In Italian, knowing about the passive voice is really important as you get better at the language. Let’s break down how it’s different from the active voice!

Active Voice

In the active voice, the subject does the action. For example:

• Il cuoco prepara la cena. (The chef prepares the dinner.)
  Here, the chef is the one doing the preparing.

Passive Voice

In the passive voice, the focus is on the action itself or who is receiving the action. The same sentence in passive voice would be:

• La cena è preparata dal cuoco. (The dinner is prepared by the chef.)
  Now, the subject (la cena) is the one receiving the action instead of doing it.

How to Form the Passive Voice

To create the passive voice in Italian, you usually use the verb essere (which means "to be") plus the past participle of the main verb. For example:

• Essere (to be) + preparato/a (prepared).

When to Use Passive Voices

You might want to use the passive voice when you want to:

1. Shine a light on the action or the object instead of who did it. This is especially helpful in formal writing.
2. Talk about something where the doer is unknown or doesn’t matter. For example, Il dolce è stato mangiato. (The dessert has been eaten.)

Using the passive voice adds a new angle to your Italian skills, making your speaking and writing even more interesting!