Japanese Passive Form: Passive Verb Conjugation in Japanese Language Grammar

The Japanese passive form trips up a lot of learners, and honestly, I get why. English speakers use passive voice way less often than Japanese speakers do. In Japanese, the passive gets used in everyday conversation for situations where English would sound totally awkward. The passive shows up in news broadcasts, business emails, casual complaints, and pretty much everywhere in between. Let me break down exactly how to conjugate and use the passive form so you can actually start recognizing and using it yourself.

What is the passive form in Japanese

The passive form in Japanese ( - ukemi) describes situations where the subject receives an action rather than performing it. But Japanese passive works differently from English passive in some pretty important ways.

In English, we might say "The book was read by John." That's your standard passive sentence. Japanese has this type too, called the direct passive. But Japanese also has something called the indirect passive that English doesn't really have. This lets you express being affected or inconvenienced by someone else's actions, even when those actions weren't directly done to you.

For example, you can say "Ame ni furareta" () which literally means "I was rained on by rain" or more naturally "I got rained on (and it sucked)." This expresses that the rain affected you negatively. You can't really do this in English passive voice without sounding weird.

Japanese grammar makes way more use of passive language than English does. Once you tune into it, you'll notice Japanese speakers use passive constructions where English speakers would just use active voice.

How to conjugate the passive form

Conjugating Japanese verbs into passive form follows specific patterns based on verb groups. The conjugation rules stay consistent once you memorize them.

Group 1 verbs (U-verbs)

Here's how it works:

Group 2 verbs (Ru-verbs)

Examples:

Irregular verbs conjugation

Japanese has two irregular verbs that you just need to memorize:

These don't follow the standard conjugation patterns, so drill them until they stick.

Basic sentence patterns with passive form

The basic structure for a passive sentence in Japanese uses different particles than active sentences. Understanding which particle marks what is crucial for getting passive sentences right.

Direct passive pattern

The direct passive describes an action done directly to the subject. The formula looks like this:

Example sentences:

The particle ni (に) marks who performs the action in passive sentences. Think of it as the equivalent of "by" in English passive constructions.

Indirect passive pattern

The indirect passive expresses being affected or inconvenienced by someone's action. This is where Japanese passive gets really interesting. The pattern is:

Examples:

Notice how these express a feeling of being negatively affected. The indirect passive carries this nuance of annoyance or inconvenience that you just can't capture the same way in English.

Particles in passive sentences

Different particles mark the doer of the action in passive sentences, and they each carry slightly different meanings.

Using に (ni)

The particle ni is the most common way to mark who performs the action. It works for both people and organizations.

Using から (kara)

The particle kara (から) also marks the doer, but it emphasizes the source or origin of the action. It tends to feel slightly more distant or formal.

Using によって (ni yotte)

The particle ni yotte (によって) appears more in written Japanese, news reports, and formal contexts. It means "by means of" or "due to."

You'll see ni yotte constantly in academic writing and news articles.

When to use the passive form

Japanese speakers use passive form in specific situations that don't always match English usage patterns.

Expressing being affected

The passive form naturally expresses that the subject was affected by an action, especially negatively. Japanese speakers use this constantly to complain or express inconvenience.

Adding politeness and indirectness

Japanese culture values indirectness in many situations. The passive form creates distance and sounds more polite than direct active statements.

In business emails, you'll see passive constructions everywhere:

This sounds more formal and appropriate than the active version.

Describing general actions

When describing actions without specifying who did them, passive form works perfectly:

With intransitive verbs

Here's something that surprises learners: Japanese can make passive forms from intransitive verbs (Verbs that don't take direct objects). This creates the indirect passive I mentioned earlier.

Example:

You can't do this in English passive at all. The English passive only works with transitive verbs.

Practical tips for learning passive form

If you want to actually practice recognizing passive forms in real Japanese content, Migaku's browser extension and app let you look up verb conjugations instantly while watching shows or reading articles. Makes learning grammar patterns way more practical when you see them used naturally. There's a 10-day free trial if you want to check it out.

FAQs

Learning Japanese passive form is similar to learning other grammar

The strategy of learning the verb conjugations is applicable to every grammar scenario. Master the conjugation rules for each verb group, understand which particles mark the doer of the action, and pay attention to when Japanese speakers choose passive over active voice. The patterns become intuitive once you've seen enough examples in context.

Once it clicks, it stays.