Passive voice is a grammatical voice common in many of the world's languages. Passive is used in a clause whose subject expresses the theme or patient of the main verb. That is, the subject undergoes an action or has its state changed.^[1] A sentence whose theme is marked as grammatical subject is called a passive sentence. In contrast, a sentence in which the subject has the agent role is called an active sentence, and its verb is expressed in active voice. Many languages have both an active and a passive voice; this allows for greater flexibility in sentence construction, as either the semantic agent or patient may take the syntactic role of subject.^[2]

Transforming an active verb into a passive verb is a valence-decreasing process ("detransitivizing process"), because it transforms transitive verbs into intransitive verbs.^[3]

The use of passive voice allows speakers to organize stretches of discourse by placing figures other than the agent in subject position. This may be used to foreground the patient, recipient, or other thematic role.^[2] Passive voice may also be useful when the semantic patient is the topic of on-going discussion.^[4] The passive voice may also be used to avoid specifying the agent of an action.

Passive marking[link]

Different languages use various grammatical forms to indicate passive voice.

In some languages, such as Latin, passive voice is indicated by verb conjugation. A passive suffix on the verb indicates passive voice.

• Vīnum (ā) servō portātur.

The wine is carried by the servant.

(Compare this sentence, which gives the same information in the active voice:

Servus vīnum portat, The servant carries the wine.)

North Germanic languages also use a verb-conjugated passive voice.^{[citation needed]}

Swedish:

• Vinet bärs av tjänaren.

The wine is carried by the servant.

(In active voice:

Tjänaren bär vinet. The servant carries the wine.)

Similarly, the Austronesian language Kimaragang Dusun uses an infix, -in-, to indicate passive voice.^[5]

Many languages use impersonal verbs to achieve the same object.

The passive voice in English[link]

English, like some other languages, uses a periphrastic passive. Rather than conjugating directly for voice, English uses the past participle form of the verb plus an auxiliary verb, either be or get, to indicate passive voice.

• The money was donated to the school.
• The vase got broken during the fight.

The active voice is the dominant voice in English at large. Many commentators, notably George Orwell in his essay "Politics and the English Language" and Strunk & White in The Elements of Style, have urged minimizing use of the passive voice. However, the passive voice has important uses. Jan Freeman of The Boston Globe states "[a]ll good writers use the passive voice" – including Orwell and Strunk & White themselves, in the sections of their essays criticizing the passive voice.^[6] There is general agreement that the passive voice is useful for emphasis, or when the receiver of the action is more important than the actor.^[7]

Adversative passive[link]

Some languages, including several Southeast Asian languages, use a form of passive voice to indicate that an action or event was unpleasant or undesirable.^[5] This so-called adversative passive works like the ordinary passive voice in terms of syntactic structure—that is, a theme or instrument acts as subject. In addition, the construction indicates adversative affect, suggesting that someone was negatively affected.

The Japanese adversative passive (also called indirect passive) indicates adversative affect.

• 花子が　隣の　学生に　ピアノを　朝まで　弾かれた。

Hanako-ga tonari-no gakusei-ni piano-o asa-made hikareta.

Hanako-subject neighbor student-by piano-object morning-until played-passive

"Hanako was adversely affected by the neighboring student playing the piano until morning."^[8]

The indirect or adversative passive has the same form as the direct passive in Japanese. Unlike the direct passive, the indirect passive may be used with intransitive verbs.

Stative passive[link]

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Some languages draw a distinction between static (or stative) passive voice, and dynamic (or eventive) passive voice. Examples include English, German, Swedish, and Italian. "Static" means that an action was done to the subject at a certain point in time resulting in a state in the time focussed upon, whereas "dynamic" means that an action takes place.

German[link]

Static passive auxiliary verb: sein ("sein-Passiv, Zustandspassiv")

Dynamic passive auxiliary verb: werden ("werden-Passiv")

Der Rasen ist gemäht ("The lawn is mown", static)

Der Rasen wird gemäht ("The lawn is being mown", literally "The lawn becomes mown", dynamic)

A number of verbs such as bedecken "cover", erfüllen "fill", trennen "separate", when used as stative verbs, only form static passives:

Schnee bedeckt die Erde ("Snow covers the earth", active)

Die Erde ist von Schnee bedeckt ("The earth is covered in snow", static)

but not: *Die Erde wird von Schnee bedeckt (dynamic)^[9]

English[link]

Static passive auxiliary verb: be (the "be-passive")

Dynamic passive auxiliary verb: get (the "get-passive")

Note that for some speakers of English this is not accepted and is considered colloquial or sub-standard.

The grass is cut (static)

The grass gets cut (dynamic)

Swedish[link]

Static passive auxiliary verb: vara (är, var, varit)

Dynamic passive auxiliary verb: bli (blir, blev, blivit) Dynamic passive in Swedish is also frequently expressed with the s-ending.

Dörren är öppnad. "The door has been opened."

Dörren blir öppnad. "The door is being opened."

The vara passive is often synonymous with, and sometimes preferable to, simply using the corresponding adjective:

Dörren är öppen. "The door is open."

The bli passive is often synonymous with, and sometimes preferable to, the s-passive:

Dörren öppnas. "The door is opening."

Italian[link]

Italian uses two verbs (essere and venire) to translate the static and the dynamic passive:

Dynamic passive auxiliary verb: essere and venire (to be and to come)

La porta è aperta. or La porta viene aperta. "The door is opened [by someone]" or "The door comes open [by someone]".

La porta è chiusa. or La porta viene chiusa. "The door is closed [by someone]" or "The door comes closed [by someone]".

Static passive auxiliary verb: essere (to be)

La porta è aperta. "The door is open," i.e. it has been opened.

La porta è chiusa. "The door is closed," i.e. it has been closed.

Venetian[link]

In Venetian (Vèneto) the difference between dynamic (true) passive and stative (adjectival) passive is more clear cut, using èser (to be) only for the static passives and vegner (to become, to come) only for the dynamic passive:

Ła porta ła vien verta. "The door is opened", dynamic

Ła porta ła xè / l'è verta. "The door is open", static

Static forms represents much more a property or general condition, whereas the dynamic form is a real passive action entailing "by someone":

èser proteto. "To be protected = to be in a safe condition", static

vegner proteto. "To be protected = to be defended (by so)", dynamic

èser considarà. "To be considered = to have a (good) reputation", static

vegner considarà. "To be taken into consideration (by people, by so)", dynamic

èser raprexentà (a l'ONU). "To be represented (at the UN) = to have a representation", static

vegner raprexentà a l'ONU (da un dełegà). "To be represented at the UN (by a delegate)", dynamic

See also[link]

• Chômeur
• List of common English usage misconceptions

References[link]