Present Perfect Passive Voice

Question

"The car has been sold."  This is a present perfect passive voice. Since has is the the auxiliary verb of sold which is a V3 of sell, then what is 'been"? Please help to explain.  Thanks.

Cool Breeze · Accepted Answer

Has is the perfect auxiliary verb of been. Sold is a past participle. A past participle is always needed in all passive tenses.

Present: A car is sold every day.
Past: A car was sold yesterday.
Perfect: A car has been sold today.
Past perfect: A car had been sold before I arrived.
Future present: A car will be sold before noon.
Future perfect: A car will have been sold by 3 o'clock.

And so on.

CB

Soumaya yusuf · Answer

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AlpheccaStars · Answer

Consider the patterns of the passive voice, as compared to "be" in the active voice
The passive voice just adds the past participle of the main verb to the correct form of "be."

Present: He is happy. Passive: The car is sold.
Past: He was happy. Passive: The car was sold.
Future: He will be happy. Passive: The car will be sold.

In the case of the perfect tenses, they are made by the verb "have" plus the past participle of the main verb. In the case of "be", here are the tenses:

Present perfect: He has been happy.
Past perfect: He had been happy.

For the passive, you add the past participle of the main verb:

The car has been sold.
The car had been sold.

Anonymous · Answer

Thank you greatly.  But I'm still confuse the word 'sold'. Is it a v3 of 'sell', or is it an adjective?

CalifJim · Answer

Anonymoushas is the the auxiliary verb of sold which is a V3 of sell, then what is 'been"?

No. 'has' is not an auxiliary of 'sold' — not directly, anyway. 'has' is an auxiliary of 'been'. 'been' is an auxiliary of 'sold'.

have (in any form — here it's 'has') is followed by a V3 to make a structure 'perfect'. ( 'been' is the V3 of be. )
be (in any form — here it's 'been') is followed by a V3 to make a structure 'passive'. ( 'sold' is the V3 of sell. )

CJ

AlpheccaStars · Answer

AnonymousThank you greatly. But I'm still confuse the word 'sold'. Is it a v3 of 'sell', or is it an adjective?

In the present perfect passive, "sold" is the v3 of "sell."

The car has been sold by Mr. Smith to Mr. Jones.

But, as you may know, the past participle (v3) can be used as an modifier, and in some cases, the choice of modifier vs passive voice can be ambiguous.

eg.
1) Our cars are sold by very well trained salesmen. (This is definitely passive voice; note that 'trained," past participle of the verb train, is a modifier )
2) You can't buy this car. It is already sold. (sold is probably considered a modifier, because we are describing the static "state" of the car, not the idea that it is sold by someone.)

CJ is well versed on this particular subject, so I'll let him comment if he cares to.

Anonymous · Answer

Thank you for your help!

Present Perfect Passive Voice

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