Japanese Passive Form with the particle に, から and によって

Last time, you learned how to express potential like “日に本ほん語ごを話はなせる (I can speak Japanese)” and “漢かん字じを書かくことができる (I can write kanji).” In Japanese, you can express various things by conjugating verbs. Here, you will learn another form: the Japanese passive form.

Explanation for How Japanese Passive Form Works

People may not encourage you to use passive sentences in English. By contrast, it plays an important role in Japanese. You can see it in a lot of situations. The frequency is one of the major differences between English and Japanese.

Conjugation Rule

Ru-verb: To Replace ru with rareru

U-verbs: To Replace u with areru

Two Exceptions

You may have noticed that the passive form of ru-verbs and 来る are exactly the same as the potential form. It is said that that’s why people omit ら when they use the potential form in order to distinguish the two forms. That is to say, you cannot omit ら from the passive form. If you would like to use the potential and the passive form at the same time, you have to utilize another form: …ことができる. For example, if you say “I could be praised” in Japanese, you can say “褒ほめられることができた.”

Basic Sentence Pattern

The first example is written from the Tanaka-san’s point of view while the second one is written from the Bob’s point of view. The structures are similar, but the function of the particle に has changed from “targets” to “doers.”

When verbs don’t indicate physical contact, the particle に can be replaced with the particle から. Here, it is applicable with the third and the fourth example.

This is another basic sentence pattern in passive sentences. Verbs sometimes indicate particular things, e.g. I was praised vs. I was praised for my courage. In such cases, you can utilize the particle を.

Advanced Topic: Proper Particles

In cases where the particle に may cause confusion, you have to substitute other words for it. There are two options: から and によって. When the verb requires a target (recipient), you need to use から because using the same particle multiple times won’t make sense to listeners.

When the verb implies to create something for someone, you have to use によって to express doers because に can indicate “targets.”

If you use the particle に, it may mean like this;

Indirect Passive Sentences

From the baby’s point of view, the verb: “泣なく to cry” is intransitive and an independent action. However, from your point of view, you were greatly affected by his/her crying. This is the case where the meaning of the active sentence will differ from the passive sentence. Actions indirectly affect someone. That’s why we call it “indirect passive sentences.” Be careful; this grammar generally denotes a negative connotation. *Speaker’s feelings may not be expressly mentioned, so you may need to guess based on context. The verbs in parenthesis are our assumptions.

Intransitive Verbs VS. the Passive Form of Transitive Verbs

They express very similar things. However, when you use passive sentences, you indicate the presence of doers. As you learned here, intransitive verbs don’t have the passive form unless they indirectly and badly affect someone.

When Should Passive Sentences Be Used?

When Speakers Are Recipients of Actions

In Japanese, sentences sound natural when speakers are subjects. In this case, unless you really want to emphasize the stranger, you should use the passive sentences.

When You Use Compound Sentences

You will learn how to make compound sentences in other lessons. For now, please focus on the concept. In Japanese, subjects in main and subordinate clauses should be the same.

Summary

1. The conjugation of ru-verbs and 来る is the same as the potential form.
2. Doers can be expressed by に, から, and によって.
3. Intransitive verbs can be the passive form if it badly affects someone.

As we mentioned, passive sentences are very important in Japanese. People encourage you to use it in writing unlike English because indirect expressions are often preferred in our culture. Please try to understand the usages without doubt here. Next, you will learn a related form: Japanese causative form.