A Door Into Hindi: Lesson 23

View movie about the Passive

The Passive Voice in Hindi is expressed by combining the perfect form of the verb (the past participle) with the helping verb जाना (conjugated). See the examples below:

Note that in the active sentences, राम, लोग and हम are the subjects, but in the passive sentences, उर्दू, हिंदी, किताब and होली are the subjects.

The Passive Voice is normally used when the subject is unknown or unimportant. However if we want to mention the agent who is performing the action in a passive sentence, the agent should be followed by the postposition के द्वारा or के ज़रिये

For an example, refer to Sentence 3b above.

The Passive Voice is often used with compound verbs:

भिखारी को पैसा दे दिया जाए। (दे देना) = Money shall be given to the beggar.

यहाँ अच्छी सब्ज़ियाँ ख़रीद ली जाती हैं। (ख़रीद लेना) = Good vegetables are bought here.

There is an idiomatic use of the Passive Voice which implies “ability.” Examples:

क्या तुमसे हिन्दी बोली जाएगी? = Will you be able to speak Hindi?

मुझसे इतना खाना नहीं खाया गया! = I wasn’t able to eat this much food!

यह काम उससे किया जाएगा। = She will be able to do this work.