How do passive infinitives and gerunds work?
Use to be plus a participle for requirements, being plus a participle for experienced events, and to have been plus a participle for earlier passive events.
- Need commonly takes to be plus a participle.
- Remember can take being plus a participle.
- To have been marks earlier passive reference.
C2 · Passive · 12 minPassive infinitives and gerunds — three forms, one clear system.
This C2 lesson shows passive forms for requirements, experiences, and earlier events — free to try, with no signup.
- CEFR levelC2 · Proficient
- Time to completeAbout 12 minutes
- Guiding ideaKeep the passive piece visible
- Business sceneRequests and process status
01 / 07
How do you form a passive infinitive in English?
A passive infinitive uses to be plus the participle when someone or something receives the action. In "The figures need to be checked," the figures are not doing the checking; they receive it. The simple image is keep the passive piece: to be links the requirement to checked. The same model works after want and require. A contract draft can need to be reviewed, an invoice can need to be paid, and a report can need to be signed. This C2 lesson does not rebuild the basic passive from the beginning. It focuses on the form family that appears after another verb or inside a longer process. First ask who receives the action, then look for visible be. Rule: a passive requirement needs to be before the participle.
02 / 07
How does to be plus a past participle work?
To be plus a participle keeps the passive direction visible in a requirement, request, or specification. "The figures need to be checked before the client call" describes a check that is still pending. "The contract needs to be signed by Friday" sets a clear deadline for an action on the contract. Want and require can introduce the same passive piece. The practical check remains stable in every scene: does the named document receive the action, and does to be stand before the participle? In speech, the parts do not carry equal weight. In "need to be checked," need and checked take the main stress while to be stays light as /tə bi/ between them. The form remains audible without becoming heavy. Rule: in workplace requirements, light to be connects the pending document with the required action.
03 / 07
When do you use being plus a past participle?
Being plus a participle follows verbs such as remember, mind, and avoid when a person or thing experiences the action. "I remember being asked to present the quarterly results" describes the memory of receiving a request. "We avoided being delayed by the late approval" describes a passive event that was prevented. The important piece is not merely asked or delayed, but being asked or being delayed. The form can also follow a preposition inside a process: "All invoices need to be checked before being sent to the client." The invoices receive the check first and the sending action afterwards. Picture being as a process station at which the named item receives an action. Rule: for an experienced passive action or one built into a process, being stays visible before the participle.
04 / 07
What does to have been done mean in grammar?
To have been done marks a passive event that sits before the current viewpoint. The form combines to have for earlier reference with been plus the participle for passive direction. In a process update, a draft can appear "to have been sent" when the sending happened before the current review. An uploaded document can similarly appear "to have been uploaded." Each part has a clear job: to have opens the look back, been keeps the passive, and the participle names the action. Seeing those jobs separately makes the longer form easier to handle. Contrast it with the current requirement to be checked: the first form looks back, while the second names a step that remains open. Rule: to have been places a passive event before the current reference point.
05 / 07
What mistakes do German-speaking learners make with passive infinitives and gerunds?
German-speaking learners most often drop be or being from passive infinitives and gerunds. Because German marks the passive with werden, the English linking piece can disappear in "The figures need to checked before the client call." The complete form is "The figures need to be checked before the client call." After remember, the same transfer produces "I remember asked to present the quarterly results." The target is "I remember being asked to present the quarterly results." A second error mixes forms after need: "The invoice needs being paid by Friday" is not the general target; use "The invoice needs to be paid by Friday." When editing, inspect not only the participle but also the word immediately before it. Rule: keep the scene-appropriate passive piece be, being, or been visible before the participle.
06 / 07
Needs paying or needs to be paid — what is the difference?
Needs to be paid is the clear general form for a passive requirement, while British English also allows needs paying. Both can say that the invoice is to receive payment. For the central model, need plus to be plus the participle is especially transparent because every passive piece remains visible. Do not confuse the British alternative with needs being paid, the mixed form in the common error. The regional FAQ also shows that a further bare form occurs in specific regions; that variation does not replace the target form for this lesson. In an international report or a clear process list, "The invoice needs to be paid by Friday" keeps the entire chain visible. Rule: use needs to be paid as the clear general form and recognise needs paying as a British alternative.
07 / 07
How do you use passive forms in requests and process updates?
In requests and process updates, passive infinitives and gerunds organise steps by what happens to a document or person. "All invoices need to be checked before being sent to the client" links a pending check to the later sending action. "The contract needs to be signed by Friday" sets a deadline without making the actor central. A memory such as "I remember being asked to present" instead shows the speaker receiving a request. For earlier events, use the longer look back, such as to have been sent. In your update, state the current requirement first, then an experienced action or one built into the process, and finally an earlier status. The form choice then becomes part of a real workflow rather than an isolated table. Rule: in a process report, each passive piece shows when and how the named item receives an action.