Lesson 16 Overview: The Passive
Sanskrit has two passives:
- one has a subject (a nominative with which it agrees)
- one has no subject (i.e., it agrees with its own singular action)
Formation
In present system conjugations (= pres., impf., impv. and opt.), it is simply:
- general = root + य + Ā. endings: गम् + य + ते = गम्यते, “is gone to”
- 10th cl. = stem minus अय + य + Ā.: चोर् + य + ते = चोर्यते, “is stolen”
संप्रसारणम्
In the passive, the root generally takes its weakest form. As we saw with the gerund, 19 verb roots, including a few you already know, weaken by a process called संप्रसारण. In संप्रसारण, a (semivowel + vowel) syllable is reduced to the homorganic vowel of its semivowel (i.e., the semivowel becomes the short vowel in its own row). For example,
- va ve, etc. → u (u being labial, for the labial semivowel, v), e.g.:
वद् va-d → u-d + ya = उद्यते, “is spoken” (वस् → उष् उष्य, वह् → उह् उह्य)
- ya, etc. → i, e.g., यज् ya-j → i-j + ya = इज्यते, “is sacrificed”
- ra, etc. → ṛ, e.g., प्रच्छ् p-ra-cch→ p-ṛ-cch + ya = पृछ्यते, “is asked”
- ह्वे “to call, challenge”: h-ve → h-u + ya = हूयते “is called / challenged”
Usage
If a passive verb is used with a subject (= nominative), it is translated:
- “[X-]nom. is [y-verb]ed.”
Since verbs always agree with their subjects in person (1st, 2nd, 3rd) and number (sg., du. and pl.), we would translate:
- ग्रामः त्यज्यते, “The village is abandoned” (3rd sg. pres. pass.)
- ग्रामाः त्यज्यन्ते, “The villages are abandoned” (3rd pl. pres. pass.)
- ग्रामौ अत्यज्येताम्, “Two villages were abandoned” (3rd du. impf. pass.)
- ग्रामः दह्यताम्, “The village must be burned” (3rd sg. impv. pass.)
- अहम् भाष्येय, “I should be spoken to” (1st sg. opt. pass.)
- त्वम् दृश्येथाः, “You should be seen” (2nd sg. opt. pass.)
But if a passive verb is used without a subject, the verb is conjugated in the 3rd person sg. (agreeing with its own singular action):
- “[y-verb]-ing is done.”
(And, as in all passives, the one doing the action is put in the instrumental):
- मया कुप्यते, “Becoming angry is done by me” (pres. pass.)
(= अहम् कुप्यामि, “I become angry” in the active) - युवाभ्याम् कुप्येत, “Getting angry should be done by you two" (opt. pass.)
(= युवाम् कुप्येतम्, “You two should be angry” in the active) - तैः कुप्यताम्, “Becoming angry must be done by them” (impv. pass.)
(= ते कुप्यन्तु, “They need to get angry” in the active) - त्वया तुष्येत, “Being pleased should be done by you” (opt. pass.)
(= त्वम् तुष्येः, “You should be pleased” in the active) - अस्माभिः अतुष्यत, “Being pleased was done by us” (impf. pass.)
(= वयम् अतुष्याम, “We were pleased” in the active)
Many introductions to the Sanskrit passive use ambiguous terminology. For the sake of clarity, especially for students who are consulting more than one textbook, the passive is explained at length in the following pages. If you find yourself getting lost in the weeds, return to the formulation above before continuing. The passive is really just as simple in practice as stated above, no matter how detailed an analysis of it may get.