Passive Voice (受身形): Direct and Indirect Passives

The Japanese passive voice (受身形, ukemikei) uses the auxiliary れる・られる to mark a subject that undergoes or receives an action rather than performing it.¹² It can also do two things the English passive cannot: mark an affected bystander who was never the direct object, and passivize intransitive verbs.³⁴

Overview

What the passive voice does in Japanese

In a passive sentence the grammatical subject is on the receiving end of the verb. Daijisen lists 受身 (passive) as the first sense of both れる and られる.¹²

私わたしはマギー先生せんせいに呼よばれました。⁵
"I was invited (called) by Maggie Sensei."

Japanese passive sentences fall into two families. The direct passive (直接受身, chokusetsu-ukemi) has a matching active-voice counterpart: you can restate the same content in the active by rearranging the particles.⁴ The indirect passive (間接受身, kansetsu-ukemi) has no active counterpart; the affected party is not directly involved in the underlying action and merely suffers its consequences.⁴

The indirect passive is also called the "suffering" or "adversity" passive. It has no clean English equivalent, which is why the Japanese passive deserves careful study.⁴

Register and JLPT placement

受身形 is catalogued as an N4 grammar point.⁶ The indirect/adversative and intransitive uses are usually treated as the more advanced, N3-level extension of the same single form.⁶

The passive is frequent in formal and written Japanese. Agent-marking with によって ("by") in particular belongs to formal contexts, especially writing.⁷

私わたしは先生せんせいにほめられました。⁶
"I was praised by the teacher."

The four faces of ～られる (read this first)

The auxiliary れる・られる carries four meanings: 受身 (passive), 可能 (potential), 自発 (spontaneous), and 尊敬 (honorific/respect). Daijisen lists all four under each auxiliary.¹²

This article covers only the passive (受身) sense. The same written form can have any of the four meanings, so context and the particle frame tell them apart.¹²

The table below gives one dictionary example phrase for each of the four senses. This makes the ambiguity concrete before the formation rules appear.

Meaning	Example phrase (Daijisen)	Gloss
受身 passive	満員電車で足を踏まれた1	"got my foot stepped on in a packed train"
可能 potential	子供でも行かれるだろう1	"even a child could go"
自発 spontaneous	故郷に残した両親のことが思い出される1	"thoughts of my parents back home come to me unbidden"
尊敬 honorific	先生も山に行かれたそうですね1	"I hear the teacher went to the mountains too" (respectful)

All four readings descend from one auxiliary

Because Daijisen files 受身, 可能, 自発, and 尊敬 under a single れる (and a single られる), the four readings are senses of one historical morpheme.¹² That shared origin is why no spelling difference separates them. Context has to do the work.

Formation: building the passive (受身形の作り方)

The passive auxiliary attaches differently depending on the verb class. The diagram below shows the branching before the article spells out the rules.

一段 (ichidan / ru-verbs): stem + られる

For an 一段 verb (a "ru-verb"), drop the final る and add られる.⁸⁵

見みる → 見みられる⁸
"see → be seen"

食たべる → 食たべられる⁸
"eat → be eaten"

The 一段 passive is spelled the same as the potential and, for some verbs, the honorific. This article flags that clash here; the potential-form material resolves it in detail. For now, use the particle frame to tell them apart.¹²

五段 (godan / u-verbs): final -u → -a + れる

For a 五段 verb (a "u-verb"), shift the final -u kana to the matching -a-row kana, then add れる.⁸⁵

書かく → 書かかれる⁵
"write → be written"

読よむ → 読よまれる⁸
"read → be read"

There is one wrinkle. Verbs ending in う do not shift to あ but to わ.⁸

買かう → 買かわれる⁸
"buy → be bought"

言いう → 言いわれる⁸
"say → be said"

Derive the passive from the ない-form

A shortcut taught by native teachers is to take the negative (ない) stem and swap ない for れる. So 聞きく → 聞きかない → 聞きか + れる → 聞きかれる.⁵ The う→わ shift falls out for free, because the ない-form already has it.

Irregulars: する→される, くる→こられる

The two irregular verbs each have a fixed passive form.⁸⁵

する → される⁸
"do → be done"

来くる → 来こられる⁸
"come → have someone come (adversatively)"

Daijisen treats these through the same auxiliaries: the サ変 (s-irregular) verb する takes れる on its せ-base, and the カ変 (k-irregular) verb 来る takes られる.¹² As with the 一段 forms, こられる (来られる) is spelled the same as the potential and honorific of 来る, so context disambiguates it.²

Quick-reference conjugation table

The table collects one verb per class. The rightmost column flags forms that collide with the potential reading.

Class	Dictionary form	Passive (受身形)	Romaji	Collides with potential?
一段	見る	見られる	mirareru	Yes12
一段	食べる	食べられる	taberareru	Yes12
五段 (く)	書く	書かれる	kakareru	No (potential 書ける)1
五段 (む)	読む	読まれる	yomareru	No1
五段 (す)	押す	押される	osareru	No1
五段 (う)	買う	買われる	kawareru	No1
五段 (う)	言う	言われる	iwareru	No1
サ変	する	される	sareru	No1
カ変	来る	来られる	korareru	Yes12

The pattern is clean: every 一段 passive and 来られる share a spelling with the potential. The 五段 passive never does, because the 五段 potential uses a different stem (書ける, not 書かれる).¹²

The direct passive (直接受身): "X was done"

The particle frame: が for the affected, に for the agent

In a direct passive, the affected party (the original direct object of the active sentence) becomes the subject and takes が, or は as the topic.⁵⁴ The doer is marked with に. Here, に shifts from "target" to "doer."⁵

The transformation is「A が B を V」(active) →「B が A に V-(ら)れる」(passive).⁴ The original を object disappears in a direct passive because it has become the passive subject.⁵

マギー先生せんせいが私わたしを呼よびました。→ 私わたしはマギー先生せんせいに呼よばれました。⁵
"Maggie Sensei called me. → I was called (invited) by Maggie Sensei."

犬いぬが（私わたしを）噛かむ。→ （私わたしは）犬いぬに噛かまれる。⁵
"A dog bites (me). → I am bitten by a dog."

ネックレスが泥棒どろぼうに盗ぬすまれました。⁸
"The necklace was stolen by a thief."

When the agent is inanimate or formal: によって

によって replaces に as the agent marker in formal Japanese, especially in writing, and emphasizes the doer's agency.⁷⁴ Two situations call for it specifically.

The first is an inanimate cause. When the cause has no agency of its own, such as poison or a natural force, によって is preferred over に.⁴

The second is a creation or discovery verb, such as build, write, design, paint, or discover. With these high-transitivity verbs, the agent takes によって. Plain に could be read as a recipient or target rather than the doer.⁴

サグラダファミリアは建築家けんちくかガウディーによって設計せっけいされました。⁵
"Sagrada Família was designed by the architect Gaudí."

「ゲルニカ」はピカソによって1937せんきゅうひゃくさんじゅうなな年ねんに描えがかれた。⁵
"Guernica was painted by Picasso in 1937."

侍さむらいは毒どくによって殺ころされた。⁴
"The samurai was killed by poison."

によって also tracks transitivity

The によって split is governed by transitivity: high-transitivity verbs permit によって, while low-transitivity verbs do not.⁴ That is why the creation and discovery verbs above (design, paint, kill with an instrument) fit naturally with によって.

Worked examples

私わたしは先生せんせいにほめられました。⁶
"I was praised by the teacher."

ケーキが誰だれかに食たべられた！⁶
"The cake was eaten by somebody!"

集団しゅうだん感染かんせんが確認かくにんされました。⁸
"A mass infection was confirmed."

The last example drops the agent entirely and uses a する-verb passive. The article returns to this pattern under objectivity below.

The indirect / adversative passive (間接受身・迷惑の受身)

What makes it "indirect": the subject is a bystander, not the object

The indirect passive has no active-voice counterpart. The affected person was not acted on directly. They are inconvenienced or harmed by someone else's action.⁴

The construction almost always carries a negative nuance: the "suffering" or 迷惑 (nuisance) reading.⁴ Maggie Sensei describes it as conveying annoyance, disappointment, or trouble that the speaker undergoes.⁵ IMABI frames the same feeling as a sense of inevitability or something irresistible (不可抗力の受身).³

The retained を object

This is the structural giveaway. Unlike in the direct passive, the original direct object stays and keeps を. The affected bystander becomes the が/は subject.³⁵

マギーが私わたしのおやつを食たべた。→ マギーにおやつを食たべられた。⁵
"Maggie ate my snack. → I got my snack eaten by Maggie."

弟おとうとは地下鉄ちかてつの中なかで中年ちゅうねんの女性じょせいに足あしを踏ふまれた。³
"My little brother got his foot stepped on by a middle-aged woman on the subway."

私わたしは犬いぬに手てを噛かまれました。³
"I had my hand bitten by a dog."

In each case, the snack, the foot, and the hand keep を. The person who suffers the action is the subject.

Worked examples

甥おいにカメラを壊こわされた。⁵
"My nephew broke my camera (on me)."

赤あかちゃんに泣なかれた。⁵
"My baby cried (and I was put out by it)."

掲示板けいじばんに悪口わるぐちを書かかれた。⁵
"I got badmouthed on the bulletin board."

The baby-crying example uses an intransitive verb (泣く takes no object). That is the next surprise the passive holds.

Passive of intransitive verbs

Why intransitives can passivize in Japanese

English blocks sentences like "I was cried." Japanese allows the equivalent because the indirect passive needs no direct object. It needs only an affected experiencer.³⁴

Intransitive verbs generally lack a passive except when the action indirectly and adversely affects someone. In that adversative reading, the intransitive passive is natural.⁴ As with the other indirect passives, the construction signals inevitability, something the experiencer could not control (不可抗力).³

Canonical intransitive passives

私わたしたちは雨あめに降ふられた。³
"We were rained on."

雨あめに降ふられて、びしょ濡ぬれになった。³
"I got rained on and was soaked through."

赤あかちゃんに泣なかれた。⁵
"My baby cried (and I was in trouble)."

またあいつに家いえに来こられたようさ。³
"It seems that guy came over to my place again."

私わたしは愛犬あいけんに死しなれて悲嘆ひたんに暮くれた。³
"My beloved dog died on me, and I was sunk in grief."

The guy-coming-over and dog-dying examples are the canonical "someone came inconveniently" and "someone died on me" adversatives. Both passivize a verb that has no object at all. The affected experiencer remains the subject throughout.³

Nuance and usage contexts

Empathy and viewpoint: keeping the subject constant

The passive lets the speaker narrate from the affected party's viewpoint. It keeps the experiencer as the が/は subject instead of switching perspective to the agent.⁵ This is the intuition that unifies the direct adversative (a snack eaten on me) with the intransitive adversative (rained on): in both, the sentence stays anchored to the person who undergoes the event.³⁵

Objectivity and the agentless passive

The agent (に or によって) is frequently dropped. An agentless passive leaves only the affected subject and the verb. It is fully grammatical.⁴

This impersonal, objective passive suits writing that reports a fact without naming who is behind it. The set phrase 〜と言われている ("it is said that") is a common agentless passive.⁹

彼かれは天才てんさいだと言いわれている。⁹
"He is said to be a genius."

女性じょせいは男性だんせいより長生ながいきだと言いわれている。⁹
"It is said that women live longer than men."

集団しゅうだん感染かんせんが確認かくにんされました。⁸
"A mass infection was confirmed."

Passive vs. active: when each is natural

A Japanese speaker reaches for the passive to stay with the experiencer's viewpoint and to soften or avoid naming the doer. The agentless passive removes the doer entirely.⁵⁴

The reverse is also true. When an intransitive action does not adversely affect anyone, plain active Japanese is preferred. Forcing a passive sounds unnatural.⁴

Good to know

Passive 食べられる vs. potential 食べられる

The 一段 passive and the potential are spelled identically (食べられる, 見られる, 来られる).¹² The particle frame resolves them. A に-marked agent signals the passive, while a が-marked object with no agent and an ability reading signals the potential.¹²

Treating ケーキが食べられた as "could eat the cake" when an agent is present is the wrong parse. With an agent, it is unambiguously passive.

ケーキが誰だれかに食たべられた。⁶
"The cake was eaten by someone."

The 五段 passive sidesteps this entirely, since its potential uses a different stem (書かれる passive vs. 書ける potential).¹ The potential-form and spontaneous-voice articles resolve the remaining two faces of ～られる.

に as agent ("by") vs. に as direction or recipient

In a passive frame, に marks the doer ("by"), not a destination or a recipient. A learner has to re-read に as "by."⁵ This is exactly why creation verbs switch to によって: plain に could otherwise be parsed as the recipient or target.⁴

母ははに頼たのまれたので買かい物ものに行いきます。⁵
"Since I was asked by my mother, I'll go shopping."

"The れ/られ that happens TO you"

The れる/られる string ties the verb to the experiencer's viewpoint: whatever follows happens to the が/は subject, whether that is praised-to-you, rained-on-you, or snack-eaten-on-you.³⁵ Reading every passive as something landing on the subject keeps the direct and adversative uses under one simple mental hook.

Why によって signals written Japanese

によって-agent passives belong to formal contexts, especially writing. Spoken Japanese leans on the に-agent and the adversative passive.⁷ Seeing によって in a sentence is a reliable cue that the register is formal.

ら-抜き言葉 and why it never touches the passive

Dropping the ら from 一段 and カ変 potential forms (見れる, 来れる, 食べれる) is widespread in speech. In school grammar and on kokugo (Japanese language) tests, it is marked as substandard.¹⁰ This matters for the 食べられる homograph: ら-抜き affects only the potential, never the passive. The passive always keeps られる. The ra-nuki article covers this in full.

See also

• Causative Form (使役形): How to Say "Make" and "Let" Someone Do
• Causative-Passive Form (使役受身): "Was Made to Do" with ～させられる
• Sonkeigo via the Passive Form (～られる): The Respectful Use of れる・られる
• Transitivity Pairs in Japanese (自他動詞): Intransitive vs. Transitive
• The によって Compound Particle: By Means of, Depending on
• は vs が in Japanese: A Beginner's First Pass

References

Footnotes

1. デジタル大辞泉 (Digital Daijisen), Shogakukan. Entry「れる」(auxiliary verb), via Kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/れる ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²² ↩²³ ↩²⁴

2. デジタル大辞泉 (Digital Daijisen), Shogakukan. Entry「られる」(auxiliary verb), via Kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/られる ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴

3. IMABI. "The Passive II: 不可抗力の受身." https://imabi.org/the-passive-ii-%E4%B8%8D%E5%8F%AF%E6%8A%97%E5%8A%9B%E3%81%AE%E5%8F%97%E8%BA%AB/ (limitation: independent learner reference.) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴

4. Japanese with Anime. "Passive Voice." https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2019/08/passive-voice.html (limitation: independent learner reference; used for the chokusetsu/kansetsu definitions and the によって transitivity rule.) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹

5. Maggie Sensei. "受身 ( = ukemi ): Passive form." https://maggiesensei.com/2015/06/29/%E5%8F%97%E8%BA%AB-ukemi-passive-form/ (limitation: independent learner blog by a native-speaker teacher; used for glossed examples and rule confirmation.) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²² ↩²³ ↩²⁴ ↩²⁵ ↩²⁶

6. JLPT Sensei. "JLPT N4 Grammar: 受身形 (ukemi) Japanese Passive Form." https://jlptsensei.com/learn-japanese-grammar/%E5%8F%97%E8%BA%AB%E5%BD%A2-ukemi-japanese-passive-form/ (limitation: independent JLPT-aligned reference; used for JLPT level and glossed examples.) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

7. Tofugu. "Japanese Verb Passive られる Form." https://www.tofugu.com/japanese-grammar/verb-passive-form-rareru/ (limitation: independent learner reference.) ↩ ↩² ↩³

8. IMABI. "The Passive." https://imabi.org/the-passive/ (limitation: independent learner reference; used for rules and glossed examples.) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴

9. JLPT Sensei. "JLPT N4 Grammar: と言われている (to iwarete iru)." https://jlptsensei.com/learn-japanese-grammar/%E3%81%A8%E8%A8%80%E3%82%8F%E3%82%8C%E3%81%A6%E3%81%84%E3%82%8B-to-iwarete-iru-meaning/ (limitation: independent JLPT-aligned reference.) ↩ ↩² ↩³

10. 文化庁 (Agency for Cultural Affairs). 「ら抜き言葉」記述, 『国語に関する世論調査』background; ら抜き noted as substandard in school-grammar testing per kokugo references. (Used only for the ra-nuki preview pointer; the substantive ra-nuki article owns this.) ↩