Saying something in a passive voice creates a separation between the action of the sentence and who or what performs the action. Although English teachers tend to discourage overuse of the passive voice, the passive form is actually common and polite in Japanese.
Using the Japanese passive form allows you to describe a situation from the perspective of the person or thing being impacted, which can create empathy or show respect. By learning this verb conjugation, you’re expanding your ability to speak in Japanese with nuance and emotion rather than only stating facts.
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Japanese passive form has 2 main types: direct and indirect
The passive form in Japanese is called ukemi-kei (受身形), and it can be used in two main ways:
- direct passive: describing an action where the subject is the person or thing being affected rather than the one doing the action
- indirect passive: describing an action that impacts the subject while also emphasizing that it inconveniences or bothers the subject
Both use the same Japanese verb conjugation rules, and you’ll need to use context clues to discern whether a sentence is the direct or indirect passive.
The direct passive form is similar to the English passive voice
Direct passive in Japanese is most similar to the English passive voice. You can easily switch from passive to active voice (or vice versa) by switching the person or thing doing the action with the person or thing on the receiving end. The meaning is more or less the same.
- My mom turned on the TV. = The TV was turned on by my mom.
You can do the same thing in Japanese when you use the passive form in a direct way, which you can see through the following Japanese translation of the above example.
- Okāsan wa terebi o tsuketa.（お母さんはテレビをつけた。）= Terebi wa okāsan ni tsukerareta.（ テレビはお母さんにつけられた。）
Whether you choose an active or passive voice in Japanese comes down to which subject you want to emphasize. In this case, do you want to emphasize that it was the mother doing the action or that the TV was turned on? The choice is up to you.
The indirect passive form implies an impact on the subject
Japanese also uses passive forms in an indirect way, which emphasizes that the subject was impacted by the action (done by someone or something else). Usually, the impact is implied to be negative.
- Watashi wa imōto ni nakareta.（私は妹に泣かれた。）= My little sister cried on me [which was bothersome]. (Literally: I was cried on by my little sister.)
The passive forms of some verbs, like shinu (“to die”) and kuru (“to come”), only work in indirect passive sentences. It’s rare in English to say that someone was “come upon by” something, but in Japanese, it’s more natural and implies that the subject was negatively affected by the arrival of the person who performed the action.
- Shigoto ga isogashii no ni, watashi wa dōryō ni korareta.（仕事が忙しいのに、私は同僚に来られた。）= Even though work was busy, coworkers kept coming to me [which was troublesome]. (Literally: Even though work was busy, I was come upon by coworkers.)
How to conjugate Japanese verbs to ukemi-kei (passive form)
Like other verb conjugations in Japanese, passive form conjugation rules vary slightly between each type of verb. But once the dictionary form of a verb has been conjugated into passive form, the new verb can be conjugated like an ichidan verb into the other verb tenses Japanese uses.
For example, conjugating ichidan verbs to masu-form (the standard polite form) is done by dropping the –ru at the end of the dictionary form and adding –masu.
- taberu（食べる）→ tabemasu（食べます）= eat
The same rule applies to all verbs conjugated into passive form, which all now end in ru.
- hanasareru（話される）→ hanasaremasu（話されます）= speak/is spoken
Japanese passive form conjugation for ichidan verbs
The passive form conjugation for verbs that end in ru (る) is simple. First, drop the –ru at the end of the dictionary form. Then add –rareru to the end in its place.
- taberu（食べる）→ taberareru（食べられる）= to eat → to be eaten
Japanese passive form conjugation table for godan verbs
Conjugating verbs that end in characters other than ru is a little more complicated. You’ll need to change the “u” sound at the end of the word to an “a” sound with the same consonant. Then, you’ll add –reru to the end.
The exception is verbs that end in u (う). You’ll change the u to wa (わ) instead of a (あ) to create –wareru (われる). This creates a smoother sound.
| Dictionary Form | Passive Form | English |
| 買う kau | 買われる kawareru | to buy/to be bought |
| 書くkaku | 書かれる kakareru | to write/to be written |
| 脱ぐ nugu | 脱がれる nugareru | to take off/to be taken off |
| 話す hanasu | 話されるhanasareru | to speak/to be spoken |
| 持つmotsu | 持たれるmotareru | to hold/to be held |
| 死ぬshinu | 死なれるshinareru | to die/to be died on |
| 呼ぶyobu | 呼ばれるyobareru | to call/to be called |
| 飲むnomu | 飲まれるnomareru | to drink/to be drunk |
| 取る toru | 取られる torareru | to take/to be taken |
Japanese passive form conjugation for irregular verbs
You only need to know two irregular conjugations for passive form. Those conjugations are for the irregular verbs “to do” and “to come.”
- suru（する）→ sareru（される）= to do → to be done
- kuru（来る）→ korareru（来られる）= to come → to be come upon
How to use the Japanese passive form in a sentence
Constructing sentences in the passive form follows standard Japanese word order and makes a few key uses of Japanese particles. To keep things simple, the examples use plain form rather than masu-form.
- First, identify the subject and what was done to it (the verb). The subject goes at the front of the sentence, and the verb goes at the back. The subject is typically followed by particle wa (は).
- Kono kēki wa kesa tsukurareta.（このケーキは今朝作られた。）= This cake was made this morning.
- To say who or what the action was done by (in this case, who made the cake), you add that person or thing before the verb, followed by particle ni (に).
- Kono kēki wa kesa haha ni tsukurareta.（このケーキは今朝母に作られた。）= This cake was made by my mother this morning.
You can use kara or ni yotte instead of particle ni
The doer of the action can also be followed by either kara (から) or ni yotte (によって) instead of ni, depending on the situation.
You can use kara when something is coming “from” the doer and both parties are people, or if you’re describing what something is made from.
- Watashi wa sensei kara shikarareta.（私は先生から叱られた。）= I was scolded by my teacher.
- Kono shatsu wa keito kara tsukurareteiru.（このシャツは毛糸から作られている。）= This shirt is made from wool yarn.
Ni yotte is generally reserved for formal or academic situations. You can use it to put emphasis on who did the action.
- Shinfonī wa Tōkyō kōsei uindo ōkesutora ni yotte ensō sareta.（シンフォニーは東京佼成ウインドオーケストラによって演奏された。）= The symphony was performed by the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra.
Honorific uses of Japanese passive form
Passive form can be used as an extra polite way to describe the actions of someone you’re showing respect to, such as your boss or a professor. Although such sentences aren’t translated as passive in English, the intent is to create distance between the speaker and the person they’re showing respect to.
These sentences all have the same meaning, but they use different levels of politeness solely by changing the verb conjugation.
- Professor Yamashita spoke with Professor Takeda.
- Japanese honorific speech (keigo): Yamashita sensei wa Takeda sensei to ohanashi ni narimashita.（山下先生は武田先生とお話になりました。）
- passive form: Yamashita sensei wa Takeda sensei to hanasaremashita.（山下先生は武田先生と話されました。）
- polite form (masu-form): Yamashita sensei wa Takeda sensei to hanashimashita.（山下先生は武田先生と話しました。）
- plain form: Yamashita sensei wa Takeda sensei to hanashita.（山下先生は武田先生と話した。）
As a general Japanese communication rule, passive speech is more polite, but that doesn’t mean you should make every sentence passive. Instead, be intentional about the emotional impact you’re infusing into your sentences by picking sentences where describing the subject’s perspective matters most.
Passive form conjugation is the same as ichidan potential form
The verb conjugation rules for passive form and ichidan verb potential form (“can” or “able to”) are the same, which can cause confusion. The easiest ways to tell the difference between the two are context and particle usage.
For passive form, consider the subject (usually marked by wa or ga), the meaning of the verb, and whether the action was done by something (usually marked by ni).
- Kono jiin wa kōkogakusha hakken saremashita.（この寺院は考古学者に発見されました。）= This temple was discovered by archaeologists.
The temple (the subject) is an inanimate object and can’t discover anything, and archaeologists (marked by particle ni) were the ones who did the action, so you know this is passive.
For ichidan verb potential form, the subject (usually marked by wa or ga) is typically the one doing the verb, and the object of the sentence is usually marked by ga instead of o.
- Watashi wa sushi ga taberaremasu.（私は寿司が食べられます。）= I can eat sushi.
The speaker (the subject) is able to eat, and the thing they’re able to eat (sushi) is followed by particle ga, making this potential form.
Passive, causative, and causative-passive form Japanese rules
The opposite of the passive form in Japanese is the causative form. Rather than describing something from the perspective of the impacted party, causative form makes or allows the person or thing doing the action the subject instead. There’s also a Japanese causative-passive form, which is the passive form of the causative form!
Each form comes with its own conjugation and usage:
- passive form (-rareru form): something is done to the subject
- Kono ie wa kyonen taterareta.（この家は去年建てられた。）= This house was built last year.
- causative form (-sareru form): the subject forces/allows a person or thing to do something
- Sensei wa otoko no ko o kaeraseta.（先生は男の子を帰らせた。）= The teacher made/let the boy go home.
- causative-passive form (-saserareru form): the subject is made to do something by someone/something else
- Watashi wa shigoto o yamesaserareta.（私は仕事を辞めさせられた。）= I was forced to quit my job.
Key takeaways about the Japanese passive form
English encourages the use of straightforward, active language, but passive form is perceived as more respectful and focused on the person impacted by the action in the Japanese language.
- Japanese passive forms end in –rareru for ichidan verbs and –areru for godan verbs (where the final “u” sound is swapped for an “a” sound).
- The irregular verbs have their own conjugations: suru becomes sareru, and kuru becomes korareru.
- The person or thing that did the action that impacted the subject is usually marked by particle ni.
- The verb conjugation for passive form is the same as ichidan verb potential form (“can”).
- You can use verbs in the passive form to talk respectfully about someone else’s actions.
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