Review of the passive form

🔊 La maîtresse lit pour toi

Medicines, mobile phones, food and drink, even car parts: « products of all sorts are being copied every day by counterfeiters ». The sentence does not start with the counterfeiters — it starts with the products. You already know the passive form; this lesson makes sure you can use it in the present, simple and continuous, to describe what is being done. Why start a sentence with the thing that is copied rather than with the one who copies it?

🎓في نهاية هذا الدرس ستكون قادرا على:

تحويل الجملة من المبني للمعلوم إلى المبني للمجهول في المضارع البسيط ⁦(is forged)⁩ والمضارع المستمرّ ⁦(are being copied)⁩، والعكس
تكوين المبني للمجهول: ⁦be⁩ في زمن الفعل الأصليّ، متبوعة بالتصريف الثالث للفعل
ذكر الفاعل بعد ⁦by⁩ أو حذفه حين لا يُعرف أو لا يهمّ
استعمال المبني للمجهول في الوصف، ولجعل رسالة أكثر لباقة

🔑يفترض هذا الدرس أنّك تتقن:

المضارع البسيط والمضارع المستمرّ ⁦(present simple · present continuous)⁩
التصريف الثالث للأفعال المنتظمة والشاذّة ⁦(past participle)⁩
الفاعل والمفعول به في الجملة ⁦(subject · object)⁩

1. The passive in the present, simple and continuous

المبني للمجهول = ⁦be⁩ في زمن الفعل الأصليّ + التصريف الثالث. المفعول به يصير فاعلا، والفاعل يأتي بعد ⁦by⁩ أو يُحذف.

A reminder of what you know. In a passive sentence, the object of the active verb becomes the subject; the verb becomes be + past participle, with be in the tense of the active verb; and the doer — the agent — comes after by, or disappears when it is unknown or unimportant. In the present, two tenses: present simple passive — am, is, are + past participle: something is forged present continuous passive — am, is, are + being + past participle: products are being copied

Imitating property is theft — first paragraph

A counterfeit is something that is forged, copied with the purpose of deceiving or defrauding. To most people, counterfeiting means essentially forged currency. But in reality, products of all sorts, medicines, mobile phones, food and drink, and even car parts are being copied every day by counterfeiters. These products are imitated to such perfection that it is difficult to distinguish between the genuine and the fake products. From The Economist, May 17th, 2003

Task 1 — « A counterfeit is something that is forged. » What voice of the present tense is used in the subordinate clause? Rewrite it starting as follows: A counterfeit is something that counterfeiters …

ما صيغة الفعل في الجملة التابعة؟ أعد كتابتها في المبني للمعلوم.

The passive voice of the present simple: is forged (is + past participle). Active: « A counterfeit is something that counterfeiters forge. »

Task 2 — « Products of all sorts are being copied every day by counterfeiters. » What voice of the present tense is used? Rewrite the sentence starting as follows: Counterfeiters …

ما صيغة الفعل في هذه الجملة؟ أعد كتابتها في المبني للمعلوم.

The passive voice of the present continuous: are being copied (are + being + past participle). Active: « Counterfeiters are copying products of all sorts every day. »

Task 3 — Explain the difference in structure between the sentences from the text and the ones you have written.

اشرح الفرق في البناء بين جملتي النصّ والجملتين اللتين كتبتهما.

The object of the active verb (something, products of all sorts) is the subject of the passive verb.
The passive verb is be + past participle, and be keeps the tense of the active verb: forge → is forged; are copying → are being copied.
The subject of the active verb (counterfeiters) becomes the agent, after by — or it disappears: « something that is forged » does not say who forges it.

The passive — be in the tense of the active verb

Tense	Active	Passive
present simple	counterfeiters forge something	something is forged
present continuous	counterfeiters are copying products	products are being copied
after a modal	we must remind them	they must be reminded

Passive = be + past participle. The agent after by is kept only when the doer matters.

2. A more tactful message

المبني للمجهول يضع الفعل وما وقع عليه في المقدّمة، فيصير الكلام أكثر لباقة حين لا نريد أن نتّهم أحدا مباشرة.

The passive puts the action, and the thing it happens to, first. That is why a businessman can use it to make a message more tactful: instead of accusing people directly — « Many Internet users are infringing our copyright » — he describes what is happening to his company — « Our copyright is being infringed ».

Task 4 — Rewrite the short businessman's memo below to make it more tactful, using the passive voice. Start each sentence with the object of the active verb, and make the necessary changes.

Memo Many Internet users are infringing our copyright. They are uploading and downloading our music hits. They are putting these copyright thefts in pirate sites in order to swap them with other Internet users. We must remind them that swapping music illegally is causing us a great deal of financial loss.

Task 4 — a model memo

مذكّرة نموذجيّة في المبني للمجهول.

Memo Our copyright is being infringed by many Internet users. Our music hits are being uploaded and downloaded. These copyright thefts are being put in pirate sites to be swapped with other Internet users. They must be reminded that swapping music illegally is causing us a great deal of financial loss.

The agent appears only once, in the first sentence; after that, everybody knows who does it. The tense does not change: are infringing → is being infringed; must remind → must be reminded.

Do this alone, in writing. Describe what is done against counterfeiting: four sentences in the passive — two in the present simple, two in the present continuous. Keep by + agent in one sentence only, where the doer matters.

اكتب وحدك أربع جمل في المبني للمجهول عن مكافحة التقليد: اثنتين في المضارع البسيط واثنتين في المضارع المستمرّ.

A model answer

Fake goods are seized by customs officers. Counterfeit medicines are destroyed. Consumers are being warned against fake products. More and more checks are being carried out in shops.

In the exam, the passive is tested in the text exploration: you rewrite a sentence from the active into the passive, or the other way round, without changing its tense. Have three things ready: ① the object becomes the subject; ② be in the tense of the active verb + past participle — is forged, are being copied, must be reminded; ③ by + agent only when the doer matters. The frequent mistake: changing the tense — « Counterfeiters are copying products » becomes « Products are being copied », not « Products are copied ».

What I keep — The passive is be + past participle, with be in the tense of the active verb: present simple is forged, present continuous are being copied, after a modal must be reminded. The object of the active sentence becomes the subject; the doer comes after by, or disappears when it is unknown or unimportant — which also makes a message more tactful.

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