Things done to you
Japanese uses the passive far more than English, often for things that happen to you: being told off, rained on, stepped on. The form is ～られる, and for る-verbs it looks the same as "can". Tap to hear any line. The bar at the bottom plays a hands-free drill for walking.
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25 everyday verbs
Each card shows the verb, its passive form and a sentence about something that happened to you. Nine reuse verbs from earlier courses and lessons.
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How to make the passive
For u-verbs, move the last sound to the a-row and add れる, just like the ない-form. For る-verbs, swap る for られる.
| Ends in | Becomes | Example |
|---|
- に marks who did it. = I was told off by Mum.
- Often it means "and it was bad for me". (I got rained on), (a friend turned up on me). English often uses "got".
- Same form as "can". For る-verbs, means "can eat" and "be eaten". The rest of the sentence tells you which.
- The same form in keigo. From Everyday Japanese 6: just means the teacher came.
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Four patterns to use today
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Say it in Japanese
Say each one out loud before you reveal the answer. Getting close counts.