B1 · Causatives and the passive
The passive: किया जाता है
the passive with जाना
Past participle + जाना in any tense: यहाँ हिंदी बोली जाती है, “Hindi is spoken here”.
At a glance
- Remember
- Past form plus jana: kiya jata hai, is done — and both agree with what is done.
- Form
- किया जाता है / की जाती हैis done (habitual)
- Signal words
- जाता है
- जाती है
- गया
- गई
- जाएगा
- के द्वारा
- Trap
- Wrong:भारत में कई भाषाएँ बोलती जाती हैं।Right:भारत में कई भाषाएँ बोली जाती हैं।
Your turn
10 exercises on this topic. Your answers are checked in the browser; none of them leaves your device.
The form
| is done (habitual) | किया जाता है / की जाती है |
| was done | किया गया / की गई |
| were done, plural | किए गए / की गईं |
| will be done | किया जाएगा / किए जाएँगे |
| is being done | किया जा रहा है |
| by (formal) | … के द्वारा |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is aboutThe word that calls for it
Perfective participle + जाना in any tense.
भारत में कई भाषाएँ बोली जाती हैं।Many languages are spoken in India.
Participle and जाना agree with the thing done.
सारी चिट्ठियाँ कल भेजी गईं।All the letters were sent yesterday.
The irregular past forms stay irregular.
इस बारे में कल फ़ैसला किया जाएगा।A decision about this will be made tomorrow.
A doer, if named, takes के द्वारा.
यह मंदिर राजा के द्वारा बनवाया गया था।This temple was built by order of the king.
कहा जाता है asks what something is called.
इसे हिंदी में क्या कहा जाता है?What is this called in Hindi?
Example sentences
भारत में कई भाषाएँ बोली जाती हैं।Many languages are spoken in India.
यह मंदिर सौ साल पहले बनाया गया था।This temple was built a hundred years ago.
इसे हिंदी में क्या कहा जाता है?What is this called in Hindi?
परीक्षा के नतीजे कल घोषित किए जाएँगे।The exam results will be announced tomorrow.
चोर पकड़ा गया।The thief was caught.
यह दवाई खाने के बाद ली जाती है।This medicine is taken after meals.
6 more example sentences
यहाँ अंग्रेज़ी भी समझी जाती है।English is understood here too.
सारी किताबें बेची गईं।All the books were sold.
यह गाना पूरे देश में गाया जाता है।This song is sung all over the country.
नई सड़क अभी बनाई जा रही है।The new road is still being built.
आपको कल फ़ोन किया जाएगा।You will be phoned tomorrow.
मुझसे और नहीं खाया जाता।I can’t eat any more.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
The first part of the passive is the past form, as in English “spoken”, not the -ता form. बोलती जाती हैं would mean “keep on speaking”. The participle agrees with भाषाएँ: बोली.
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
The Hindi passive takes the perfective participle — the form of the simple past, किया, बनाया, बोला — and adds जाना in whatever tense is needed: किया जाता है, “is done”; बनाया गया, “was built”; भेजा जाएगा, “will be sent”.
Both parts agree with the thing done, which is now the subject: यह किताब पढ़ी जाती है (किताब f.), ये गाने गाए जाते हैं (masculine plural), चिट्ठियाँ भेजी गईं (feminine plural, with the nasal on गईं). The participle keeps the irregular past forms: किया, दिया, लिया.
The doer is usually left out. If it must be named, formal Hindi uses के द्वारा, “by means of”: यह पुल सरकार के द्वारा बनाया गया. In speech an active sentence is far more natural: सरकार ने यह पुल बनाया.
So the passive lives where English uses it most too: notices, news, rules, instructions and descriptions of how things are done. इसे हिंदी में क्या कहा जाता है?, “what is this called in Hindi?”, is the one passive every learner needs on day one.
A closer look
The passive of “cannot bring myself to”
A negative passive with the person in से says that someone cannot manage something, often emotionally: मुझसे यह खाना नहीं खाया जाता, “I can’t bring myself to eat this food”; उससे चला नहीं जा रहा था, “she could hardly walk”. It is not a real passive in meaning but a way of saying “it is beyond me”.
Do not confuse it with compounds
खा गया (bare stem + जाना) is “ate up”; खाया गया (participle + जाना) is “was eaten”. बना is “was made, became”; बनाया गया is “was made by someone”. Look at the form before जाना.
Worth knowing (1)
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Impersonal passives
An intransitive verb can form a passive with no subject at all, in the neutral masculine singular: चलिए, अब चला जाए, “right, let’s be going” — literally “let it be gone”. The participle of जाना here is जाया: वहाँ पैदल नहीं जाया जा सकता, “you can’t get there on foot”.
इस रास्ते से नहीं जाया जा सकता।You can’t go this way.
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