Passive Voice in Different Verb Tenses

The passive voice can be used in other verb tenses besides the simple verb tenses.

Simple Present

“The new iPhones are sold at the Apple Store in midtown Manhattan.”

“Steve Jobs is given a lot of credit for changing the way we listen to music.”

Modals

“The new iPhone can be bought at the Apple Store in midtown Manhattan.”

“Steve Jobs will be remembered as a visionary.”

Present Perfect

(Learn more about the present perfect verb tense).

“The iPhone has been sold in America for four years now.”

“She has been considered an Apple fanatic since childhood.”

Simple Past

(Learn more about the simple past vs. present perfect verb tenses)

“The iPhones were sold out at every single store we went to.”

“The free iPod was given to the customer as a surprise.”

Past Progressive

“iPhones were being sold illegally on the internet.”

“Apple employees were being worked very hard by Steve Jobs.”

“Be going to” (future)

“The new pink and purple iPhones are going to be designed in 2015.”

“Steve Jobs is going to be remembered as a man who changed how we experience mobile devices.”

The “get-passive”

(With the “get-passive”, English speakers use “get” as the passive instead of the “to be” verb).

Notes:

• This is for casual speaking and writing, not academic or formal writing. 
• This only happens in regular, affirmative sentences.
• If you form a question or negative, you also need the verb “do” as an “operator” for your get-passive.

‘Get-Passive’ Examples

Passive: “I was carded at the bar.”
Get-Passive: “I got carded at the bar.”

(“carded” means that someone checked the age on someone’s ID when buying alcohol or cigarettes.)

Passive / Negative: “I look old, so I wasn’t carded.”
Get-Passive / Negative: “I look old, so I didn’t get carded.”

Note the use of the verb “do” with the negative, here written as “didn’t”.

Passive / Question: “Was Jerry carded at the bar? He’s under 21.”

Get-Passive / Question: “Did Jerry get carded at the bar? He’s under 21.”

Note the use of the verb “do” written as “did”.

Passive / Negative Question: “Wasn’t he carded at the bar?”
Get-Passive / Negative Question: “Didn’t he get carded at the bar?”

Note the use of the verb “do” with the negative question, here written as “didn’t”.