Passive Voice in Compound Tenses
To form the passive voice in compound tenses like the passato prossimo, use the compound form of the auxiliary essere followed by the past participle of the main verb.
Because essere takes itself as an auxiliary, you will use forms like è stato (was / has been) or sono stati (were / have been).
This means both the past participle of essere (stato/a/i/e) and the past participle of the main verb must agree in gender and number with the subject.
Notice how both stata and organizzata end in -a to match the feminine singular subject l'esposizione:
| The exhibition was organized in a famous gallery. | L'esposizione è stata organizzata in una famosa galleria. |
Here, both participles end in -o to match the masculine singular subject il dipinto. Just like in simple tenses, the agent is introduced by da (or combined with the article, like dal):
| The authentic painting was analyzed by the critic. | Il dipinto autentico è stato analizzato dal critico. |
Plurals and Negation
When the subject is plural, both participles shift to match. For a masculine plural subject (questi dipinti), both will end in -i.
| These paintings were exhibited and much appreciated. | Questi dipinti sono stati esposti e molto apprezzati. |
To make a passive sentence negative, simply place non right before the conjugated verb.
| The sculpture was not appreciated by the critic. | La scultura non è stata apprezzata dal critico. |