Language/Swedish/Grammar/Passive-Voice
In today's lesson, you will learn how to form the passive Swedish verbs.
The passive voice in Swedish does not use any subject. There is only one object with which we do something.
The passive voice is used when we do not know who is acting or when it is not interesting to know who is doing it. In terms of grammar, we can express it by the fact that we have no agent in the sentence.
Passive voice is often used in newspaper articles and also news on TV and radio.
Here are a few examples:
- 20 skadades efter busskrock utanför Piteå.
20 were injured after a bus crash outside Piteå.
- Sprängämnesstoff hittades i flickans sko.
Explosive materials were found in the girl’s shoe.
The passive voice is also used when instructions are given such as recipes in an informal language.
You will find passive forms on a carton of milk or on a bill like this:
- Öppnas här!
To be opened here.
- Betalas senast 100831
To be paid at the latest by Aug. 31, 2010.
As you have seen the passive voice can be used for different tenses (actually all tenses) and it’s not complicated to construct the passive version of the verb. You more or less just ad a -s to the regular form except for the present tense where you need to remove the -r.
It looks like this:
Present tense
| skadar (regular) | skadas (passive) |
| köper (regular) | köps/köpes (passive) |
| syr (regular) | sys (passive) |
| skriver (regular) | skrives/skrivs (passive) |
Past tense
| skadade (regular) | skadades (passive) |
| köpte (regular) | köptes (passive) |
| sydde (regular) | syddes (passive) |
| skrev (regular) | skrevs (passive) |
Perfect participle
We can also create the passive voice with something called “the perfect participle” which is more common in spoken Swedish and less formal Swedish. I will discuss this in a different post but I can show you what our s-passives would look like constructed with a particple:
- skadades – blev skadad
was hurt
- hittades – blev hittad
was found
Verb Groups
In order to fully understand the lesson, you should before inform yourself about the 4 verb groups in Swedish and how to build the different tenses in the active form.
The S-passive is named so because you build first the verb tense in the active form and then just put an -s to the so called "supinum".
Group 2 a
Let's try it out together with the 2a-group verb
att köra, kör!/(kör), körde/har, hade kört (Infintivi/imperativ!(presens)/simple past/perfect, plusquamperfect)-> köras/körs/kördes/körts
Aktiv verbform Inifitiv (Active Inifitive)
- Jag ska köra bilen.
I will drive the car.
→ Passiv verbform Infinitiv plus -s:
- Bilen ska köras. (köra + s).
The car will be driven.
Aktiv form Presens (Active Present)
- Jag kör bilen.
I drive the car.
→ Passiv verbform Presens, imperativ plus -s:
- Bilen körs. (kör + s)
The car is driven.
Aktiv form simple past (Active Past)
- Jag körde bilen.
I drove the car.
→ Passiv verbform simple past plus -s:
- Bilen kördes. (körde + s)
The car was driven.
Aktiv form perfect (first past tense)
- Jag körde bilen.
I drove the car.
-> Passiv verbform Perfect plus -s:
- Bilen körts. (har, hade kört + s)
The car has/had been driven.
Group 1
regular verbs, biggest group, "study": att studera/studera!/(studerar)/studerade/har, hade studerat -> studeras/studeras/studerades/har, hade studerats
Aktiv verb example i presens: Studenter (=subjekt) studerar (=present tense) lektionen om s-passiv (=objekt).
Passiv verb example i presens: Lektionen om s-passiv studeras.
Group 2b
"smoke": att röka/rök!/(röker)/rökte/har, hade rökt -> rökas/röks/röktes/har, hade rökts
Aktiv verb example i simple past: Han rökte 40 cigaretter.
Passiv verb example i simple past: 40 cigaretter röktes.
Group 3
"reside, live in": att bo/bo!/(bor)/bodde/har, hade bott -> bos/bos/boddes/har, hade botts
Aktiv verb example i perfect: En familj har bott i huset.
Passiv verb example i perfect: Huset har bebotts. (har bott -> botts + i -> be = bebotts)
Group 4
irregular verbs, exampel with "do": att göra/gör!/(gör)/gjorde/har, hade gjort -> göras/görs/gjordes/har, hade gjorts
Aktiv verb example i perfect: Hon hade gjort sin bäst att förklara s-supinum.
Passiv verb example i perfect: Det bästa hade gjorts att förklara s-supinum.
The rest is just to practice, good luck and have fun"
If I did mistakes or if you would like to add an translation or something new, please feel free to do so.