The Passive in Italian

 

In Italian, Passive = *essere + V3 (Participio passato)

[*essere / stare / venire]

 

In English, Passive = be + V3

 

ACTIVE

Actor

Action

Receiver

 

 

Io

ho scritto

queste lettere.

 

 

I

wrote

these letters.

 

PASSIVE

Receiver

essere / be

V3

Actor

 

Queste lettere

sono state

scritte

da me.

 

These letters

were

written

by me.

 

Queste lettere

sono state

scritte.

 

 

These letters

were

written.

 

 

in an passive sentence, be is in the same tense as the verb in the active sentence.

In una frase passiva, be  è nello stesso tempo del verbo nella frase attiva.

 

Mia sorella sta cucinando la zuppa.                              My sister is cooking soup.

La zuppa sta venendo cucinata da mia sorella.        The soup is being cooked by my sister.

Mangerò la pizza                                                                   I will eat the pizza.

La pizza verrà mangiata da me.                                      The pizza will be eaten by me.

 

In Italian, V3 changes.                                                         In English, V3 doesn’t change.

In Italiano V3 cambia                                                          mentre in Inglese no

 

Il lavoro è finito                                                                      The work is finished.

La pausa è finita                                                                    The break is finished