Passive Voice in Persian

Overview

The passive voice in Persian is formed using the past participle of the main verb combined with شدن (shodan, "to become"). This construction — ساخته شد (sākhte shod, "was built") — shifts focus from the doer to the action or its result. At the B2 level, understanding the passive is important for reading formal texts, news, and academic writing, where it appears frequently.

Persian speakers generally prefer the active voice in everyday conversation. The passive sounds formal, impersonal, or bureaucratic. When you see passive constructions, you are likely reading a newspaper, official document, or formal text. In speech, Persians often use active constructions with an unspecified subject instead.

The agent (who performs the action) can optionally be included using توسط (tavasot-e, "by") or به وسیلهٔ (be vasile-ye, "by means of"), but it is frequently omitted, especially when the agent is unknown or unimportant.

How It Works

Formula: Past participle (past stem + ه) + شدن (conjugated for tense)

Tense	Active	Passive
Simple past	ساخت (he built)	ساخته شد (was built)
Present	می‌سازد (he builds)	ساخته می‌شود (is built)
Present perfect	ساخته است (has built)	ساخته شده است (has been built)
Past perfect	ساخته بود (had built)	ساخته شده بود (had been built)

With agent:

• کتاب توسط او نوشته شد. (The book was written by him/her.)

Examples in Context

Persian	English	Note
این خانه ساخته شد.	This house was built.	Past passive
کتاب توسط او نوشته شده.	The book was written by him/her.	With agent
در بسته شد.	The door was closed.	Simple event
این غذا خورده نمی‌شود.	This food is not eaten.	Negative habitual
قانون تصویب شده است.	The law has been approved.	Perfect passive
مجرم دستگیر شد.	The criminal was arrested.	News register
نامه فرستاده خواهد شد.	The letter will be sent.	Future passive
این کلمه زیاد استفاده می‌شود.	This word is used a lot.	General statement
مدرسه در سال ۱۳۵۰ تأسیس شد.	The school was founded in 1350.	Historical
گفته شده که...	It has been said that...	Impersonal

Common Mistakes

Using کردن instead of شدن for passive

• Wrong: خانه ساخته کرد
• Right: خانه ساخته شد
• Why: The passive always uses شدن (to become), not کردن (to do). This parallels the active/passive distinction in compound verbs.

Overusing passive in conversation

• Wrong: غذا توسط مادرم پخته شد (in casual speech)
• Right: مادرم غذا پخت (active, more natural)
• Why: Persian conversation strongly prefers the active voice. Passive sounds unnecessarily formal or stilted.

Forgetting participle agreement

• Wrong: خانه‌ها ساخته شد (singular شد for plural subject)
• Right: خانه‌ها ساخته شدند
• Why: شدن must agree with the subject in number — شد for singular, شدند for plural.

Usage Notes

The passive is a hallmark of formal Persian. News broadcasts, legal documents, academic papers, and government communications use it extensively. Recognizing this register association helps you understand when and why passive appears. In B2-level reading, you will encounter it constantly in news articles.

An alternative to the passive that is common in speech uses the third-person plural active without a specific subject: گفتند که... (they said that... = it was said that...). This achieves a similar impersonal effect without the formal passive construction.

Practice Tips

1. Read Persian news articles and identify all passive constructions. Convert them to active voice to practice understanding the transformation.
2. Practice forming passives in different tenses with one verb: نوشتن → نوشته شد (was written), نوشته می‌شود (is written), نوشته شده است (has been written).
3. Learn the most common passive expressions in news: اعلام شد (it was announced), گزارش شده (it has been reported), تأیید شد (it was confirmed).

Related Concepts

• Past Perfect (Pluperfect) — the participial pattern shared with passive