To the voices verbal inform the relationship between the thing referred to and the participants of what is reported. There are three verbal voices: active voice, passive voice and reflexive voice. Check out how they work below.
Read too: O what are verbal moods?
Topics of this article
Active voice
We advance that the active voice occurs when the subject performs the action expressed by the verb, traditionally called an agent. Like this:
The cat
caught
the mouse.
(agent subject)
(verb)
(patient object)
Although, the subject does not always play the role of agent, despite the verb being in the active voice. Let’s look at the prayer as an example:
The cat fell off the roof.
In this case, the verb is in the active voice, but the cat, despite being the subject, presents passivity instead of activity, as it undergoes an action instead of acting.
The same happens in this example that refers to the game that eliminated Brazil from the cup at home:
The Brazilian team was beaten badly by Germany.
The sentence is in the active voice, but the Brazilian team (subject) is not an agent, because it is receiving and not practicing the action expressed by the verb.
The fact expressed by the verb can be represented in three ways: practiced by the subject, suffered by the subject or practiced and suffered by the subject.
Thus, despite serving the nomenclature, the semantic level is secondary. That is, it does not matter if the subject is actually acting in the real world for the structure of the active voice to exist. Therefore, it is important do not take as synonyms the terms subject and agent to set the active voice.
passive voice
Passive voice is a construction in which the direct object takes on the function of the subject. Thus, the subject-verb-object syntactic structure of the original sentence is inverted, but the meaning of the utterance remains.
The mouse
got caught
by the cat.
(patient subject)
(auxiliary + participle)
(passive agent)
In almost all cases the subject is patient, that is, suffers, receives, or enjoys the action. The core of the passive form is the verb always in the participle, variable in number (singular/plural) and gender (masculine/feminine), that is, agreeing with the subject.
By observing the example, it is possible to notice that the passive consists of a auxiliary verb (often to be) that accompanies the verb in the participle. Therefore, this type of passive voice is known as analytical.
In addition to the analytical passive, we also have in Portuguese the passive called pronominal. It is formed by pronoun if, which has the passivating function. In this type of construction, there is no auxiliary verb, which is why some grammarians call it synthetic passive. Furthermore, there is no passive agent.
precious paintings
were saved
in the museum fire.
(patient subject)
(pronominal passive voice)
(adverbial adjunct)
precious paintings
were saved
in the museum fire.
(patient subject)
(analytical passive voice)
(adverbial adjunct)
Know more: Ten Portuguese tips on verbs
How to switch from active to passive voice and vice versa
Let’s go back to the first examples of active voice and passive voice:
The cat
caught
the mouse.
(agent subject)
(verb)
(patient object)
The mouse
got caught
by the cat.
(patient subject)
(auxiliary + participle)
(passive agent)
From this scheme it is possible to infer that, to convert the active voice into passive voice, the active verb is placed in the participle and the auxiliary verb is conjugated in the same way as the active verb was. The subject of the active voice becomes the agent of the passive; the direct object of the active voice becomes the subject of the passive and the participle agrees with the new subject.
Don’t stop now… There’s more after the publicity 😉
But not all active buildings can be made passive. If we tried to apply the scheme in:
Paula got shot.
The sentence obtained would be:
A shot was taken by Paula.
We see that it is impossible, simply because there must be an agent subject to be converted into a patient. Paula, in this case, is not acting, she is just experiencing an action as a subject.
The first reason someone chooses to use the passive voice over the active voice is the desire to change the perspective of the scene. In a passage of “Os Maias”, by Eça de Queirós, we have: “Carlos da Maia was offended there by a very well-known guy”.
Carlos da Maia
was offended
by a well-known fellow.
(patient subject)
(auxiliary + participle)
(passive agent)
In this passage, the passive voice has the function of enhance the offense uttered in the Horn of the Devil against Carlos da Maia. So much so that whoever offends is designated only as a well-known subject. If the intention was to highlight the offender, we would have: A very well-known guy offended Carlos da Maia.
A very well known guy
offended
Carlos da Maia.
(agent subject)
(verb)
(patient object)
reflective voice
In addition to the active and passive, there is also the reflexive voice. In the reflexive voice, the subject/agent and the object/patient coincide. This means that the subject performs an action, expressed by the verb, which he himself undergoes or receives.
Take the sentence below as an example:
The prisoner
if
killed.
(agent subject)
(patient object)
(verb)
the pronoun if it means the prisoner killed himself. It is exactly in this way that the reflexive is formed, adding to the active forms the oblique pronouns me, you, if, us, you It is ifrespectively with the meaning of myself, yourself, yourself, ourselves, yourselves and yourselves.
But the reflective voice should not be confused with the active voice formed by verbs that express feeling, such as complaining, cheering, getting angry. So much so that we cannot say, for example, I am angry with myself.
There can often be ambiguity resolved by contextfor example:
The worker was injured.
This clause can be interpreted as a pronominal passive (The worker was injured) or as a reflexive one (The worker hurt himself). In the first interpretation, he was accidentally injured; in the second, he injured himself of his own free will.
Exercises
1 – Rearrange the columns, making the sentences correspond to the proper voice of the verbs:
( ) I don’t see roses in this garden. (1) reflective
( ) The little girl combed her hair by herself. ( 2 ) analytical passive
( ) Water the plants early in the morning. ( 3 ) active
( ) The bride was accompanied by her father. (4) pronominal passive
Solution: 3, 1, 4, 2.
2 – (MED. ITAJUBÁ) – All sentences are in the passive voice, except:
a) A list of new books was made.
b) A new irrigation process is studied.
c) It is always the same problem.
d) A large fridge was designed.
e) You risk your life for so little.
Solution: cas all the others can be rewritten in the analytic passive, except “It is always about the same problem”.
a) The list of new books was made.
b) New irrigation process is studied.
c) It is always the same problem.
d) A large refrigerator was designed.
e) For so little life life is risky.
By Paula Piva
Grammar Teacher