Active voice and passive voice in Italian

Some type of verbs in Italian can present both an active and a passive voice (voce passiva and voce attiva).

These verbs are in particular the transitive ones (that is, verbs which always require a subject and at least an object).

Active in Italian

The active form of the transitive verbs presents the following structure:

• Subject + Verb + Object.

The main function of the active voice is to point out who is acting and which is the direct object of the verb.

Remember! The verbs with the active voice have the auxiliary avere (to have) for the compound tenses.

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Example of the active voice

Passive in Italian

The Italian passive voice (voce passiva) aims to focus on the action conveyed by the verb and neither on the subject nor on the object.

Usually, the structure of the passive voice follows the same rules:

• the subject of the active sentence becomes the agent of the passive one;
• the object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive one.

Example of the passive voice

Conjugation of the passive voices

The passive voice, instead, conjugates verbs using:

• the verb essere + the past participle of the specific verb in simple tenses;
• the compound form of essere (essere stato) + the past participle of the specific verb for the compound tenses.

Remember! In the passive form, the past participle both of the verb (for the simple tenses) and of essere (for the compound tenses) has to follow the agreement with the subject of the sentence for number and gender.

Below, you will find the conjugation tables for the verb vedere (to see).

Indicative mood

Subjunctive mood

Conditional mood

Infinitive mood

Imperative mood

Participle mood

Gerund mood