The Passive Voice

In Urdu, the passive voice is formed by adding one of the finite forms of the verb جانا jaanaa ('to go') to the past participle. The past participle always agrees with the subject in number and gender:

کام کیا جاتا ھے

kaam kiyaa jaataa hai

'the work is done'

کتاب پڑھی جاتی تھی

kitaab paRhii jaatii thii

'the book was read'

خط لیے گئے ھیں

kh'at liye gae haiN

'the letters have been taken'

کرسیاں بنائی گئی تھیں

kursiyaaN banaaii gaii thiiN

'the chairs had been made'

The functions of the passive voice in Urdu are similar to those in English, but the passive voice is much rarer in Urdu than in English. There is, however, a special use of the passive voice which occurs very frequently in Urdu but is absent from English. When used in this special way, a verb in the passive voice is always preceded by the negative particle نہیں nahiiN and expresses somebody's inability or disinclination to do something. The verb may be either transitive or intransitive, and the subject in a sentence with this construction is marked by the postposition سے se:

یہ کھانا مجھ سے نہیں کھایا جاتا

yah khaanaa mujh se nahiiN khaayaa jaataa

'I cannot eat such food'

مجھ سے سیدھے نہیں بیٹھا جاتا

mujh se siidhe nahiiN baiThaa jaataa

'I cannot sit straight'

اس سے نہیں سویا جاتا

us se nahiiN soyaa jaataa

'He cannot fall asleep'