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We can say "I have decided to invite you". What will be the passive form?

1) You have been decided to invite 2) You have been decided to be invited?

And the second thing:

I have thought about inviting you. How will it be in passive?

1) You have been thought about inviting... or how?

Please, help me

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  • 1
    How can an intransitive clause be made passive?
    – BillJ
    Commented Feb 11, 2019 at 16:44
  • 1
    Neither of the active sentences are grammatical. However: A decision has been made (by me) to invite you.
    – Jason Bassford
    Commented Feb 12, 2019 at 22:22

1 Answer 1

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First off, saying to someone that you personally decided to invite them to, say, a party/meeting using the passive voice, to me, seems somewhat ridiculous; besides, you don't normally invite somebody before you have decided to do so.

In situations where only the fact of invite matters (whoever the inviting person(s) may be) and in case the verb decide is a must, you can say:

  1. It has been decided to invite you.

  2. It has been decided that you will/should be invited.

  3. A decision has been made to invite you.*

*(@Jasson Bassford's suggestion, which, for my money, will be the best choice)

As for the second part of your question, the sentence might read:

Inviting you (to the meeting) is being thought of/about.

Two helpful notes:

  1. The verbs that are followed by infinitives can only be used in passive structures beginning with it. (Examples 1 and 2)

  2. Verbs that refer to wanting, liking and similar ideas cannot be usually in passive structures with following infinitives:

Everybody wanted him to be the manager. (BUT NOT: He was wanted to be the manager.)

We like our stuff to say what they think. (BUT NOT: Our stuff are liked to say what they think.)

The source:

Michael Swan. Practical English Usage, Third Edition: New International Student's Edition (417.2, 418.6)

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  • Whta if we will change the verb for "want". "I wanted to invite you". Can it be something like "You were wanted to be invited"?
    – Michael Azarenko
    Commented Mar 12, 2019 at 15:34
  • This is a sentence with a clear actor and action and there's no need to make it passive. If it doesn't matter who wanted to invite you, then use someone or they (wanted to invite you). "I wanted you to be invited (but the others were against it)" is the only passive construction I can think of.
    – Victor B.
    Commented Mar 12, 2019 at 16:34
  • “Your presence was desired” is grammatical and has a similar meaning; it means someone/some people wanted you to be there, but it does not say if anyone invited you or wanted to invite you. Why would you want to use the passive voice in this context?
    – Mixolydian
    Commented Mar 12, 2019 at 18:07

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