Past perfect (attivo e passivo)

Passato perfetto (voce attiva e passiva)

In questo post impareremo come usare la voce passiva del passato perfetto e come cambiare la voce attiva nella voce passiva del passato perfetto.

Active and passive voice in the Past perfect tense

Capiamo in quali situazioni usiamo la voce attiva e passiva al passato perfetto.

Quando usare la voce attiva al passato perfetto?

Scriviamo frasi con la voce attiva del Past Perfect quando vogliamo concentrarci sulla persona/persone che hanno compiuto un’azione in passato prima di un’altra azione o tempo.

Structure: Subject + had + past participle (V3) + object

• Subject = the doer of the action
• Object = the receiver of the action

Examples:

• Lei aveva terminato il progetto prima della scadenza.
• Loro avevano lasciato il lavoro.

In questi esempi, ci concentriamo sulla persona o sulle persone che hanno eseguito l’azione in passato.

When to use the passive voice in the Past perfect tense?

 

Le frasi sono scritte al past perfect passivo quando vogliamo concentrarci sul destinatario dell’azione: quando vogliamo parlare di cosa o su chi ha agito l’autore dell’azione.

E poiché spostiamo l’attenzione sull’oggetto del verbo dal soggetto, l’oggetto diventa il soggetto e il soggetto (che agisce) diventa un’entità irrilevante o meno importante in una frase.

Structure: Object + had been + past participle (V3) + by + subject (doer)

Examples:

• The project had been completed by her before the deadline.
• The job had been quit by them.

Active and passive voice of Past perfect tense

Active voice:	Subject	had	V3	object
Passive voice:	object	had + been	V3	(by + subject)

 

• Attivo: avevo pagato i soldi.
  (concentrandosi sull’autore dell’azione ‘io’)
• Passivo: il denaro era stato pagato (da me).
  (concentrandosi sull’oggetto su cui è stata agita l’azione “Il denaro”)

Nota che di solito non aggiungiamo l’autore dell’azione alla frase, poiché non è importante per il significato della frase o è già compreso. Ma è interamente una tua scelta farlo.

Changing active voice into passive voice in the Past Perfect tense

Active: We had trained them well.
Passive: They had been trained well (by us).

Active: Some people had followed her to her office.
Passive: She had been followed to her office (by some people).

Active: The teacher had thrown us out of the class.
Passive: We had been thrown out of the class (by the teacher).

Active: They had copied all my answers.
Passive: All my answers had been copied (by them).

Active: Someone had stolen my car before I reached home.
Passive: My car had been stolen (by someone) before I reached home.

Active: The police had arrested him.
Passive: He had been arrested (by the police).

Active: His parents had warmed him before he did the crime.
Passive: He had been warned (by his parents) before he did the crime.

Active: She had saved my family from those people.
Passive: My family had been saved from those people (by her).

Negative sentences (Active and voice voice)

Active and passive voice of Past perfect tense (negative sentences)

Active voice:	Subject	had	not	V3	object
Passive voice:	Object	had + been	not	V3	by + subject (optional)

Active: He had not invited me for the party.
Passive: I had not been invited for the party (by him).

Active: Sam hadn’t helped us at all.
Passive: We hadn’t been helped at all (by Sam).

Active: We had not recorded the video.
Passive: The video had not been recorded (by us).

Active: She hadn’t bought anything at the store.
Passive: Nothing had been bought at the store (by her).

NOTA: se “qualcosa” è l’oggetto del verbo attivo in una frase negativa, cambierà in “niente” nella voce passiva.

Interrogative sentences (Active and voice voice)

Active and passive voice of Past perfect tense (interrogative sentences)

Active voice:	Question words (if any)	had	subject	V3	object?
Passive voice:	Question words	had	object	been + V3	(by + subject)?

Examples:

Active: Had you called me?
Passive: Had I been called by you?

Active: Had he not helped you in your assignment?
Passive: Had you not been helped in your assignment by him?

Active: Had they contacted you for the class?
Passive: Had you been contacted for the class by them?

Active: Where had she invested the money?
Passive: Where had the money been invested by her?

Active: Why had you sold the car?
Passive: Why had the car been sold by you?

Active: What had you taken before lunch?
Passive: What had been taken before lunch by you?

Practice!

1. Nobody had helped me in my tough times.
2. My friends had supported my family.
3. Some people had attacked his wife.
4. Where had he taken the money from?
5. Had they called her?
6. How had you done that?
7. Everyone had mocked me for my pronunciation.
8. They hadn’t released the movie before the end.
9. Somebody had deposited a lot of money into my account.
10. I had not caught the train.

Answers:

1. I had not been helped in my tough times by anyone.
2. My family had been supported by my friends.
3. His wife had been attacked by some people.
4. Where had the money been taken from by him?
5. Had she been called by them?
6. How had that been done by you?
7. I had been mocked for my pronunciation by everyone.
8. The movie hadn’t been released before the end.
9. A lot of money had been deposited into my account by someone.
10. The train had not been caught by me.