June 5, 2007

Passive voice

When you say a paasive voice in Englis, you use past participle.

eg. You write a letter. : A letter is writen by you.

In Japanese , " reru " or " rareru " is used.

tegami : letter
kaku : write
kakareru : is/are writen
ni (yotte ): by

Kono tegami wa watashi ni yotte kakareru.: this , letter, me by, be writen.: This letter is writen by me.

tataku : beat
tatakareru : is/are beaten
tatakareta : was/were beaten

Watashi wa kare ni tatakareta : I, him by, was beaten : I was beaten by him.

tazuneru : ask
michi : way , road, street
eki : station
e : to
no : on, in
...e no michi : a way to...

Watashi wa eki e no michi o tazunerareta.: I,station, a way to ,was asked. : I was asked a way to a station.

To turn a sentense into a passive voice,the basic points are;
1.The object word is changed to a subject.
2.The verb is attached with "reru" or "rareru".
3.The verb is conjugated.