RWTH Aachen Dozentin: Dr.

Paula Niemietz
Institut für Anglistik WS 07/08
Proseminar: Syntactic Mysteries 13-12-2008
Andrea Beemelmanns

Passive Constructions
1. Formation
1.1 Subject and Object

In passive sentences the object of the former active sentence becomes

the subject.

They built the House in 1486.

The House was built in 1486.

The subject of the active sentence becomes optional in a passive

sentence.
But if it is necessary, it can be added:

- The House was built in 1486 by them.

1.2 Passive Verb Forms

The verb in a passive sentence always appears as:

form of „to be“ + past participle

This means the tense of a passive sentence can only be seen from the
form of „to be“! e.g.: - The house WAS built…
- The girls ARE kissed…
- The ball WILL BE kicked…

1.3 Verbs with two objects

For example: lend, pay, show, tell, give…

I gave Mary the book.

 I = Subject
 Mary = indirect object
 the book = direct object

With these two objects there are two possibilities to form a passive
sentence depending on what was said before or where one wants to put
the stress on.

- Mary was given the book.

- The book was given to Mary.

1.4 Specials and Exceptions

1. Passive Sentences are IMPOSSIBLE with intransitive verbs!

RWTH Aachen Dozentin: Dr. Paula Niemietz
Institut für Anglistik WS 07/08
Proseminar: Syntactic Mysteries 13-12-2008
Andrea Beemelmanns

He died. è *He was died.

She runs. è *She is run.

2. Transitive Verbs which refer to a state and not to an action aren‘t

used that often in passive!

They have a nice house. è *A nice house is had by them.

My shoes don‘t fit me. è *I am not fitted by my shoes.

2. Comparison with the Passive in Japanese

2.1 First an active sentence:

Gakusei wa hon o yomu.

[student] NOM [book] ACC [to read]

The student reads the book.

In Japanese the verb is fixed at the end of a sentence. The subject and objects are put in front
of the verb in a loose order. The cases are marked by syllables.
“wa” => NOM / “no” => GEN/ “ni” => DAT/ “o” => ACC
The part of the sentence you want to stress is usually put directly in front of the verb.

2.2 Now a passive sentence:

Gakusei ni hon wa yomareru.

[student] DAT [book] NOM [to be read]

The book is read by the student.

The Japanese Passive is formed fairly easy. Especially Germans may think so because they
are already familiar with the four cases system.
‘Hon’ becomes the subject so it gets the nominative marker “wa”. The ‘student’ becomes the
object/ agent and therefore dative. This is implied by the syllable “ni”. The verb ‘yomu’ = ‘to
read’ is added an ending which marks the passive. In this case the ending is –reru. Another
ending is –(r)areru for another verb class. But these two endings are the only ones so far.

yomu (to read) è yomareru (to be read)

yurusu (to allow) è yurusareru (to be allowed)
hajimeru (to start) è hajimerareru (to be started)
taberu (to eat) è taberareru (to be eaten)
RWTH Aachen Dozentin: Dr. Paula Niemietz
Institut für Anglistik WS 07/08
Proseminar: Syntactic Mysteries 13-12-2008
Andrea Beemelmanns
Literature: Michael Swan (2005): Practical English Usage. New York: Oxford University Press
Bruno Lewin et.al. (1990): Einführung in die Japanische Sprache. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz