2

I came across this sentence in my textbook:

便利になったとはいえ、問題も残されている。

I notice that the sentence use passive voice of "残す". Is there any reason why it doesn't use active form as follows?

便利になったとはいえ、問題も残している。

Thanks in advance

A Learner
  • 211
  • 1
  • 4
  • This may be helpful https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/43012/when-to-use-%e5%8f%97%e8%ba%ab%e5%bd%a2-passive-voice-and-when-to-use-%e8%83%bd%e5%8b%95%e5%bd%a2-active-voice/43048#43048 – Micah Cowan May 30 '20 at 20:06
  • More context would be helpful. What is this in relation to? More text before and after would make it more likely for your question to be answered. – kandyman May 30 '20 at 20:43

1 Answers1

5

First, let's check the basic difference of the following:

  • 残る is intransitive. "to remain/stay"
  • 残す is transitive. "to leave [something]"
  • 残される is the passive-form of 残す. "to be left".

A 問題 is something that can remain, stay or be left, but we are not talking about a 問題 which is leaving something else. Therefore 問題が残して(いる) is wrong. 問題も残している may not be wrong because this も may have replaced を instead of が, but it depends on the context.

  1. 問題が残っている = 問題が残されている = There is a remaining problem.
  2. 問題も残っている = 問題も残されている = There is also a remaining problem.
  3. 問題を残している = [Someone] has left a problem.
  4. 問題が残している (wrong; "a problem left something"?)
  5. 問題も残している = [Someone] has also left a problem.

Practically, we don't say 3 or 5 that commonly unless you are intentionally focusing on the person who left the problem.

When the subject is an inanimate object like 問題, 残っている and 残されている are interchangeable. When the subject is a human, 残っている sounds like they stayed intentionally, whereas 残されている sounds like they were left against their will.

naruto
  • 313,860
  • 13
  • 324
  • 625
  • Thanks for your explanation. That solves my problem. I forgot the ending "いる" in the sentences. The original post is edited. – A Learner May 31 '20 at 12:52