How the passive is built, and the two ways Japanese uses it that English doesn't: the 'adversity' passive (something bad happened to me) and the polite, neutral passive.
About 5 minutes to read
The passive turns the sentence around: instead of "the dog bit me", "I was bitten by the dog". It exists in English, but Japanese has a wider use, including something English doesn't have at all.
How to make it
Type
How
Example
ru-verb
drop る, add られる
食べる → 食べられる
u-verb
change to the あ-row + れる
書く → 書かれる、飲む → 飲まれる、買う → 買われる
する
される
来る
来られる (こられる)
The passive is a ru-verb, so it conjugates like one: 食べられた, 食べられない.
The direct passive
Like English: the person who does the action takes に; the one affected is the topic.
先生teacherにby褒められたwas praised
I was praised by the teacher.
この本bookは多くmanyの人peopleにby読まれているis read
This book is read by many people.
The doer takes に (or, with certain verbs such as 作る, によって).
The adversity passive
This is the one English doesn't have. In Japanese you can use the passive for something that happens to you and affects you badly, even when English would use an ordinary active verb with no "passive" at all.
雨rainに降られたwas rained on
I got caught in the rain. (The rain "rained at me".)
友達friendに日記diaryを読まれたhad read
My friend read my diary on me. (And I'm upset.)
子供childに泣かれたwas cried at
My child cried on me. (It troubled me.)
Notice 降られた: in English, "it rained" has no object, but in Japanese the person affected is the topic, and the passive of 降る says they suffered the rain. This kind of passive is called the suffering passive or adversity passive. It shows up in everyday complaints and is a good thing to recognise: whenever a verb is in passive form but the English translation sounds odd, it might be a "this happened to me and I didn't like it" sentence.
The neutral passive
Written Japanese uses the passive to describe facts without naming who did them, which is common in news and formal writing:
日本語Japaneseは多くmanyの国countriesで話されているis spoken
Japanese is spoken in many countries.
新しいnew駅stationが建てられたwas built
A new station was built.
Here no one is blamed, and no one is hurt. It's just a neutral way of describing something without needing to say who did it.
Passive as honorific
The same passive form (れる / られる) is also used for respect. A speaker may say 先生が来られた meaning "the teacher came" with respect. You'll learn more about that in the lesson on polite language.
Longer sentences
The adversity passive and neutral passive both appear in complaints and reports.
昨日yesterday仕事のwork's帰りにon the way back急にsuddenly雨にby rain降られてgot rained on andしかもwhat's more電車の中ではinside the train知らない人にby a stranger足をfoot踏まれてstepped on and散々なterrible一日だったday
Yesterday on my way home from work I got caught in a sudden downpour, and what's more a stranger stepped on my foot on the train, so it was a terrible day.
このthis寺はtemple約千年前にabout a thousand years ago建てられwas built and何度もmany times火事でby fire焼かれたがwas burned, butそのたびにeach time人々のpeople's手でby hand建て直されてwas rebuilt and今にto the present至っているhas reached
This temple was built about a thousand years ago and burned down many times, but each time it was rebuilt by the people and has survived to the present.
A news report in passives
昨日yesterday午後afternoon、市内のin the city工場でat a factory火災がa fire発生したbroke out
火はthe fire約二時間後にabout two hours later消し止められたがwas put out, but建物のbuilding's一部がpart焼かれwas burned and従業員employees三人がthree煙をsmoke吸ってinhaling病院にto hospital運ばれたwere carried
警察はthe police火災のthe fire's原因がcause調べられているとis being investigated (quote)発表したannounced
Yesterday afternoon a fire broke out at a factory in the city.
It was put out about two hours later, but part of the building was burned, and three employees were taken to hospital after inhaling smoke.
The police announced that the cause of the fire is being investigated.