Passive Voice: Past Continuous Tense

B1–B2Passive VoiceMarch 15, 2026

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Let's look at the past continuous tense

in the passive

voice. First consider the subject and

how it changes the verb be. You have a

choice of was or

were. Then follow with

being and the past

participle. Let's change the verb see in

the simple form. It's see saw

seen. I was being

seen. You were being

seen. He, she, it was being

seen. We were being seen. You were being

seen. They were being

seen. He, she, and it changes to

was. I was. Remember that this

indicates the past continuous tense was

being, were being. And to make the

negative, you add not after

was. I was not being

seen. You were not being

seen. Here are some more examples.

He was being seen by the

doctor. Cars were being made in that

factory before it

closed. My house was being painted last

week. Their concerns weren't being heard

by the

politicians. This sentence is in the

past continuous tense. The

teacher was reading a book. The subject

is the teacher. The verb was reading and

a book is the

object. So we change the position of a

book to the subject in the passive

voice. So a book has a

subject was being read by the teacher.

To make a question in the past

continuous tense, the verb be goes

first. This is a yes no

question, then the subject, then the

main

verb, and then we have an object in this

case. Was the teacher reading a book?

To change that into the passive voice,

we'll take the

object and put it right

here. The verb is the same because this

is

singular. Was a book being read by the

teacher? Here's the main verb. It's the

past

participle. Read, read,

read. Was a book being read by the

teacher? Was she being seen by a doctor

last

year? What was being made in that

factory before it closed?

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About this lesson

Learn how to form and use the past continuous passive voice in English.

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