This article explains passive form in Japanese. Passive form is also called “passive voice” in English.
Passive form means that something is being acted upon. An example in English would be “to give a gift” (active) versus “to be given a gift” (passive).
Examples:
トラコはねずみを食べました。
Torako wa nezumi o tabemashita.
Torako ate the mouse.
ねずみはトラコに食べられました。
Nezumi wa Torako ni taberaremashita.
The mouse was eaten by Torako.
ねずみはトラコに食べられませんでした。
Nezumi wa Torako ni taberaremasen deshita.
The mouse was not eaten by Torako.
トラコはねずみをおいかけました。
Torako wa nezumi o oikakemashita.
Torako chased the mouse.
ねずみはトラコにおいかけられました。
Nezumi wa torako ni oikakeraremashita.
The mouse is chased by Torako.
Verb Conjugation Patterns
Use the following patterns to create passive form of verbs.
Verb Group 1 (godan verbs, also known as u-dropping verbs)
Positive Plain
[verb-stem]areru
Negative plain:
[verb-stem]arenai
Positive polite:
[verb-stem]aremasu
Negative polite:
[verb-stem]aremasen
[verb-stem]areru
Negative plain:
[verb-stem]arenai
Positive polite:
[verb-stem]aremasu
Negative polite:
[verb-stem]aremasen
Verb Group 2 (ichidan verbs, also known as ru-dropping verbs)
Positive Plain
[verb-stem]rareru
Negative plain:
[verb-stem]rarenai
Positive polite:
[verb-stem]raremasu
Negative polite:
[verb-stem]raremasen
[verb-stem]rareru
Negative plain:
[verb-stem]rarenai
Positive polite:
[verb-stem]raremasu
Negative polite:
[verb-stem]raremasen
Verb Group 3
Positive Plain
Suru: sareru
Kuru: korareru
Negative plain:
Suru: sarenai
Kuru: korarenai
Positive polite:
Suru: saremasu
Kuru: koraremasu
Negative polite:
Suru: saremasen
Kuru: koreraremasen
Suru: sareru
Kuru: korareru
Negative plain:
Suru: sarenai
Kuru: korarenai
Positive polite:
Suru: saremasu
Kuru: koraremasu
Negative polite:
Suru: saremasen
Kuru: koreraremasen
This page is based a part of “Some Notes on Japanese Grammar” published for your personal use, with the kind permission of Keith Smillie (http://www.cs.ualberta.ca/~smillie/)
Related posts:
4:28 pm on November 11th, 2011
Mistakes present! Please do not post or acknowledge everything in here to be correct.
3:01 pm on January 3rd, 2010
Thanks for catching this one, too.
7:14 am on December 31st, 2009
The hiragana does not include られ for the fifth example.
11:16 pm on October 21st, 2009
Thanks for pointing out these two typos, which were presumably copy-and-paste errors.
11:11 pm on October 21st, 2009
Positive polite is referred to as negative polite in the ichidan and godan verb sections.
5:03 pm on April 13th, 2009
tonysan this is the ‘bei’ in mandarin rite?
9:23 pm on March 7th, 2009
I didn’t explain it all that well. It was more like we should only write it when it adds effect, is necessary, etc. Not that it was bad, just not to use it a lot. It’s not a journalism-related class, that’s probably why.
Thank-you!
10:40 pm on March 4th, 2009
My understanding is that it is quite acceptable in nihongo.
Also, your teacher perhaps failed to mention that the passive voice in English is indispensable for writing news reports, since it enables one to say that something was done without directly alleging who did it. I am sure that in journalism classes, students are not told that the passive voice is “bad English.”
6:50 pm on March 4th, 2009
My teacher gave a lecture on not writing in passive voice jsut a while ago..is it considered as bad in japan as it is here?