + object."

Type 2: Sentences Starting with "Let"

When a sentence begins with "Let," the word "Let" stays unchanged, and the rest of the sentence follows the object-first passive pattern.

Structure: Let + Object + be + V3 + by + Subject (pronoun)

Example: "Let him feed the dog" → "Let the dog be fed by him."