Passive forms
|
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 the passive form in Korean. (Only using the passive form is natural in Korean.)
- It looks fine. ☞ 괜찮아 보여요. [It] is seen to be fine.
- It sounds like English. ☞ 영어처럼 들려요. [It] is heard like English.
- I can't see the blackboard well. ☞ 칠판이 잘 안 보여요. The blackboard is not seen well (by me).
- Can you hear my voice? ☞ 내 목소리 들리냐? Is my voice heard (by you)?
- The game has begun. ☞ 게임이 시작되었다. The game has been begun. (a game can't start something because it has no self-determination)
- This book is selling very well. ☞ 이 책은 아주 잘 팔리고 있다. This book is being sold very well. (a book can't sell something because it's not a human)
- The door is opening. ☞ 문이 열리고 있다. The door is being opened. (a door can't open something because it has no self-determination. If a door is being opened, there must be something else affecing the door such as wind, dog, installed automatic mechanism, etc. )
Some Korean passive forms should be translated to the active voice in English. (Both the active and passive forms are natural in Korean, but only the active voice is natural in English.)
- 이 현실이 믿기지가 않았다. This reality was not believed (by me). ☞ ([I] couldn't believe this reality.)
- 이 현실을 믿을 수가 없었다. [I] couldn't believe this reality.
Some passive voice English expressions should be translated to the active form in Korean. (Both the active and passive voices are natural in English, but only the active form is natural in Korean.)
- I was interviewed. ☞ 나는 면접을 받았다. (I received an interview.) : "-을 받다" can be considered a passive form itself.
The Korean passive and causative conjugations pose many confusing aspects, and most 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 conjugational forms are completely different.
- 굽다1 : bend
- 굽어지다 : to (naturally) become 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 -히 + passive -어지다)
- 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 suffix, but it can be either a passive suffix in many other verbs.
- 먹다 : to eat
- 먹히다 : to be eaten : (this -히 is passive)
- 먹혀지다 : to be eaten : (passive -히 + passive -어지다. this is wrong as it is a double passive)
- 먹이다 : to make/let someone eat , to feed : (this -이 is causative)
- 먹여지다 : to be fed : (causative -이 + passive -어지다. this is correct but hardly ever used.)
In some cases, the passive and causative forms are morphologically identical.
- 보다 : to see
- 보이다1 : to be seen : (this -이 is passive)
- 보여지다1 : to be seen : (passive -이 + passive -어지다, this usage is wrong as it is a double passive)
- 보이다2 : to make/let someone see , to show : (this -이 is causative. to avoid confusion, 보여주다 is used in most cases)
- 보여지다2 : to be shown : (causative -이 + passive -어지다)
Many verbs have two possible passive forms but only one of them is preferred in most cases. (the less preferred one might even sound unnatural) Some verbs, however, the two passive forms are equally preferred, either one is fine.
- 믿다 : to believe
- 믿기다 : to be believed : (this -기 is passive)
- 믿어지다 : to be believed : (-어지다 is passive)
- 믿겨지다 : to be believed : (passive -기 + passive -어지다. this is wrong as it is a double passive)
- 믿게 하다 : to make/let someone believe something : (in this case, -게 하다 is the proper causative)
There are some verbs that even most native Koreans fail to conjugate correctly.
- 잊다 : to forget
- 잊히다 : to be forgotten : (passive -히)
- 잊어지다 : to be forgotten : (passive -어지다, this form is correct but hardly used)
- 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 suffixes 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 + nominalization -ㅁ + passive -을 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 conjugational forms.
- 묻다1 : to bury : (this verb follows the regular conjugation rule)
- 묻히다1 : to be buried : (this -히 is passive)
- 묻어지다 : to be buried : (passive -어지다. this form is not much used)
- 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 the passive form but this is not used. instead, 물음을 받다 would work as the passive form. 물음 is a noun form of 묻다(to ask), as the object suffix -을/-를 is only attached to nouns. However, 물음을 받다 sounds kind of uncommon. the most frequently used passive form for this verb would be 질문(質問)을 받다, the Sino Korean alternative. this 묻다3 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 as the 묻다1 verb.)
Adjectives can also become passive and causative verbs.
- 낮다 : be low
- 낮아지다 : to become low : (passive -아지다)
- 낮추다 : to make/let something become 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 become high : (this -이 is causative)
- 높여지다 : passive form of 높이다 : (causative -이 + passive -어지다)
Some causative forms with the -우 suffix 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 the 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 suffixes -이, -히, -리, -기 are particularly tricky as they could be either passive or causative (or sometimes both). If you come across a Korean word you don't know, with one of the four suffixes, you can't really determine whether it is passive or causative unless you look up a Korean dictionary, because those four suffixes arbitrarily work with individual verbs. (say, if you come across an English word you don't know, with "-ed" ending, you can soon figure out that it is a past tense suffix for a verb, but you can't determine the function of the four Korean suffixes without a Korean dictionary) That's why most Korean materials for foreigners overlook or skip or 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 doubtful if the claim is based on any valid statistics. As previously shown, many active voice English expressions should be translated to the passive form in Korean, but it is often ignored. It seems like many Koreans aren't even aware that they are actually speaking in the passive forms. I have never seen someone explaining 믿기지(가) 않다 or 믿어지지(가) 않다 or 믿겨지지(가) 않다 as the passive form. Most people just explain it as "can't believe". That's how you end up thinking the passive form is not common in Korean without understanding the underlying grammar structure. Depending on the situation, the passive form in Korean could be even more common than the passive voice in English. This grammar part is very confusing even for native Korean speakers. Many Koreans are still using double passive words like 잊혀지다, because they misunderstood the -히 suffix as causative. (Try to imagine a word like "forgottened" which has an extra "-ed" suffix. That's what's called the double passive in Korean. In English, somehow the past participles are used for the passive voice but in Korean, past tense has nothing to do with the passive form. They are morphologically completely different.) I think they (those who created the Korean materials for foreigners) are just avoiding some nettlesome parts. Who would want to make their customers freaked out? In practice, each form of every verb should be memorized.
| Active verb | Passive verb | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| 놓다 (to lay, to put, to build) | 놓이다 (to be on, to be placed, to be built) |
|
| 바꾸다 (to change) | 바뀌다 (to be changed) |
|
| 보다 (to see) | 보이다 (to be seen) |
|
| 쓰다 (to use, to write) | 쓰이다 (to be used, to be written) |
|
| 쌓다 (to pile up, to stack) | 쌓이다 (to be piled up, to be stacked up) |
|
| 차다 - to dump someone | 차이다 - to be dumped |
|
| Active verb | Passive verb | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| 꽂다 (to put in, to stick in) | 꽂히다 (to be stuck in) |
|
| 닫다 (to close, to shut) | 닫히다 (to be closed, to be shut) |
|
| 읽다 (to read) | 읽히다 (to be read) |
|
| 막다 (to block, to clog) | 막히다 (to be blocked, to be conjested, to be clogged up) |
|
| 먹다 (to eat) | 먹히다 (to be eaten) |
|
| 묻다 (to bury) | 묻히다 (to be buried) |
|
| 뽑다 (to pluck, to pull off) | 뽑히다 (to be plucked, to be pulled off) |
|
| 잡다 (to catch) | 잡히다 (to be caught) |
|
| Active verb | Passive verb | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| 걸다 (to hang) | 걸리다 (to be hung) |
|
| 듣다 (to hear) | 들리다 (to be heard) |
|
| 물다 (to bite) | 물리다 (to be bitten) |
|
| 열다 (to open) | 열리다 (to be open) |
|
| 팔다 (to sell) | 팔리다 (to be sold) |
|
| 풀다 (to untie, to solve) | 풀리다 (to get untied, to be solved ) |
|
| 자르다 (to cut) | 잘리다 (to be cut) |
|
| Active verb | Passive verb | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| 끊다 (to cut off, to sever) | 끊기다 (to be cut off, to be severed) |
|
| 빼앗다 (to take, to steal) | 빼앗기다 (to be taken, to be stolen) |
|
| 안다 (to hold, to embrace) | 안기다 (to be held, to be embraced) |
|
| 쫓다 (to chase) | 쫓기다 (to be chased) |
|
| 잠그다 (to lock) | 잠기다 (to be locked) |
|
