Say what was done without saying who did itأخبر بما تمّ دون ذكر من قام به

Describing people, places, and thingsLesson 6 · B1 · 10 minutes

In this lesson

Report a job that was done in the past.

Try one question before you read

Which sentence is in the passive?

The idea, simply

The past passive is was or were + past participle: The office was cleaned yesterday. The emails were sent this morning. Use it when the doer is unknown, unimportant, or obvious. Use was with a singular subject and were with a plural one, and start a question with was or were: Was the order delivered?

Examples

The invoices were sent this morning.
My car was stolen last night.
Was the package delivered on time?

Lesson words

invoiceفاتورة
Please check the invoice.
stealيسرق
Someone stole my bike.
deliverيوصّل
They deliver until midnight.
cancelيلغي
The flight was cancelled.
buildيبني
The school was built last year.

Interactive exercises that check themselves; your progress stays in your browser.

Lesson exercises

Put the words in the correct order.
Words: invoices / morning. / sent / The / this / were
Answer
The invoices were sent this morning.
Complete the gap: The meeting ___ cancelled because of the rain.
Answer
was
Choose the correct English sentence.
- The windows were broken in the storm.
- The windows was broken in the storm.
- The windows were break in the storm.
Answer
The windows were broken in the storm.
Which sentence is in the passive?
- The bridge was built in 1960.
- They built the bridge in 1960.
- The bridge is very old.
Answer
The bridge was built in 1960.
Was built is a passive verb: the bridge is the topic, and we are not told who built it.
Report a job that was done in the past.
Model answer
The invoices were sent this morning.
Compare your answer with the model and check word order, capitals, and punctuation.