Kalimat aktif (active voice) adalah kalimat dimana subject-nya melakukan pekerjaan, sebaliknya, kalimat pasif (passive voice) adalah kalimat dimana subject-nya dikenai pekerjaan oleh object kalimat. Active voice lebih sering digunakan dalam kehidupan sehari-hari dibandingkan dengan passive voice. Namun demikian, sering kita temukan passive voice di surat-surat kabar, artikel-artikel di majalah-majalah dan tulisan-tulisan ilmiah. Passive voice digunakan karena object dari active voice merupakan informasi yang lebih penting dibandingkan dengan subject-nya.
Contoh :
- Active : We fertilize the soil every 6 months
- Passive: The soil is fertilized by us every 6 months
Dari contoh ini dapat kita lihat bahwa:
- Object dari active voice (the soil) menjadi subject dari passive voice
- Subject dari active voice (we) menjadi object dari passive voice. Perhatikan pula bahwa terjadi perubahan dari subject pronoun ‘we’ menjadi object pronoun ‘us’.
- Verb1 (fertilize) pada active voice menjadi verb3 (fertilized) pada passive voice.
- Ditambahkannya be ‘is’ di depan verb3. Be yang digunakan adalah tergantung pada subject passive voice dan tenses yang digunakan. (Perhatikan pola-pola passive voice di bawah).
- Ditambahkannya kata ‘by’ di belakang verb3. Namun, jika object dari passive voice dianggap tidak penting atau tidak diketahui, maka object biasanya tidak dikemukakan dan begitu pula kata ‘by’.
- Khusus untuk kalimat-kalimat progressive (present, past, past perfect, future, past future, dan past future perfect continuous, perlu menambahkan ‘being’ di depan verb3). Kalau tidak ditambahkan “being”, tensisnya akan berubah, bukan progressive/continuous lagi. Perhatikan contoh-contoh pada poin h – o di bawah.
Berdasarkan keenam poin di atas maka passive voice mengikuti pola sebagai berikut:
Subject + be + Verb3 + by + Object + modifier |
Pola active dan passive voice pada tiap tensis
a. Jika active voice dalam simple present tense, maka ‘be’ passive voice-nya adalah is, am atau are.
Contoh:
- Active : He meets them everyday.
- Passive : They are met by him everyday.
- Active : She waters this plant every two days.
- Passive : This plant is watered by her every two days.
b. Jika active voice dalam simple past tense, maka ‘be’ passive voice-nya adalah was atau were
Contoh:
- Active : He met them yesterday
- Passive : They were met by him yesterday
- Active : She watered this plant this morning
- Passive : This plant was watered by her this morning
c. Jika active voice dalam present perfect tense, maka ‘be’ passive voice-nya adalah been yang diletakkan setelah auxiliary has atau have, sehingga menjadi ‘has been’ atau ‘have been’
Contoh:
- Active : He has met them
- Passive : They have been met by him
- Active : She has watered this plant for 5 minutes.
- Passive : This plant has been watered by her for 5 minutes.
d. Jika active voice dalam past perfect tense, maka ‘be’ passive voice-nya adalah been yang diletakkan setelah auxiliary had, sehingga menjadi had been
Contoh:
- Active : He had met them before I came.
- Passive : They had been met by him before I came.
- Active : She had watered this plant for 5 minutes when I got here
- Passive : This plant had been watered by her for 5 minutes when I got here
e. Jika active voice dalam simple future tense, maka ‘be’ passive voice-nya adalah be
Contoh:
- Active : He will meet them tomorrow.
- Passive : They will be met by him tomorrow.
- Active : She will water this plant this afternoon.
- Passive : This plant will be watered by her this afternoon.
- Active : The farmers are going to harvest the crops next week
- Passive : The crops are going to be harvested by the farmers next week.
f. Jika active voice dalam future perfect tense, maka ‘be’ passive voice-nya adalah been yang diletakkan setelah auxiliary will have, sehingga menjadi ‘will have been’
Contoh:
- Active : He will have met them before I get there tomorrow.
- Passive : They will have been met by him before I get there tomorrow.
- Active : She will have watered this plant before I get here this afternoon.
- Passive : This plant will have been watered by her before I get here this afternoon.
g. Jika active voice dalam past future perfect tense, maka ‘be’ passive voice-nya adalah been yang diletakkan setelah auxiliary would have, sehingga menjadi ‘would have been’.
Contoh:
- Active : He would have met them.
- Passive : They would have been met by him.
- Active : She would have watered this plant.
- Passive : This plant would have been watered by her.
h. Jika active voice dalam present continuous tense, maka ‘be’ passive voice-nya adalah (is, am atau are) + being.
Contoh:
- Active : He is meeting them now.
- Passive : They are being met by him now.
- Active : She is watering this plant now.
- Passive : This plant is being watered by her now.
i. Jika active voice dalam past continuous tense, maka ‘be’ passive voice-nya adalah (was atau were) + being.
Contoh:
- Active : He was meeting them.
- Passive : They were being met by him.
- Active : She was watering this plant.
- Passive : This plant was being watered by her.
j. Jika active voice dalam perfect continuous tense, maka ‘be’ passive voice-nya adalah (has/have) been + being.
Contoh:
- Active : He has been meeting them.
- Passive : They have been being met by him.
- Active : She has been watering this plant.
- Passive : This plant has been being watered by her.
k. Jika active voice dalam past perfect continuous tense, maka ‘be’ passive voice-nya adalah had been + being.
Contoh:
- Active : He had been meeting them.
- Passive : They had been being met by him.
- Active : She had been watering this plant.
- Passive : This plant had been being watered by her.
l. Jika active voice dalam future continuous tense, maka ‘be’ passive voice-nya adalah will be + being.
Contoh:
- Active : He will be meeting them.
- Passive : They will be being met by him.
- Active : She will be watering this plant.
- Passive : This plant will be being watered by her.
m. Jika active voice dalam past future continuous tense, maka ‘be’ passive voice-nya adalah would be + being.
Contoh:
- Active : He would be meeting them.
- Passive : They would be being met by him.
- Active : She would be watering this plant.
- Passive : This plant would be being watered by her.
n. Jika active voice dalam future perfect continuous tense, maka ‘be’ passive voice-nya adalah will have been + being.
Contoh:
- Active : He will have been meeting them.
- Passive : They will have been being met by him.
- Active : She will have been watering this plant.
- Passive : This plant will have been being watered by her.
o. Jika active voice dalam past future perfect continuous tense, maka ‘be’ passive voice-nya adalah would have been + being.
Contoh:
- Active : He would be meeting them.
- Passive : They would be being met by him.
- Active : She would be watering this plant.
- Passive : This plant would be being watered by her.
Contoh-contoh yang lain:
- Koko’s nose is bleeding. He was punched by his friend right on his nose. (Hidung Koko sedang berdarah. Dia dipukul oleh temannya tepat di hidungnya).
- The Indonesian football team was beaten by the Saudi Arabian team. (Team sepakbola Indonesia dikalahkan oleh team arab Saudi).
- These plants were watered by my sister a few minutes ago. (Tanaman-tanaman ini disirami oleh adikku beberapa menit yang lalu).
- There is no meal left. All has been devoured by Yeyes. (Tidak ada makan yang tersisa. Semuanya telah dilahap habis oleh Yeyes).
- English is studied by all high school students. (Bahasa Inggris dipelajari oleh semua murid sekolah menengah lanjutan (SMP dan SMA).