Japanese Passive Voice (受身形)
Japanese passive voice (受身形, ukemi-kei) serves different purposes than English passive. Beyond simple grammar, Japanese uses passive to express being adversely affected by someone else's action.
Passive conjugation
Group 1 (う-verbs): change the final vowel to あ-row + れる. Group 2 (る-verbs): replace る with られる. Group 3 irregular: する→される, くる→こられる.
Common mistakes
Using を with indirect passive
RightUse に to mark the agent of the action
The passive agent is always marked with に. を marks the object of the original active verb.
Forgetting indirect/suffering passive exists
RightRecognise passive + adversely affected meaning
犬に逃げられた (my dog ran away on me) — Japanese often uses indirect passive to show the speaker was inconvenienced.
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What is the difference between direct and indirect passive in Japanese?
Direct passive (直接受身) mirrors English passive — the object of the active sentence becomes the subject. Indirect/suffering passive (間接受身 or 迷惑受身) means the subject was adversely affected by someone else's action, even when the subject wasn't the direct object.