The Passive Voice

The Passive Voice

To form the passive, the verb essere is always used plus the past participle of the verb which describes the action done to the subject. Depending on the tense, you may need to use two past participles in a row: "stato" (for a compound past tense of essere) plus the other verb's past participle.

First determine the tense of the verb in the active tense construction; then use that tense for essere in the passive tense construction. Contrast the following:

ACTIVE: Io ho presentato le signorine. = passato prossimo.
PASSIVE: Le signorine sono state presentate da me.

(Remember: when using essere in compound past tenses, all past participles must agree with the subject.)

Source: The Italian Program at the University of Kentucky