Exercice de grammaire sur le PASSIF

1. Observons la phrase suivante: The police are arresting the thief
Dans cette phrase ayant une structure active, nous avons:
• Un sujet actif: the police
• Un verbe: to arrest
• Un complément d’objet (ou sujet passif, qui subit l’action): the thief
La même phrase peut être présentée différemment, c’est-à-dire qu’au lieu de mettre
l’accent sur celui qui accomplit l’action (le sujet actif) on met l’accent sur celui sur qui
subit l'action (le sujet passif). On utilise alors une structure passive.
Exemple: Our neighbour was killed by a thief. →Notre voisin a été tué par un voleur.
Pour former le passif, on utilise :
• l'auxiliaire BE (conjugué au temps de la phrase de départ),
• suivi du PARTICIPE PASSÉ.
Cela veut dire que si la phrase est au prétérit, on garde le même temps pour la phrase
au passif. Donc on va conjuguer BE au prétérit, ce qui donne: was (sing) ou were (plur).
Puis on rajoute le participe passé du verbe.
Pour rappel: Si le verbe est régulier, il suffit de rajouter -ED comme au prétérit, mais
pour les verbes irréguliers, il faut se reférer à la 3e colonne de la liste des verbes
irréguliers que vous avez tous appris!!!

2. Si on transforme une phrase à la voix active en phrase à la voix passive, le sujet (qui était en 1ère
position) devient complément d'agent (en dernière position) et le C.O.D. (qui était à la fin) se
retrouve en première position. Si on trace des traits, cela forme une croix.
A thief killed our neighbour
(= Prétérit de KILL)
Our neighbour was killed by a thief
1 + 2
(1= Prétérit de BE
+ 2= Participe passé de KILL)

3. Modification typiques des formes aspectuo-temporelles:
Temps : Voix active Voix passive
Présent Simple They sell cars on the net
They speak english in this
family
Cars are sold on the net
English is spoken in this
family
Ils vendent des voitures
sur le net
On parle anglais dans
cette famille
Présent BE ING They are preparing a new
fashion show
A new fashion show is
being prepared
Un nouveau défilé de
mode est en préparation
Prétérit They took a lot of photos
on the moon
A lot of photos were
taken on the moon
De nombreuses photos
furent prises sur la lune
Present Perfect I have sold all my
paintings
All my paintings have
been sold
Tous mes tableaux ont
été vendus
Pluperfect The engineers had
originally built the Titanic
to be « unsinkable »
The Titanic had been
originally built to be
« unsinkable »
Le Titanic avait été
construit à l’origine pour
être « insubmersible ».
Futur Simple Man will explore more
and more planets.
More and more planets
will be explored.
On / l’homme explorera
de plus en plus de
planètes
Conditionnel The volcano would
destroy many villages, if
it erupted.
Many villageswould be
destroyed by the volcano
if it erupted.
De nombreux villages
seraient détruits par le
volcan s’il entrait en
éruption.

4. Make sentences in the passive form.
Use the object of the active sentence as
the subject of your passive sentence.

5. Jonathan Swift / wrote / this novel / in the
18th century (1721)

6. This novel was written in the 18th century
(1721) by Jonathan Swift

7. James Cameron / made / the film
« Avatar » / in 2009

8. The film « Avatar » was made by James
Cameron in 2009

9. Norman Rockwell / painted / « Triple self-
portrait » / in 1960

10. « Triple self-portrait » was painted by
Norman Rockwell in 1960

11. John Lennon / composed / the song
« Imagine » / in 1971

12. The song « Imagine » was composed by
John Lennon in 1971

13. Danish architect Jørn Utzon / designed /
the famous Opera House in Sydney

14. The famous Opera House in Sydney was
designed by the Danish architect Jørn
Utzon

15. She / never / feed / the lion / outside his
cage

16. The lion is never fed outside his cage.

17. The strikers / are breaking / the walls of
separation

18. The walls of separation are being broken by
the strikers / /

19. The little girl / has beaten / the eggs

20. The eggs have been beaten by the little girl

21. The astronauts / will take / new photos / of
the moon

22. New photos of the moon will be taken by
the astronauts

23. A young female engineer/ has invented /
this robot

24. This robot has been invented by a young
female engineer

25. Maybe his parents / should give/ him /
another present

26. Maybe he should be given another present

27. Someone / could have built / this house / in a pre-
historic period

28. This house could have been built in a pre-
historic period

29. The doctors / must tell / this woman / the
truth

30. This woman must be told the truth by the
doctors

31. They /took / the children / to the park

32. The children were taken to the park

33. The managing director/ can’t fire / all the
employees / now

34. All the employees can’t be fired now (by
the managing director)

35. I / have found / this painting/ in a flea
market

36. This painting has been found in a flea
market

37. The police / have already arrested / the
thief

38. The thief has already been arrested by the
police

39. I / may repair / your car for next week

40. Your car may be repaired for next week

41. You / can change / your ticket / within 2
days

42. Your ticket can be changed within 2 days

43. They / would keep / him / in prison / if they
thought he was dangerous

44. He would be kept in prison if they thought
he was dangerous

45. A taxi driver / will take/ you / back to
school

46. You will be taken back to school (by a taxi
driver)

47. He / must catch / the prisoner / before it is
too late

48. The prisoner must be caught before it is
too late

49. The De Beers Group / bought / this
diamond called « the Heart of eternity » /
for $16 Millions

50. This diamond called « the Heart of
eternity » was bought by the De Beers
Group for $16 Millions