The passive voice in Russian is used to build sentences in which something is done to the . This is different from the active voice, where the subject itself is doing something. Compare these two English examples:
Active Voice:
My ancestors built this house in 1887.
My brother is going to sell his car.
Passive Voice:
This house was built in 1887.
This car is going to be sold quickly.
Notice that the passive voice is used when the sentence isn’t really about the individual doing the action, often because that individual is not important or simply unknown.
What grammar do you need to build Russian passive structures? Read on, and you’ll find out!
Basically, Russian passive sentences have these three distinctive key elements:
The of the action is the grammatical of the sentence
The verb itself is in a passive voice form
The doer either vanishes or occurs in the instrumental case
Compare these two sentence structures:
Active:
Она написала эту оперу в 18 лет.
aNA napiSAla Etoo Opiroo v vasimNAtsat lyet
She wrote this opera when she was 18.
Passive:
Эта опера была ей написана в 18 лет.
Eta Opira byLA yey naPEEsana v vasimNAtsat lyet
This opera was written by her when she was 18.
So here is the formula to remember for the passive voice in Russian:
Subject
Object of the action
Nominative case
Passive Verb
Doer (optional)
Instrumental case
Remember, though, that Russian word order is flexible, so they may not always come in this order!
Russians only rarely name the “doer” passive sentences. This is mostly done in highly formal contexts.
Прокуратурой проводится проверка деятельности компании.
prakooraTOOray praVOditsa praVYERka DYEitilnasti kamPAnii
An inspection of the company’s activity is being carried out by the prosecutor’s office.
In Russian, only proper transitive verbs (that is, verbs that can take a in the accusative case) are used in the passive voice. For example:
Active voice | Passive voice |
|---|---|
transitive verbdirect object Мы снимали фильм в Норвегии. my sniMAli feelm v narVYEgii We were shooting a movie in Norway. | subjectpassive verb Фильм снимался в Норвегии. feelm sniMALsya v narVYEgii The movie was shot in Norway. |
intransitive verb Я переехал в Лондон недавно. ya piriYEkhal v LONdan niDAVna I have relocated to London recently. | ❌ No passive possible |
intransitive verb Она улыбнулась ему. aNA oolybNOOlas yiMOO She smiled at him. | ❌ No passive possible |
Let’s look now at the two different ways passive verbs in Russian can be formed.
To make an verb passive in Russian, you’ll need to add -ся/-сь at the end of the active verb form — add -сь if the verb form ends in a vowel, and -cя if it ends in a consonant or -ь.
Imperfective Verb
строить → строиться
STROit → STROitsa
to build → to be built
они обсуждали → они обсуждались
aNEE apsoozhDAli → aNEE apsoozhDAlis
they were discussing → they were discussed
я буду оперировать → я буду оперироваться
ya BOOdoo apiREEravat → ya BOOdoo apiREEravatsa
I will operate on… → I will be operated on
For example:
Active voice | Passive voice |
|---|---|
subject (nom)active verbdirect object (acc) Всё лето мы строили гаражи. fsyo LYEta my STROili garaZHY All summer we were building garages. | subject (nom)passive verb Гаражи строились всё лето. garaZHY STROilis fsyo LYEta The garages were (being) built all summer. |
subject (nom)active verbdirect object (acc) Я сейчас ремонтирую машину. ya siCHAS rimanTEErooyu maSHYnoo I am fixing the car now. | subject (nom)passive verb Машина сейчас ремонтируется. maSHYna siyCHAS rimanTEErooitsa The car is being fixed now. |
subject (nom)active verbdirect object (acc) C понедельника мы будем закрывать магазин в 10 часов. s paniDYELnika my BOOdim zakryVAT magaZEEN v DYEsit chiSOF From Monday on, we will be closing the store at 10. | subject (nom)passive verb С понедельника магазин будет закрываться в 10 часов. s paniDYELnika agaZEEN BOOdit zakryVAtsa v DYEsit chiSOF From Monday on, the store will be closed at 10. |
Be careful! Not all verbs that end in -ся/-сь in Russian are passive!
Verbs with -ся/-сь at the end are called “reflexive verbs” in Russian. They may have a variety of meanings, for example:
the action is directed back at the doer:
причесываться[priCHOsyvatsa](to brush one’s hair)
two or more people are doing the action to each other:
обниматься[abniMAtsa](to hug)
feelings:
расстроиться[rastROitsa](to get upset)
actions happening “by themselves,” without a doer, or when the doer is not known:
мяч покатился[myach pakaTEELsya](the ball started rolling)
and some verbs only exist in a reflexive form:
становиться[stanaVEEtsa](to become)
бояться[baYAtsa](to be afraid)
гордиться[garDEEtsa](to be proud)
The Russian passive structure with verbs is very similar to the passive voice structure in English, with the verb “to be” and past being its key elements, for example:
быть
to be
Past Passive Participle
(short form)
построить → быть построен
paSTROit → byt paSTROin
to build → to be built (m.)
они обсудили → они были обсуждены
aNEE apsooDEEli → aNEE BYli apsoozhdoNY
they discussed → they were discussed
я прооперирую → я буду прооперирован
ya praapiREErooyu → ya BOOdoo praapiREEravan
I will operate on → I will be operated on
There are two important things to note about the formula above:
The verb быть[byt](to be) does not have present tense forms, so in the present tense it is simply dropped, and the participle is used alone.
Here is a summary of how the short past passive participle is formed from a perfective verb:
Start with the infinitive base (infinitive without -ть/-ти)
Add the suffixes -н, -ен (-ён), or -т (depending on the final sounds in the base)
Add the short adjective agreement endings to the end of the participle that match the gender and number of the subject.
Masculine: -∅ (no ending)
Feminine: -а
Neuter: -о
Plural: -ы
Let’s take a look at some examples of how this looks in a sentence.
Active voice | Passive voice |
|---|---|
subject (nom)active verbdirect object (acc) Летом мы построили два гаража. LYEtam my paSTROili dva garaZHA In summer we built two garages. | subject (nom)passive verb Летом были построены два гаража. LYEtam BYli paSTROiny dva garaZHA. In summer, two garages were built. |
subject (nom)active verbdirect object (acc) Я отремонтировал машину. ya atrimanTEEraval maSHYnoo I (have) fixed the car. | subject (nom)passive verb Машина (была) отремонтирована. maSHYna (byLA) atrimanTEEravana The car has been (was) fixed. |
subject (nom)active verbdirect object (acc) В понедельник мы закроем магазин в 10 часов. f paniDYELnik my zaKROyem magaZEEN v DYEsit chiSOF On Monday we will close the store at 10. | subject (nom)passive verb В понедельник магазин будет закрыт в 10 часов. f paniDYELnik magaZEEN BOOdit zaKRYT v DYEsit chiSOF On Monday the store will be closed at 10. |
In Russian, it’s possible to use the “they” form of a verb as an alternative to the passive. Like the passive voice, this is a way of talking about an action without naming the doer. Some sentences that we express with the passive can only be naturally translated into Russian with the “they” form. For example
Меня оттолкнули в сторону.
miNYA atalkNOOli f STOranoo
I was pushed to the side.
lit. (They) pushed me to the side.
Ему угрожали увольнением.
yiMOO oograZHAli oovalNYEniyem
He was threatened with termination of employment.
lit. (They) threatened him with termination.
Let’s look at this structure more carefully.
The “they” forms of verbs, both perfective and imperfective, transitive and intransitive, are used when the person doing the action is unknown or unimportant.
Because you’re using an active verb, this is technically an active sentence structure, with a direct object (the undergoer of what “they” do) in the accusative case or an indirect object (the recipient) in the dative case.
But much like when you use an expression like “you know what they say,” or “they’re building a new park here” the “they” doesn’t refer to anybody in particular.
Unlike in English, where we use the nonspecific pronoun “they” to refer to an unknown group of people, or to people in general, in Russian, you never actually say the word они[aNEE](they) in such cases, just use the “they” form of the verb.
Here are some more examples:
Когда будет готово, вам позвонят.
kagDA BOOdit gaTOva vam pazvaNYAT
When it’s ready, you’ll get a call / be called.
lit. When it’s ready, (they) will call you.
Нас переводят в другую группу.
nas piriVOdyat v drooGOOyu GROOpoo
We are transferred to another group.
lit. (They) are transferring us to another group.
Меня тут попросили выступить в субботу.
miNYA toot papraSEEli VYstoopit f sooBOtoo
I was asked to perform on Saturday.
lit. (They) asked me to perform on Saturday.
В дверь постучали.
v dvyer pastooCHAli
There was a knock on the door.
lit. (They) knocked on the door.
We have looked at how passive structures work in the Russian language.
The basic rule to remember for the passive sentence structure is:
Subject
Object of the action
Nominative case
Passive Verb
Doer (optional)
Instrumental case
There are two ways to form passive verbs:
Imperfective → verb + ся/сь
Perfective → быть[byt](to be) + short past passive participle
In addition, we saw that the “they” form of active verbs is sometimes used as an alternative for passive structures and has a very similar meaning.
Time to try out Russian passive structures by downloading the activities below!
