Without even realizing it, you speak in the passive voice all the time. Instead of saying, "My mother yelled at me," you might say, "I was yelled at by my mother." The passive voice is even more common in Japanese. So, it's a necessary part of speaking Japanese like a natural. In this Lower Intermediate Japanese article, learn how to form Japanese sentences in the passive voice by simply making the direct object the subject. Using simple charts, this Japanese article shows you how to switch the order of the words in common sentence patterns to form the passive voice. You'll also discover the right times to speak this way and how the Japanese word reru fits in. The passive voice is an easy way to speak politely in Japanese, so this Lower Intermediate Japanese article is one you don't want to miss!

Vocabulary: In this article, you'll learn the following words and phrases:

masaka - "by no means, you don't say"

naguru - "to hit, to punch"

ka - "mosquito"

sasu - "to pierce, to stab, to prick"

kan kan - "flare-up"

oidasu - "to remove, to expel, to drive out"

okoru - "to be huffed, to become upset"

Grammar: In this article, you'll learn the following words and phrases:

Today's grammar point is the passive voice, which refers to a sentence structure in which the recipient of some action becomes the grammatical subject of the sentence. In other words, the passive voice takes the direct object of the equivalent active sentence as the grammatical subject of the sentence.

As in today's examples below, "you" or "I," which is the direct object of the active sentence, becomes the grammatical subject of the passive sentence. Also, please note that we normally use the particle ni to indicate the agent (the doer of the action).

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Examples:
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Today's Example 1:

(Kimi wa, ) kanojo ni nagurareta no ka.
"Were you hit by your girlfriend?"

Equivalent active sentence:

"Did she hit you?"

Today's Example 2:

(Boku wa) ka ni sasareta n da yo.
"I was bitten by a mosquito."
Equivalent active sentence:
"A mosquito bit me."
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Formation:
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Active sentence: [A] wa [B] o + [verb active tense]
Passive sentence: [B] wa [A] ni + [verb passive tense]

To form a passive sentence, simply change the final syllable from the -u column to the -a column and add reru. In the case of Class 1 verbs ending in -u, such as iu, the -u becomes -wa. The irregular verbs suru and kuru have irregular passive conjugations that you must memorize independently . These can be seen in the table below:

Verb Class / Dictionary Form / -u becomes -a + [reru] / Passive
1 / hanasu / hanas a reru / hanasareru
1 / nomu / nom a reru / nomareru
1 / iu / i wa reru / iwareru
2 / taberu / taber a reru / taberareru
2 / kiru / kir a reru / kirareru
3 / suru / ---- / sareru
3 / kuru / ---- / korareru

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Examples:
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Neko ga nezumi o tabeta.
"A cat ate a rat."
Nezumi ga niko ni taberareta.
"A rat was eaten by a cat."
Haha wa, watashi o shikatta.
"My mother scolded me."
Watashi wa, haha ni shikarareta.
"I was scolded by my mother."
Kodomo-tachi ga inu o oikaketa.
"Kids ran after a dog."
Inu wa, kodomo-tachi ni oikakerareta.
"A dog was run after by kids."

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