Most speech situations in Russian and English do not differ in context. English tenses and the verb system are different from what we are used to. But there are nuances that are similar or almost the same. When learning English, you need to take into account the rule of passive and active voice. The Russian language has a similar system, only the passive voice in Russian grammar is called passive. Let's look at the basic principles.
Passive Voice
Passive Voice is translated into Russian as "passive voice". The passive or active voice in English tells us how the action in the sentence is performed. In the active voice, in most cases in colloquial speech, the action is performed by the object in the sentence. In the case of the passive voice, the action is performed on the object of the sentence. The object itself is passive.
Let's look at examples:
- My friend made me a very beautiful dress. (Active voice: the action is performed by a friend who is the subject and acting object in the sentence).
- The stylist made a very complex and beautiful hairstyle. (Active voice: the action is performed by the stylist, who is the subject and acting object inoffer).
- I got an amazing dress for my birthday. (Passive voice: who gave the dress is not specified, there is no character in the sentence).
- Chairs and tables were made in the technique of modern classicism. (Passive voice: who did the work is not specified, there is no actor in the sentence).
Try to determine for yourself which voice (active or passive) in these sentences:
- The chef prepared an amazingly delicious dinner, the guests were very pleased.
- The pie was not cooked enough, the vegetables were raw.
- The workers brought everything safe and sound.
- The cabinet was assembled incorrectly, the door did not close.
- The company was bankrupt, all employees were out of work.
- The bank offered our company very good credit terms.
Active Voice
The active voice in an English sentence implies that the action is performed by the subject, the actor in the sentence. Most speech turns belong to such cases.
- We broke the mug.
- Children playing outside.
The subject in an active sentence must be an animate object:
- Maria painted an oil painting. - Active voice.
- Employees went on break. - Active voice.
- But the table broke. - Passive voice.
- The chicken was not fried properly, it is dry. - Passive voice.
Exceptions may be fairy tales, where it is allowedsuch situations:
"Teapot and plates sang a song." - This will be considered an active action, since in the context of folklore, an inanimate object "teapot" acquires the qualities of an animate one
Animals are also actors performing an active action, despite being considered inanimate in English:
- The cat broke the dishes by jumping on the table. - Active voice.
- The seal pups entertained the zoo spectators all day long. - Active voice.
Past Perfect Passive Voice
Each tense in the English language system is formed according to a certain rule. There is a system of rules for passive voice tenses. The Past Perfect Passive is formed with the auxiliary construction had been plus the main verb. The scheme looks like this:
- Affirmative sentence: subject - had been - the main verb with the ending -ed or in the third form.
- Interrogative sentence: had - subject, been - main verb ending in -ed or in the third form.
- Negative sentence: subject - had not (hadn't) been - main verb ending in -ed or in third form.
There are two types of verbs in English - regular (regular verbs) and irregular (irregular verbs). To form the past forms of regular verbs, we add the past tense ending -ed to them. For example: play-played. The formation of the past forms of irregular verbs occursaccording to the approved list of irregular verbs. You can get acquainted with all the variants of verb changes in the corresponding list (Irregular verbs list). There are two types of past forms in this list: Past Simple and Pst Participle and one infinitive. For the times of the Perfect group, the third form of the Past Participle is used. For example: swim-swam-swum.
Past Perfect Passive has the same contextual meaning as Past Perfect Active. The first is used in the case of describing actions that took place in the past tense and have a completed result. These actions took place in a more past tense than the actions that we describe with the Past Simple tense. Two actions usually stand in one sentence. Accordingly, in such an English sentence there will be two grammatical bases.
For example: First we bought a dress, then we found it at a lower price. (Active voice, the action "bought a dress" happened earlier, that is, in a more distant past than the action "saw the price"). - At first we had bought the dress, then found lower price dress. ("had bought" Past Perfect Active, "found" Past Simple).
Past Perfect Passive Sentence Examples
For better memorization, you need to get acquainted with real examples from colloquial speech:
- The soup didn't tasty good because it had been boiled too long. - The soup didn't taste good because it took too long to cook.
- I saw clean car may be it had been cleaned. - I saw a cleanthe car must have been washed.
- I found your mug, it hadn't been broken. - I saw your mug, it's not broken.
- There was a fire on the plant, but everybody had left this place much earlier. - There was a fire at the factory, but everyone left early.
- We had seen so beautiful picture, but somebody unfortunately bought it. - We saw such a beautiful painting, but unfortunately someone bought it.
Do it yourself
These sentences are written in the active voice. Translate them into Russian and remake them using the Past Perfect Passive. Exercises:
- I came home and watched that my mother cleaned the room.
- When we got to the stadium we found that director had cancelled the game.
- I didn't believe that he had recorded our conversation.
- I wanted to read but my brother had broken the lamp.
- They came here but he had given the wrong address.
- Last night I went to the airport, but government delayed the flight.
- I found the key but somebody had brought another.
- She brought the book for me, but I had already but a new one.
- I got hungry and mother had cooked the dinner.
Keys
Check your sentences with the correct ones:
- I came home and watched that room had been cleaned. - I came home and saw that the room had been cleaned.
- When we got to the stadium we found the game had been cancelled. - When we arrived at the stadium, we found that the game wascancelled.
- I didn't believe that our conversation had been recorded. - I don't believe our conversation was recorded.
- I wanted to read but the lamp had been broken. - I wanted to read, but the lamp was broken.
- They came here but the wrong address had been given. - They came, but they were given the wrong address.
- Last night I went to the airport, but the flight had been delayed. - I arrived at the airport last night, but the flight was cancelled.
- I found the key but another had been brought. - I found the key, but another was already found.
- She brought the book for me, but new one had already been bought. - She brought me a book, but the other one was already bought.
- I got hungry and the dinner had been cooked. - I was hungry and dinner was ready.
