The passive form is one of the conjugations we learn first and causes us many troubles since it is quite different from the one used in English. Therefore I wanted to introduce it (briefly) to make it easier to use.
If we want to know more about modern passive and potential we have to go back in time, to auxiliary verbs (verbs that cannot be used by themselves but have to be attached to other verbs) らゆ and ゆ used in the Nara period.
Originally, these auxiliaries expressed spontaneity (something is happening spontaneously, regardless of the will or effort of the speaker). If we think about it, for example, a modern example of this use, 聞こえる ‘to be audible’ has a nuance of ‘hearing something with no active effort’ (action happens by itself), in other words, ‘one **cannot** help, but hear something’. This ‘one cannot help, but by extension became **’one cannot’ – the potential function**, which originally was only used only in negative form. **Only much later**, did the Japanese **start** using it to express ‘one can’ **meaning.**
As for the **passive function**, it also evolved from ‘spontaneous’ usage. **Action beyond one’s will was extended to actions done by others.**
The last to emerge was **the honorific function**, which appeared during the later Heian period extension of the passive function. The logic here was simple, **people of high status have things done for them by subordinates.** Around that time also らゆ and ゆ were replaced with らる and る auxiliaries.
らる and る eventually evolved to modern potential and passive.
As we can see, both modern potential and passive have a common origin, this also explains why the forms are fairly similar.
[If you are curious about spontaneous function, and verbs like 聞こえる vs 聞ける then you can read my other post.](https://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/vfvruw/brief_japanese_%E8%81%9E%E3%81%93%E3%81%88%E3%82%8B%E8%A6%8B%E3%81%88%E3%82%8B%E8%A6%8B%E3%82%89%E3%82%8C%E3%82%8B_and_%E8%81%9E%E3%81%91%E3%82%8B_what_are/)
In this article, I would like to focus on the modern functions of the passive form.
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|**dictionary form**|passive conjugation|
|:-|:-|
|見（み） **る (ru verb/ichidan)**|見 **られる**|
|座 **る (u verbs/godan)**|座 **られる**|
|歌 （うた）**う**|歌 **われる**|
|歩（ある） **く**|歩 **かれる**|
|話（はな） **す**|話 **される**|
|打（う） **つ**|打 **たれる**|
|死 （し）**ぬ**|死 **なれる**|
|飛 （と）**ぶ**|飛 **ばれる**|
|休（やす） **む**|休 **まれる**|
|泳（およ） **ぐ**|泳 **がれる**|
Maybe, first let’s start with passive, as it is used in English, so-called **direct passive.**
When it is used a person or a thing that undergoes the action(called patient/target) becomes the subject (**marked with が)** of the sentence rather than a person or a thing(called “agent”) “doing” the verb (**marked with に**). It is used when we don’t know the agent, or it is not important, etc.
For example:
ソニーがこのスマホを作（つく）った。Sony made this smartphone. Active.
このカメラがソニーによって作られた。This camera was made by Sony. Passive.
In passive sentences, the doer of the action is expressed by に, によって or sometimes から.
**Usually, によって is used instead of に when something is produced (for example with 作られる、書かれる) and also in formal language.**
田中（たなか）さんによって*書（か）かれた*記事（きじ）を読（よ）みました。I read the article written by Mr. Tanaka.
弊社（へいしゃ）は専門家（せんもんか）によって選（えら）ばれた。Our company is chosen by professionals.
This usage of passive is not very common in speech and is more often used in writing.
**から is used when some information or remark is given.**
外国人（がいこくじん）から話（はな）しかけられた。
**I was spoken to by a foreigner.**
Another, more common use of passive is indirect passive, which has the most common with ‘spontaneous’ (cannot help but be) use. **This is also called ‘suffering passive’ or ‘adverse passive’.**
In this use, the action has an adverse (negative) effect on the person undergoing it. This usage is something that does not really exist in English. Unlike ‘direct passive it can be used with both transitive and intransitive verbs, and is not used with によって and から. The translation of such sentences can be simply the same as active ones, with ‘regrettably’ nuance added.
Examples:
赤（あか）ん坊（ぼう）が泣（な）いた。The baby cried.
赤ん坊に泣かれた。The baby cried (and it had an adverse effect on me). I cannot help but be cried by the baby. The baby regrettably cried.
武田（たけだ）さんの妻（つま）が死（し）んだ。The wife of Mr. Takeda died.
武田さんは妻に死なれました。The wife of mr. Takeda died (and it had an adverse effect on him). The wife of mr. Takeda regrettably died.
雨（あめ）が降（ふ）りました。It rained.
雨に降られました。It rained (and it had an adverse effect on me – I got wet). It regrettably rained.
先生（せんせい）が私（わたし）を褒（ほ）めた。The teacher praised me.
先生に褒められちゃった。I was praised by the teacher. (and it had an adverse effect on me – for example, it was embarrassing)
**Particle を MUST BE USED when the action happens to something one owns or part of one’s body.**
バスの中（なか）でつま先（さき）を踏（ふ）まれた。(つま先が踏まれた is wrong)
Someone stepped on my toe in the bus.
犬（いぬ）に手（て）を噛（か）まれた。
My hand was bitten by a dog.
**私を踏まれた。**
The last use is **honorific use**. I’ve noticed that it was fairly rarely introduced in textbooks. Unlike other uses, the form replaces the normal verb, **but the particles are not changed (the sentence is identical to the active sentence)!**
お客（きゃく）が出（で）ました。The guest left.
お客が出られました。The guest left.
こちらに勤（つと）めているでしょう？ I suppose you are working here?
こちらに勤（つと）めていられるでしょう？I suppose you are working here?
**Be careful! This form is used less often than other honorific patterns, like お〜になる, and it cannot be used with all verbs. It might be also confused with other uses. Usually, it is used in public speeches and announcements, when the speaker wants to sound ‘reserved’.**
For example, when announcing a speaker:
山下（やました）先生（せんせい）はこの度（たび）、韓国（かんこく）より帰（かえ）られまして…
Professor Yamashita recently returned from Korea…
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I am mrnoone, and this was briefjapanese.
[All my articles, including why は is pronounced as わ are archivized on my blog.](https://briefjapanese.fun/)
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10 comments
This is really useful, thanks 🙂 I’m never quite sure when to use it so this helps.
Pretty cool. Thanks for making this 👍
Spotted a few mistakes I think (ignore them if I’m wrong), otherwise great write up! Interesting read.
>赤ん坊に泣かされた。The baby cried (and it had an adverse effect on me).
I think you might’ve made a mistake here, surely it’s 泣かれた right? Wouldn’t 泣かされた mean that the speaker was made to cry by the baby?
>こちらに詰めていられるでしょう？
I think you might’ve forgotten the と in 勤める and ended up with the wrong kanji.
Thanks for this lesson!
Another typo, I think:
> 武田（たけだ）さんの妻（つま）が死（し）なれました。The wife of Mr. Takeda died.
The Japanese is using the passive form, but this is supposed to be an active voice example, right?
Thanks, man! This is very helpful. 助かってありがとうございます！
Great post. I recently watched a video which also discussed this
https://youtu.be/SPSn–SkUws
Excellent post, the adverse passive reminds me of how in Spanish you can add a pronoun in a passive sentence to mean the same thing. El café se enfrió is the coffee got cold while el café se me enfrió is the coffee got cold on me (adversely affected me).
You seem very knowledgeable, how did 連体形 and 終止形 of 2段 verbs become 1段. 食ぶる/食ぶ -> 食べる. According to Vovin in his A REFERENCE GRAMMAR OF CLASSICAL JAPANESE PROSE the root is tabe- to which -uる and -u are attached to ie tabe-uru -> tabeuru -> taburu. As you know it also happened to -らる -る which became -られる -れる.
I don’t know enough to argue the case, but what do you think of Cure Dolly’s take on the passive? [https://youtu.be/cvV6d-RETs8](https://youtu.be/cvV6d-RETs8) (turn on subtitles).
It seems to make good sense to me and fits in simply with her overall model – The fundamental point seems to be that the passive isn’t a single conjugated verb, but two separate verbs, each being done by a different actor.
It’s worth pointing out too that you also don’t even need to make use of the passive form at all to create the equivalent of what would be a passive sentence in English. Instead, you can simply topicalize the direct object with は instead of the subject:
​
* このカメラ**は**ソニー**が**作りました。(This camera was made by Sony.)
* 台所仕事**は**ほとんど私**が**やっています。(Most of the work in the kitchen is done by me.)
* この写真**は**誰**が**撮りましたか。(Who was this picture taken by?)
* ケーキ**は**お母さん**が**焼いてくれました。(The cake was made for me by my mom.)
These sentences aren’t technically “passive” but change the focus and emphasis in a similar way to the English passive.
Hi, I can’t access your site btw. Do you happen to have an article on the origin of について?