Passive Voice

In brief

Use the passive voice when the person or thing receiving an action matters more than who does it. In Italian, the receiver becomes the subject: La cena è preparata da Giulia (Dinner is prepared by Giulia). You can leave out the doer if it is unknown or unimportant.

Form

Subject + the appropriate form of essere + past participle; add da + doer when needed. The participle agrees with the subject in gender and number: preparato, preparata, preparati, preparate.

Usage

• Use the passive to focus on a result, an event, or the person affected rather than the doer.
• Choose the tense of essere to place the action in time: è preparata (is prepared), è stata preparata (was prepared).
• Use da to name who performs the action, or omit that phrase when the doer does not matter.

Examples

• La cena è preparata da Giulia. — Dinner is prepared by Giulia.
• Le finestre sono state chiuse prima della pioggia. — The windows were closed before the rain.
• Il museo è stato aperto nel 1990. — The museum was opened in 1990.

Common mistake

❌ La lettera è scritto da Marco.

✅ La lettera è scritta da Marco.

Unlike English, Italian makes the past participle agree with the passive subject: lettera is feminine singular, so use scritta.

Remember

In the passive, the participle agrees with what receives the action, not with the person after da.