Passive Voice: Present Perfect

In the active voice, we focus on the 'doer'. In the passive voice, we focus on the 'receiver'. Imagine you are at a fancy restaurant. The waiter says, 'The chef has prepared your meal.' That is active. It sounds a bit formal. Now, imagine the waiter says, 'Your meal has been prepared.' That is the Present Perfect Passive. The meal is the star of the sentence. The chef is still important, but the food is what you want. We use has been or have been as a permanent team. They never travel alone in this tense. Then, we add the third form of the verb. This is the past participle. It sounds complicated, but you already know many of them. Eaten, broken, fixed, and sent are all stars here.

1. 1Building this tense is like following a simple recipe.
2. 2Start with the object that received the action. This is your new subject.
3. 3Add has been if the subject is singular (he, she, it, or a single thing).
4. 4Add have been if the subject is plural (I, you, we, they, or many things).
5. 5Add the Past Participle (V3) of your main verb.
6. 6Optional: Add by and the person if you really need to say who did it.
7. 7Example: The emails (Subject) + have been (Helper) + sent (V3).
8. 8Boom! You just made a perfect passive sentence. It is like building with Lego bricks. Each piece has a specific spot. If you miss the been, the whole tower falls over.

Use this when the result is more important than the person. Imagine your car was making a weird noise. You take it to the mechanic. Later, you tell your friend, 'My car has been fixed!' Your friend doesn't care which mechanic did it. They just want to know if you can drive to the beach.

Use it for news and announcements. 'A new law has been passed.' This sounds official and serious.

Use it when the 'doer' is unknown. 'My bike has been stolen!' You don't know who took it. If you knew, you would probably be chasing them instead of talking.

Use it for life experiences where the timing isn't specific. 'This movie has been seen by millions.' It doesn't matter when they saw it. The big number is what matters.

Don't use this if you have a specific time in the past. If you say 'yesterday' or 'in 2010', stop! Use the Past Simple Passive instead.

✗ The cake has been eaten yesterday. (Wrong)

✓ The cake was eaten yesterday. (Correct)

Also, avoid it if the 'doer' is the most interesting part of the story. If a famous celebrity painted your house, you wouldn't say, 'My house has been painted.' You would scream, 'Beyoncé painted my house!' Context is everything. Don't use it for natural processes that happen on their own. We don't usually say 'The sun has been risen.' That just sounds like a robot trying to be poetic.

The biggest mistake is forgetting the word been. Without it, you are using the active voice.

✗ The report has finished. (This sounds like the report has a brain and finished itself!)

✓ The report has been finished. (Much better. Someone finished it.)

Another mistake is using the wrong verb form. People often use the past simple instead of the participle.

✗ The letter has been wrote. (Ouch! This hurts a little.)

✓ The letter has been written. (Perfect.)

Watch out for has vs have. Remember, it depends on the thing being talked about. The apples have been picked but The apple has been picked. It is a small detail, but it makes you sound much more professional.

Let's look at the Present Perfect Active vs. Passive.

Active: I have cleaned the kitchen. (I am the hero here.)

Passive: The kitchen has been cleaned. (The kitchen is the hero now.)

Now, look at the Past Simple Passive.

Past Simple: The room was cleaned at 5 PM. (Specific time.)

Present Perfect: The room has been cleaned. (It is clean right now. Look at it shine!)

Think of the Present Perfect Passive as a 'Status Update'. It tells us the current state of something because of a recent action. The Past Simple is more like a 'History Lesson'. It tells us what happened and when it ended.