Passive language may sound like something you want to avoid since it’s frowned upon in English, but did you know it’s far more common in Japanese? Japanese passive verb, or られる form, is used all the time. As you start to advance your Japanese abilities, passive voice will become very useful for understanding how natives speak and for you to express yourself more naturally in Japanese.
So, what is the passive form in Japanese, and is it different from English? We will cover everything you need to know about passive language, from what it is, how to use it naturally, and how to easily conjugate verbs so you can start using passive Japanese right away!
What is the Passive Voice in Japanese?
Passive language in Japanese is called 受身系 (ukemikei), and it’s a form of communication that emphasizes how an action is affecting you or somebody rather than focusing on who is doing the action. It is considered an indirect form of communicating.
The passive form is characterized by verb conjugations. In Japanese, you conjugate the verbs into passive form by replacing the suffix or verb endings with れる(reru) or られる(rareru).
| English | English Passive Form | Japanese Dictionary Form | Japanese Passive Form |
| To eat | Eaten | 食べる (taberu) | 食べられる (taberareru) |
When you conjugate verbs into this form, you are saying the subject was acted upon, not the actions of the subject. For example, by saying 果物はありに食べられた (kudamono wa ari ni taberareta) “the fruit was eaten by ants”, you are emphasizing how the subject was affected.
The passive voice in Japanese is used for various reasons. One reason is that both the Japanese language and Japanese culture are very indirect. As a result, the passive voice is more frequently used in Japan than in some other countries. When speaking keigo, it is often more polite to use the passive, or even potential-form, in many circumstances.
Before you continue, make sure that you have at least learned some basic Japanese verbs.
Why is Passive Voice So Common in Japanese?
In English, we were taught to speak and write with directness. For instance, rather than saying “forks are used by Americans”, we were taught that saying “Americans use forks” is better. But, even in English, there is still a good reason to use the passive form.
For example, if you want to emphasize that the food at a party was a crowd pleaser, you might say something like “the food was very popular” and then follow with a passive statement, “it was eaten very quickly”. Passive is clearly the better option to emphasize the subject, which is food, and its popularity since people at the party were eating it all up.
In Japanese, the passive language is used in the same way, but it’s even more common, so why is that? The passive voice is used for a variety of other purposes, making passive language more frequent in Japanese.
Culture is one of the biggest factors. In Japan, indirectness is seen as polite and unconfrontational. As a result, the passive voice is more frequently used due to being an indirect form of communication, shifting the focus away from the subject. It also communicates respect and consideration for the listener. This is part of what makes Japanese culture and language so high-context.
In Japanese, the passive voice is also used when the speaker wants to inject the sentence with emotion. For example, Japanese speakers often use the passive voice in situations where they want to convey a sense that they are a “victim”. In other words, they use the passive voice to describe when something bad has happened to them. Another use for the passive voice in Japanese is when talking about inanimate objects. For example, sentences such as “that bridge was built in 1990.”
あの橋は1990年に造られた.
Ano hashi wa 1990 nen ni taterareta.
In these sentences, the speaker is describing something about an inanimate object. For this, we use passive voice both in English and in Japanese.
Culture is one of the biggest factors. In Japan, indirectness is seen as polite and unconfrontational. As a result, the passive voice is more frequently used due to being an indirect form of communication, shifting the focus away from the subject. It also communicates respect and consideration for the listener. This is part of what makes Japanese culture and language so high-context.
Conjugating Passive Form in Japanese
The way you would conjugate verbs into passive form in Japanese depends on the verb groups. Generally, verbs in Japanese grammar are categorized based on their suffixes, or endings. There are three types of verbs.
If a verb (in dictionary form) ends in う (u), they are called a U-verb. If they end in る(ru), they are Ru-verbs; and verbs that don’t follow the conjugation rules of U-verbs or Ru-verbs are known as irregular verbs.
We will break down how to conjugate Japanese verbs into passive form based on the following groups: U-verbs, Ru-verbs, and Irregular verbs.
Group 1: U-verb Conjugation
This group has the most variations of the Japanese verb groups. These are verbs that end in the う sound that aren’t る (with a few exceptions). So, to conjugate, you must change the う to あ followed by れる(reru). For example, here is how to conjugate the verb 引く(hiku), or to pull:
ひく → ひか ＋ れる ＝ 引かれる (hikareru)
We won’t be able to cover all of the verbs, but let’s look at a few to get the feel for how to conjugate these verbs intuitively.
| Plain verb | Passive form | English meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 買う (kau) | 買われる (kawareru) | “to buy”, passive form |
| 飲む (nomu) | 飲まれる (nomareru) | “to drink”, passive form |
| 行く (iku) | 行かれる (ikareru) | “to go”, passive form |
| 泳ぐ (oyogu) | 泳がれる (oyogareru) | “to swim”, passive form |
| 押す (osu) | 押される (osareru) | “to push”, passive form |
| 帰る (kaeru) | 帰られる (kaerareru) | “to go home”, passive form |
Note that 買う(kau) doesn’t conjugate like you would think; rather than conjugating う to あ, you would conjugate う to わ. Let’s break it down:
買う(kau) ≠ 買あ(kaa)
買う(kau) → 買わ(kawa) ＋ れる(reru) ＝ 買われる(kawareru)
Group 2: Ru-verb Conjugations
Ru-verbs are arguably the easiest to conjugate! All you have to do is drop the る and add られる (rareru) at the end to make it passive. Pretty easy, right? So, Ru-verbs consist of any verbs that end in る (ru), which is the only part that changes. The root of the word remains the same, for example, the word 食べる (taberu), the root is 食べ(tabe).
These are verbs like 食べる (to eat) and 見る (to see). Let’s look at the conjugations, and then we can look at some example sentences!
To conjugate 食べる (taberu), you just drop the る and add られる, which changes it into a passive form:
食べる ー る ＋ られる ＝ 食べらる (eaten)
Here are some group 2 verbs in the chart below.
| Plain verb | Passive form | English meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 食べる (taberu) | 食べられる (taberareru) | “to eat”, passive form |
| 見る (miru) | 見られる (mirareru) | “to see”, passive form |
| 出る (deru) | 出られる (derareru) | “to go out”, passive form |
Group 3: Irregular Verbs
In case you didn’t know, Japanese verb group 3 has only 2 verbs: する (suru), meaning “to do”, and 来る (kuru), meaning “to do”.
There is no particular rule for conjugating these two, so you simply have to memorize the conjugations. Thankfully, 2 is not that many! Let’s look at how to conjugate these below.
| Plain verb | Passive form | English meaning |
|---|---|---|
| する (suru) | される (sareru) | “to do”, passive form |
| 来る (kuru) | 来られる (korareru) | “to come”, passive form |
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How is Passive Form Used in Japanese
There are many instances where translating an English active voice sentence directly into Japanese sounds unnatural. That’s because in Japanese, the passive voice is used for a wider range of purposes beyond its English counterpart. Regardless of its function, however, the basic grammar remains the same. Let’s break it down with an example:
りんごはありに食べられた。
Ringo wa ari ni taberareta
The apple was eaten by the ants.
Every sentence using the passive form uses these grammar rules:
| Subject | Subject Particle (ha/ga) | Action Doer | Indicator Particle | Passive Verb |
| りんご | は | あり | に | 食べられた |
| Ringo | wa | ari | ni | taberareta |
| The Apple | N/A | ants | by | was eaten |
Here, the particle は (wa) marks ringo (the apple) as the subject receiving the action, while に (ni) indicates the agent, the one performing the action (the ants). In real conversation, however, either the subject or the doer of the action is often omitted when it’s already understood from context.
For example:
ケーキが(あの人に)食べられました。
Keeki ga (anohito ni) taberaremashita.
That cake was eaten (by that person).
Even though the speaker doesn’t explicitly mention the subject (“he”), it’s clear from context.
As mentioned, there are many cases when passive language is used. So, let’s go over some of the most common uses in Japanese.
1. Using Passive Form with Inanimate Objects
This is the case where Japanese and English use the passive form most similarly. When talking about inanimate objects, the passive voice is natural because the object cannot perform an action by itself.
あの橋は1990年に造られた
ano hashi wa 1990 nen ni tsukurareta
That bridge was built in 1990
Here, the focus is on the bridge as the subject, not on who built it. The doer of the action is often unknown or irrelevant, so it’s usually omitted.
2. Using Passive Form to be Polite or Formal
Since indirectness is preferred when speaking in Japanese, the passive form is commonplace in Japanese business etiquette and formal settings. When speaking keigo, it is often more polite to use the passive (or even potential) form in many circumstances to convey respect and avoid being too direct.
For instance:
あなたは間違っています。
Anata wa machigatte imasu.
You made a mistake.
間違いがありました。
Machigai ga arimashita.
There was a mistake.
Both mean the same thing, but the second phrasing sounds softer and more polite because it removes the “you” from the statement and doesn’t single someone out.
In keigo, the passive form often overlaps with sonkeigo (respectful language). So, it’s common to use in the workplace to show respect, especially to superiors.
For example:
社長がメールを書かれました。
Shachou ga meeru o kakaremashita.
The president wrote an email.
Although koraremashita is grammatically passive, it’s used to elevate the subject’s status, showing respect.
3. Using Passive Form to Emphasize Emotion
Another major difference between English and Japanese is how the passive voice is used emotionally. Japanese speakers often use the passive form to express when something bad or unwanted happened to them, a kind of “victim” nuance.
僕の昼ご飯は兄に食べられちゃった！
Boku no hirugohan wa ani ni taberarechatta!
I had my lunch eaten by my older brother!
Now, the first thing you may notice is that this sentence translation looks strange in English. However, in Japanese, this is perfectly natural. The speaker uses the passive voice to make it clear that something happened to him or her.
By contrast, let’s take a look at the same sentence in active form:
兄は僕の昼ご飯を食べた
Ani wa boku no hirugohan o tabeta
My brother ate my lunch.
Sounds better in English, right? But it sounds a bit emotionless and even unnatural in Japanese. This is one reason why active language in English and passive language in Japanese don’t translate well between each other.
Conclusion
For those coming from an English-speaking background, it may sound like you need to reengineer your brain a bit to start using passive language more frequently and naturally in conversation. But don’t worry. You will get the hang of it, and conjugating verbs into passive form in Japanese is actually simple once you get a feel for it!
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FAQ
What is the passive form in Japanese?
The passive form in Japanese is called ukemikei (受身形). It is a verb conjugation used when the subject of the sentence receives an action rather than performs it. For example, 犬に噛まれた (inu ni kamareta) or “I was bitten by a dog.”
How is the passive form used to be polite?
Japanese people often use the passive form to make statements softer and more indirect. For example, instead of saying “You made a mistake” directly (あなたが間違えました, or anata ga machigaemashita), it’s more polite to say 間違いがありました, or machigai ga arimashita (“There was a mistake”), removing the focus on the listener.
Can passive and potential forms overlap?
Yes, for some verbs like 見る (miru), the passive and potential forms look identical: 見られる (mirareru) can mean both “can see” (potential) or “was seen” (passive). Context determines which meaning is intended.
Is it okay to use the passive form in casual Japanese?
Yes, it’s common, especially when expressing frustration or mild complaints. In casual speech with friends, it’s less common to use the formal-style passive for politeness.
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