In an active sentence, the subject performs the action: 'Marco writes the letter.' In a passive sentence, the subject receives the action: 'The letter is written by Marco.' In Italian, the passive voice is formed with the verb essere (to be) in any tense, followed by the past participle of the main verb. The past participle must agree in gender and number with the subject.
| Tense | Active | Passive |
|---|---|---|
| Present | Marco scrive la lettera | La lettera è scritta da Marco |
| Imperfect | Marco scriveva la lettera | La lettera era scritta da Marco |
| Past (passato prossimo) | Marco ha scritto la lettera | La lettera è stata scritta da Marco |
| Future | Marco scriverà la lettera | La lettera sarà scritta da Marco |
| Conditional | Marco scriverebbe la lettera | La lettera sarebbe scritta da Marco |
| Subjunctive (present) | che Marco scriva la lettera | che la lettera sia scritta da Marco |
The past participle in a passive construction agrees with the grammatical subject in gender and number. For example: 'Il libro è stato scritto' (masculine singular), 'La lettera è stata scritta' (feminine singular), 'I libri sono stati scritti' (masculine plural), 'Le lettere sono state scritte' (feminine plural). This agreement is obligatory and is one of the key features of Italian passive constructions.
| Subject | Example | Participle Form |
|---|---|---|
| Masc. singular | Il film è stato girato a Roma | girato |
| Fem. singular | La canzone è stata cantata bene | cantata |
| Masc. plural | I documenti sono stati firmati | firmati |
| Fem. plural | Le finestre sono state aperte | aperte |
The agent (the one performing the action) is introduced by the preposition da (by). Da contracts with definite articles as usual: dal, dalla, dai, dalle, dall', dagli. The agent is often omitted when it is unknown, generic, or unimportant: 'Il ladro è stato arrestato' (The thief was arrested). When the agent is a person, da + person is used: 'Il romanzo è stato scritto da Umberto Eco.'
An alternative passive construction uses venire (to come) instead of essere. Venire can only be used in simple tenses (not compound tenses). It typically expresses an action in progress or a repeated action, while essere can express either an action or a resulting state. Example: 'La posta viene consegnata ogni mattina' (The mail is delivered every morning — action) vs. 'La posta è consegnata' (The mail is delivered — resulting state or completed action).
| Aspect | Essere | Venire |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | State or action | Action/process only |
| Compound tenses | Yes: è stato scritto | No — NOT viene stato scritto |
| Simple tenses | Yes: è scritto | Yes: viene scritto |
| Example (present) | Il libro è pubblicato (state) | Il libro viene pubblicato ogni anno (action) |
| Example (imperfect) | era corretto (state/action) | veniva corretto ogni volta (repeated action) |
Use the passive when the action or its result is more important than who performed it, when the agent is unknown or obvious, or to achieve a more formal or impersonal tone. In spoken Italian, the impersonal si construction (si + active verb) is often preferred over the passive in everyday speech. The passive is more common in written, formal, and journalistic Italian.
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