Formation of the Passive

(Hart, p. 110) The passive is made from a different stem than the finite forms above. The passive stem is formed by adding –य– to the root, which is altered in some cases. The passive takes only the middle endings. It is conjugated in all the following tenses: present, imperfect, optative, and imperative. The passive is treated like a thematic, middle verb, namely it is conjugated like लभ्. The general formation of the passive is as follows: add –य– to the root and then affixing the middle endings for the tense. Thus, the 3rd person, singular present for लभ् would be लभ्यते. The 1st person singular imperfect for भू would be अभव्ये. Some roots undergo transformation before the passive –य– is applied. These are:

  1. Final –इ and –उ of roots are lengthened, e.g. जि goes to जीयते and श्रु becomes श्रूयते.
  2. Roots ending in आ, ए, ऐ, ओ, or औ change the final vowel to ई, e.g. स्था becomes स्थीयते and गै (to sing) becomes गीयते
  3. In some roots, the semi-vowels य, र, or व are changed to their corresponding vowel and the vowel following it is dropped. Thus, वस् becomes उष्यते, ग्रह् becomes गृह्यते, and यज् becomes इज्यते. This process is called saṃprasāraṇa, संप्रसारण.
  4. In some roots, the nasal is dropped so that शंस् becomes शस्यते.
  5. Roots in –ऋ and –ॠ:
    1. Roots ending in –ऋ change it to –रि. If preceded by a conjunct consonant, the ऋ is guṇated. Thus, कृ becomes क्रियते but स्मृ becomes स्मर्यते.
    2. Roots ending in –ॠ the –ॠis changed to –ईर् or if preceded by a labial to –ऊर् Thus, तॄ (to cross) becomes तीर्यते, कॄ (to scatter) becomes कीर्यते, and पॄ (to fill) becomes पूर्यते.
  6. Roots of the tenth class still make the guṇa or vṛddhi change but drop the –अय– after the stem and instead add the passive –य-. Thus, चुर् (चोरयति) become चोर्यते, and तड् (ताडयति, to strike) becomes ताड्यते.
  7. Roots of the 3rd class are not reduplicated, but the –य– is added to the non-duplicated stem, modified according to the above rules. Thus, दा becomes दीयते.

The passive present participle is formed in the same way as the present participle for active middle verbs by adding –मान in this case to the passive stem.

Some examples these verbal forms are:

Root Present 3rd Singular Passive Pres. 3rd Sing. Passive Pres. Participle
अधी अधीते अधीयते अधीयमान
आप् अप्नोति अप्यते आप्यमान
कृ करोति क्रियते क्रियमाण
गम् गच्छति गम्यते गम्यमान
ग्रह् गृह्णति गृह्यते गृह्यमाण
जि जयति जीयते जीयमान
ज्ञा जानाति ज्ञायते ज्ञायमान
दा ददाति दीयते दीयमान
पश् पश्यति दृश्यते दृश्यमान
भृ बिभर्ति भ्रियते भ्रियमाण
यम् यच्छति यम्यते यम्यमान
वच् वक्ति उच्यते उच्यमान
वद् वदति उद्यते उद्यमान
वस् वसति उष्यते उष्यमान
शंस् शंसति शस्यते शस्यमान
स्था तिष्ठति स्थीयते स्थीयमान
हा जहाति हीयते हीयमान

This is an abbreviated list from Hart (pp. 111-113) back-transliterated into Devanāgarī.

Use of the Passive

The passive has two uses:

      1. to express a transitive action passively. As in English, the agent is put in the instrumental (“by him”) and the object is put in the nominative, e.g. “The action was done by him”
      2. to express a intransitive verb impersonally. This has no parallel in English and is called the bhāve (भावे) construction in Sanskrit. This is generally used with intransitive verbs and serves to distance the subject from the action. A literal translation in English of this usage would be, “The market is gone to by me.”

Examples of the first usage are:

  1. “The king kills the warrior”
    • (active) राजा क्षत्रियं हन्ति।
    • (passive) क्षत्रियो राज्ञा हन्यते।
  1. “He sees me.”
  • (active) स मां पश्यति।
  • (passive) अहं तेन दृश्ये।
  1. “He abandoned you.”
  • (active) स त्वामजहात्।
  • (passive) त्वं तेनाहीयथाः।

For the second type of passive, the bhāve construction, the following examples give the active version first followed by the passive bhāve version:

  • “I go to the forest”
    • अहं वनं गच्छामि।
    • वनं मया गम्यते।
  • “He drank then.”
    • तदा सोऽपिबत्।
    • तदा तेनापियत।
  • “Let him go to the city.”
    • स नगरं गच्छतु।
    • तेन नगरं गम्यताम्।
  • “Sit down” (polite)
    • उपविशतु भवन्।
    • उपविश्यताम्भवता।

Note that with the bhāve usage of भू, the predicate noun may be put in the instrumental.

  • “They should become our friends.”
    • तेऽस्माकं मित्राणि भवन्तु।
    • तैरस्माकं मित्रैर्भूयताम्।

The present passive participle is only formed on transitive verbs and is usually translated as “being Xed.” For example, हन्यमान means “being killed.”