Table of Contents
Overview of Passive Formation in Urdu
In this chapter you focus on how to form passive sentences in Urdu. You will see how active sentences are transformed, which auxiliaries are used, and how tense and agreement work in the passive.
Urdu passive is mostly built with the verb ہونا “to be” and the main verb in a special form called the perfect participle. Another very common helper is جانا “to go,” which often adds a passive nuance.
Basic Pattern: Perfect Participle + ہونا
The core pattern of a simple passive sentence is:
Basic passive structure
Subject (patient) + perfect participle + ہونا (conjugated)
“X is / was / will be done”
Example:
- دروازہ بند ہے
darwāzā band hai
“The door is closed.”
Here بند is not a participle, but it shows the basic idea: a state + “is”.
With real verbs: - کام کیا گیا
kām kiyā gayā
“The work was done.”
The perfect participle is usually the same form that appears in perfect tenses, like کیا، لکھا، دیکھا، کھایا etc.
Examples with transitive verbs
| Active (for reference) | Passive (focus of this chapter) | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| احمد نے کھانا پکایا۔ | کھانا پکایا گیا۔ | The food was cooked. |
| وہ کتاب لکھتی ہے۔ | کتاب لکھی جاتی ہے۔ | The book is written. |
| استاد نے سوال پوچھا۔ | سوال پوچھا گیا۔ | The question was asked. |
Notice that in the passive examples, we front the thing affected (کھانا، کتاب، سوال) and use the participle + a form of ہونا or جانا.
Perfect Participle Forms and Agreement
The perfect participle of many common verbs looks like the masculine singular perfect form:
- کرنا → کیا kiyā
- لکھنا → لکھا likhā
- پڑھنا → پڑھا paṛhā
- کہنا → کہا kahā
In passive, the participle agrees with the new subject (the patient).
Agreement rule in passive
The perfect participle agrees with the subject of the passive sentence,
in gender (masculine/feminine) and often in number.
Masculine vs feminine participles
| Infinitive | Masculine sg. | Feminine sg. | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| لکھنا | لکھا likhā | لکھی likhī | written |
| کھانا | کھایا khāyā | کھائی khāī | eaten |
| کھولنا | کھولا kholā | کھولی kholī | opened |
| کہنا | کہا kahā | کہی kahī | said |
Now see them in passive sentences.
Examples with feminine nouns
- کتاب لکھی گئی۔
kitāb likhī gaī
“The book was written.” - چائے پی گئی۔
chāy pī gaī
“The tea was drunk.” - کہانی سنائی گئی۔
kahānī sunāī gaī
“The story was told.”
Here کتاب، چائے، کہانی are feminine, so the participles لکھی، پی، سنائی are feminine, and گئی agrees as well.
Masculine plural & feminine plural
In careful Urdu, you may see plural agreement in writing.
Masculine plural:
- خط لکھے گئے۔
khat likhe gaye
“The letters were written.”
Feminine plural:
- تصویریں بنائی گئیں۔
tasvīren banāī gaīn
“The pictures were made.”
In spoken Urdu, plural participles are common, but sometimes you will hear singular forms used with plurals as well. For this chapter, focus on the ideal agreement.
Passive with جانا: کیا گیا, لکھی گئی
The most common explicit passive pattern uses the perfect participle and جانا in a past form.