Passive forms
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The passive voice is a grammatical voice in which the subject receives the action of a transitive verb. Passive voice emphasizes the process rather than who is performing the action. In Korean this form is called 피동. There are few patterns to help distinguish between active and passive voices in Korean verbs. This makes this more difficult to learn than a regular Korean grammar rule.
Passive verbs still work as action verbs but now the object (that usually takes 을 or 를) has become the subject of the sentence (takes the particles: 이 or 가).
- 길을 막아요. [Traffic] blocks the road.
- 길이 막혀요. The road is blocked [by traffic]. (막히다 is much more common in this scenario)
Some active voice English expressions should be translated to passive form in Korean.
- 괜찮아 보여요. [It] is seen to be fine. ([It] looks fine.)
- 영어처럼 들려요. [It] is heard like English. ([It] sounds like English.)
- 게임이 시작되었다. The game has been begun. (The game has begun.)
- 이 책은 아주 잘 팔리고 있다. This book is being sold very well. (This book is selling very well.)
The Korean passive and causative conjugations pose many confusing aspects and many Korean materials don't even teach this part properly. This grammar part may even be hard for some native Korean speakers. For example, 굽다 has two meanings and their conjugation forms are completely different.
- 굽다1 : bend
- 굽어지다 : to become (naturally) bent : (-어지다 is always passive. in this case, 굽다 follows the regular conjugation rule)
- 굽히다 : to make something become bent , to bend something : (this -히 is causative)
- 굽혀지다 : to become bent by someone : (causative + passive)
- 굽다2 : to bake
- 구워지다 : to be baked : (-어지다 is always passive. in this case, 굽다 follows the ㅂ irregular conjugation rule)
In the example above, -히 is a causative particle, but it can be either a passive particle in many other verbs.
- 먹다 : to eat
- 먹히다 : to be eaten : (this -히 is passive)
- 먹이다 : to make/let someone eat , to feed : (this -이 is causative)
In some cases, passive and causative forms are morphologically identical.
- 보다 : to see
- 보이다1 : to be seen : (this -이 is passive)
- 보이다2 : to make/let someone see , to show : (this -이 is causative. to avoid confusion, 보여주다 is used in most cases)
- 보여지다1 : to be shown : (causative -이 + passive -어지다)
- 보여지다2 : to be seen : (passive -이 + passive -어지다, this usage is wrong as it is a double passive)
There are some verbs that even most native Koreans fail to conjugate correctly.
- 잊다 : to forget
- 잊히다 : to be forgotten : (passive)
- 잊혀지다 : to be forgotten : (a double passive using both -히 and -어지다. this is wrong)
- 잊게 하다 : to make/let someone forget something : (in this case, -게 하다 is the proper causative form)
Some verbs don't allow the passive particles at all. These exceptional verbs need special passive forms.
- 죽다 : to die
- 죽이다 : to make/let someone die , to kill : (causative -이)
- 죽임을 당하다 : to be killed : (causative -이 + passive -ㅁ을 당하다)
- 사망(死亡)하다 : to die : (Sino Korean equivalent)
- 살해(殺害)하다 : to kill : (Sino Korean equivalent)
- 살해(殺害)당하다 : to be killed : (Sino Korean equivalent)
- 살해(殺害)되다 : to be killed : (Sino Korean equivalent)
- 피살(被殺)되다 : to be killed : (Sino Korean equivalent)
묻다 has three meanings and each of them has different conjugation forms
- 묻다1 : to bury : (this verb follows the regular conjugation rule)
- 묻히다1 : to be buried : (this -히 is passive)
- 묻혀지다1 : to be buried : (passive -히 + passive -어지다, this usage is wrong as it is a double passive)
- 묻게 하다 : to make/let someone bury something : (causative form with -게 하다)
- 묻다2 : to be smeared : (this verb follows the regular conjugation rule)
- 묻히다2 : to make/let something become smeared, to smear : (this -히 is causative. note that the previous 묻히다1 is passive)
- 묻혀지다2 : to become smeared with something by someone : (causative -히 + passive -어지다)
- 묻다3 : to ask : (this verb does not have a passive form. theoretically, it should be 물어지다 in passive form but this is not used. this verb follows the ㄷ irregular conjugation rule)
- 물어보게 하다 : to make/let someone ask something : (causative form with -게 하다. theoretically, it should be 묻게 하다 but this can be misunderstood.)
Adjectives can also become passive and causative verbs
- 낮다 : be low
- 낮아지다 : to become low : (passive -아지다)
- 낮추다 : to make/let something low , to lower : (this -추 is causative)
- 낮춰지다 : to become lowered by someone : (causative -추 + passive -어지다)
- 높다 : be high
- 높아지다 : to become high : (passive -아지다)
- 높이다 : to make/let something high : (this -이 is causative)
- 높여지다 : passive form of 높이다 : (causative -이 + passive -어지다)
Some causative forms with the -우 particle are inflected with the vowel ㅣ.
- 자다 : to sleep
- 재우다 : to make/let someone sleep : (자 + ㅣ + 우 + 다)
- 재워지다 : passive form of 재우다 : (causative -우 + passive -어지다)
- 서다 : to stand
- 세우다 : to make/let something stand : (서 + ㅣ + 우 + 다)
- 세워지다 : passive form of 세우다 : (causative -우 + passive -어지다)
In short, the conjugation rules for passive and causative forms follow some patterns, but vary with individual verbs. (most passive verbs take one of -이, -히, -리, -기 or -어/-아지다 or -되다. most causative verbs take one of -이, -히, -리, -기, -우 , -구, -추 or -시키다 or -게 하다). The four particles -이, -히, -리, -기 are particularly tricky as they could be passive or causative (or sometimes both). If you encounter a new word with one of the four particles, you can't really determine whether it is passive or causative unless you look up a Korean dictionary, because those four particles work arbitrarily with individual verbs. (say, if you encounter a new English word with "-ed" ending, you can figure out it is a past tense suffix for a verb, but you can't presume the function of the four Korean particles without a Korean dictionary) That's why most Korean materials for foreigners skip or overlook this grammar part. They (those who created the Korean materials for foreigners) often say "Passive form is not much used in Korean" or "Passive form is not as common as it is in English". The first argument is wrong. Passive form is very common in Korean in fact. The latter argument might be true in many cases but not always. As previously shown, many active voice English expressions should be translated to passive form in Korean, but it is often ignored. In some cases, passive form is even more common in Korean than English. This grammar part is very confusing even for native Korean speakers. Many Koreans still use double passive words like 잊혀지다, because they misunderstood the -히 particle as causative. I think they (those who created the Korean materials for foreigners) are just avoiding some nettlesome parts. Who would want to make their customer freaked out? Each form of every verb should be memorized.
| Active verb | Passive verb | Examples |
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| 놓다 (to lay, to put, to build) | 놓이다 (to be on, to be placed, to be built) |
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| 바꾸다 (to change) | 바뀌다 (to be changed) |
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| 보다 (to see) | 보이다 (to be seen) |
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| 쓰다 (to use, to write) | 쓰이다 (to be used, to be written) |
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| 쌓다 (to pile up, to stack) | 쌓이다 (to be piled up, to be stacked up) |
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| 차다 - to dump someone | 차이다 - to be dumped |
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| Active verb | Passive verb | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| 꽂다 (to put in, to stick in) | 꽂히다 (to be stuck in) |
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| 닫다 (to close, to shut) | 닫히다 (to be closed, to be shut) |
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| 읽다 (to read) | 읽히다 (to be read) |
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| 막다 (to block, to clog) | 막히다 (to be blocked, to be conjested, to be clogged up) |
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| 먹다 (to eat) | 먹히다 (to be eaten) |
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| 묻다 (to bury) | 묻히다 (to be buried) |
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| 뽑다 (to pluck, to pull off) | 뽑히다 (to be plucked, to be pulled off) |
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| 잡다 (to catch) | 잡히다 (to be caught) |
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| Active verb | Passive verb | Examples |
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| 걸다 (to hang) | 걸리다 (to be hung) |
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| 듣다 (to hear) | 들리다 (to be heard) |
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| 물다 (to bite) | 물리다 (to be bitten) |
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| 열다 (to open) | 열리다 (to be open) |
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| 팔다 (to sell) | 팔리다 (to be sold) |
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| 풀다 (to untie, to solve) | 풀리다 (to get untied, to be solved ) |
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| 자르다 (to cut) | 잘리다 (to be cut) |
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| Active verb | Passive verb | Examples |
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| 끊다 (to cut off, to sever) | 끊기다 (to be cut off, to be severed) |
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| 빼앗다 (to take, to steal) | 빼앗기다 (to be taken, to be stolen) |
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| 안다 (to hold, to embrace) | 안기다 (to be held, to be embraced) |
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| 쫓다 (to chase) | 쫓기다 (to be chased) |
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| 잠그다 (to lock) | 잠기다 (to be locked) |
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