受動態. Verb forms with the affix -(r)are-. Besides the passive meaning, this morpheme also has spontaneous, honorific, and potential meanings.
Questions tagged [passive-voice]
253 questions
5
votes
1 answer
Why can't passive be used to express dissatisfaction from somebody failing to do something?
From Genki II:
You cannot express your suffering from somebody failing to do something either, because you cannot add the passive suffix to an already negated verb. Therefore you cannot use the passive to say things like "Professor Yamashita was…

Dani
- 377
- 1
- 8
5
votes
2 answers
Using 初めて with the passive
I was wondering how a passive sentence like:
トムさんに話しかけられた。
Tom started talking (to me).
could be changed to express that it was the first time that it happened. My attempt was:
トムさんに話しかけられたのは、初めてだった。
Is it gramaically correct? ( Should 話しかけられる…

cf.
- 118
- 5
3
votes
1 answer
Passive referring to one's own actions
for example
優美な笑顔を向けられ、そう答えるしかなかった。
寝たきりだった体を起こした時のような鈍い痛みが全身に走っていて、それは彼女と森で出会った頃よりも強く感じられた。
In these cases, the first person narrator is describing his own actions.
In what circumstances would you choose to use the passive form for your…

charu
- 2,560
- 1
- 12
- 20
2
votes
1 answer
Why is this sentence passive?
これには砂糖が含まれていますか
I don't see a reason for this to be passive. Isn't it just asking if a grammatical subject is performing an action? I don't see that anything is being done to the subject marked with が.
Shouldn't
これには砂糖が含んでいますか
work just fine?
If…

charlemagne
- 448
- 2
- 10
2
votes
1 answer
Direct or indirect passive form?
外国人に質問を聞かれたが、答えられなかった。
Can anybody analyze the grammatical structure of this sentence? Is this an indirect passive sentence? Thanks.

Rhys Wu
- 21
- 3
2
votes
1 answer
2
votes
2 answers
Passive form of 逃げる: 逃げられた vs. 逃げられる
I was reading in Basic Japanese Grammar Dictionary about the passive voice, and it says that you use ~られる form to conjugate verbs. (p33)
So [逃]{に}げる would be 逃げられる, ok.
But it is used other form, like in this example on the book:
山田さんは奥さんに逃げられた
…

Legust
- 47
- 5
2
votes
2 answers
When to use 受身形 (passive voice) And when to use 能動形 (active voice)?
The Japanese passive voice has been bothering me for quite a while.
I mean, We don't really use it in English, and I still have not come across many situation (at least daily situations)Where the Japanese passive voice has been used, besides in…

YuiPyon
- 29
- 1
- 4
1
vote
0 answers
Use of this passive in this sentence
上体だけを起き上がらせ、壁に身を預けていた彼の顔が落胆したように伏せられる。
Why would he use the passive for 伏せられる。? Is it because the narrator is "receiving" the 伏せられる? He's describing a character he's looking at

Bluegate
- 1,171
- 2
- 7
1
vote
1 answer
How is the passive being used here? 「勝手な行動をとられると困るわ」
There is a conversation in the anime Darling in the franxx, and a higher up is telling this sentence to Zero Two so that she won’t go off acting on her own:
勝手な行動を取られると困るわ
My first guess would be the polite passive, but it’s a bit weird, since the…

Mernn1
- 373
- 1
- 6
1
vote
1 answer
Do verbs in て form inherit the intransitivity of the main verb?
I'm trying to parse the sentence below.
みんなに見つめられて、困った。
Book translation: I didn't know what to do because everyone was staring at me
Here's my reasoning:
The sentence is in indirect passive because the verb 見つめられて is the te-form of 見つめられる,…

Nameless
- 1,510
- 1
- 3
- 14
1
vote
1 answer
Is あげられた not 受動態 here?
圭子:私が担当した裁判で完勝したわ。
沢地君江:三木先生が喜んで褒美に純金のメダルを。
圭子:いらないでしょ?あの人らしいわ。
沢地君江:それを圭子さんは古美門先生にあげられた。
圭子(黛に):金メダルとか好きそうでしょ?
黛:確かに。
圭子:次の日彼が半分にした金貨を私にくれたわ。2人で勝ち取ったものだとか何とか言っちゃって。(リーガル・ハイ)
If I understand it correctly,「それを圭子さんは古美門先生にあげられた。」indicates "圭子 was…

Eddie Kal
- 11,469
- 5
- 20
- 41
1
vote
1 answer
Passive form 作られる usage
I'm currently studying for N4 of the JLPT, and came across this conversation.
山田:「田中さん、そのバッグ、素敵ですね。どこで買いましたか。」
田中;「日本で作られたものですが、ハワイに行ったときに、買いました。」
In the above example, 田中 said 「日本で作られたもの」Is there a particular reason why the passive form is used…

September
- 77
- 5
1
vote
1 answer
Passive sentence construction
I came across this sentence:
全員に作業が割り当てられました。
In a passive sentence, the particle に marks the action doer, and that means the sentences should translate to
"Work was assigned (to me) by all members"
On Anki and Google Translate, the correct…

Newbie
- 2,131
- 6
- 19
1
vote
1 answer
Saying "I like you": 好きって言われたい vs. 好きって言いたい
I encountered this usage while watching a video on grammar on 日本語の森:
好きって言われたい
Now, judging by the context, it apparently means that the speaker "wants to say 'I like her.'" However, if I were to read the sentence without any context, I would…

Yeti Ape
- 1,242
- 12
- 20