N3 · Passive and causative
The suffering passive
the adversative passive
A passive built to say that somebody was put out by what happened — even when the verb has no object.
The Japanese passive can do something the English one cannot. It can be built on a verb that has no object at all — 降る, 泣く, 死ぬ, 来る — and on a transitive verb whose object stays where it is, with を. What becomes the subject is not the thing acted on but a person who was affected: 雨に降られた is "it rained, and I was the one it happened to".
The shape is: the person affected (usually the speaker, and usually not mentioned), the cause marked with に, any object with を, and the passive verb. 電車で足を踏まれた is "somebody trod on my foot on the train". English gets close with "get rained on" and "have my bag stolen", but only for a handful of verbs; Japanese can do it with almost any.
The form carries a feeling: annoyance, inconvenience, sometimes grief. 妹が私のケーキを食べた reports; 妹に私のケーキを食べられた complains. 父に死なれた says that the speaker lost their father and was left to cope.
English speakers make two mistakes here. The first is to leave the passive out and keep the person as the topic: 財布を盗みました does not mean "my wallet was stolen" — it means "I stole a wallet". The second is to make the object the subject, as English would: 財布が盗まれました is correct but talks about the wallet; the person who lost it is not in the sentence.
The form
stem (regular) stem (irregular) ending
| rain → be rained on | 降られる |
| cry → have somebody cry (and suffer for it) | 泣かれる |
| die → lose somebody | 死なれる |
| go home → be left when somebody goes home | 帰られる |
| stand → have somebody stand in your way | 立たれる |
| come → have somebody turn up | 来られる |
| tread on → have your foot trodden on | 踏まれる |
| steal → have something stolen | 盗まれる |
| I got rained on. | 雨に降られました。 |
| I had my wallet stolen. | 財布を盗まれました。 |
The rules one by one
The person who suffers is the topic or subject, and the one who causes the trouble takes に.
隣の人に夜中まで騒がれました。The people next door were noisy until the middle of the night.
A verb without an object can be made passive when somebody is inconvenienced by the event.
帰り道で雨に降られました。I got rained on on the way home.
With a transitive verb, the thing taken or damaged keeps を, and its owner becomes the subject.
電車の中で足を踏まれました。Somebody trod on my foot on the train.
The suffering passive says how the speaker feels; the active sentence only reports.
妹に私のプリンを食べられました。My little sister ate my pudding, and I am not pleased.
A closer look
Why Japanese can make "rain" passive
An English passive takes the object of a verb and makes it the subject, so a verb with no object has no passive. The Japanese passive works the other way round: it adds a person to the event — somebody on whom it had an effect — and makes that person the subject. The verb does not need an object for that, only an event that touched somebody.
That is also why the doer takes に, the particle of a source or a direction: the rain, the crying baby or the thief is where the trouble came from. And it is why the form so often appears with てしまう, which adds the same note of regret from another direction: 財布を盗まれてしまった.
How to spot it
- 〜に〜られた
- 〜を〜られた
- 雨に降られる
- 〜られてしまった
Example sentences
夜中に子供に泣かれて、全然眠れませんでした。My child cried in the night, and I could not sleep at all.
旅行中にカメラを盗まれました。I had my camera stolen while I was travelling.
彼は若いころに父親に死なれた。He lost his father when he was young.
日記を母に読まれて、恥ずかしかった。My mother read my diary, and I was mortified.
出かける直前に客に来られて、約束に遅れた。A visitor turned up just as I was leaving, and I was late for my appointment.
前の席の人に立たれて、舞台が見えなかった。The person in front of me stood up, and I could not see the stage.
7 more example sentences
隣の部屋の人にたばこを吸われて、窓を開けられない。The person in the next room smokes, so I cannot open the window.
弟にパソコンを壊されました。My younger brother broke my computer.
会議の途中で部長に帰られて、何も決まらなかった。The manager left in the middle of the meeting, and nothing got decided.
公園で犬に手をかまれました。I got bitten on the hand by a dog in the park.
誰かに自転車を持っていかれた。Somebody went off with my bicycle.
大事な書類を捨てられてしまいました。Somebody threw away an important document of mine.
試験の前の日に友達に遊びに来られて、勉強できなかった。A friend came round the day before the exam, and I could not study.
Worth knowing (2)
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Good news takes てもらう
Because this passive sounds like a complaint, it is the wrong form for a favour. If a friend drove you to the station, 友達に送られた sounds as if you had not wanted to go. Say 送ってもらった instead, which marks the same event as something you received.
友達に駅まで送ってもらいました。A friend gave me a lift to the station.
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The person it happened to is usually silent
Because the affected person is almost always the speaker, it is left out, exactly as 私は is left out of most sentences. If you want to talk about somebody else, name them with は and the sentence works the same way.
田中さんは旅行中にかばんを盗まれたそうです。I hear Ms Tanaka had her bag stolen while she was travelling.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
Japanese drops the subject when it is obvious, and in a story about your own day it is you. Without the passive, 財布を盗みました makes you the thief. The passive turns you into the person it happened to, and the wallet keeps its を.
If something happened to you and you minded, say it in the passive, with the culprit marked by に.
Your turn
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