Passive Sentences

Not all active sentences have corresponding forms in the passive.
Only active and transitive sentences (SPOC* and SPOA*) can be transformed into passive sentences.

Transitive sentences can be transformed into passive sentences by:

1. making the object of the active sentence become the subject of the passive sentence;
2. replacing the prefix me- with di-   
3. making the subject of the active sentence become the agent, recipient of the passive form signaled by the preposition oleh (by) which may be left out if the doer is obvious or unimportant.

Agentive Passive Sentences

Agentive passive sentences are where the doer or the agent is explicitly expressed by the proposition ‘oleh‘ (by) plus agent.

Active Sentences

Subject	Predicate	Object	Adverb	Meaning
Anwar Dia	sudah mendengar bisa meminjam	berita itu uang	kemarin. dari Bank.	He heard the news yesterday. He can borrow the money from the bank.

Passive Sentences

Subject	Predicate	Agent	Adverb	Meaning
Berita itu Uang	sudah didengar bisa dipinjam	oleh Anwar olehnya	kemarin. dari Bank.	The news was heard by him yesterday. Money can be borrowed by him from the bank.

Passive sentences are also called object-focus sentences, because the object is the focus of the attention.
They are commonly used especially in newspaper headlines.

Passive Sentences For The First and Second Person

Some grammarians argue that the rules for transforming active sentences into passive sentences are not applicable for the first (saya, aku) or second person (kamu, kau, engkau, Anda).
It only applies if the subject or doer is the third person.

 

Active Sentences	Passive Sentences(1)	Passive Sentences(2)
Saya menulis buku itu. Aku menulis buku itu. I wrote the book. Kamu menerima bungkusan itu kemarin. Kau menerima bungkusan itu.	Buku itu ditulis oleh saya. Buku itu ditulis oleh aku. The book was written by me. Bungkusan itu diterima olehmu (oleh kamu) kemarin. Bungkusan itu diterima oleh engkau kemarin.(never said this way)	Buku itu saya tulis. Buku itu kutulis. The book was written by me. Bungkusan itu kamu terima kemarin. Bungkusan itu kauterima kemarin.

When the first and the second pronoun happen to be aku (I) and engkau, kau (you), the form ‘ku’ and ‘kau’ is used and is joined together with the verbs.

Non-agentive Passive Sentences

Newspaper headlines are full of non-agentive passive sentences where doers are omitted because they are understood or not important.

Tiga pejabat baru dilantik. Dua polisi ditindak. Supaya mudah dibaca, tulislah besar-besar.

Three new officers were appointed. Two policemen were disciplined. To make it easy for people to read, please write in big letters.

Passive Sentences With Prefix ter-

The prefix ter- is also used to express the passive voice but the prefix ter- implies that the action is accidentally done.

Penumpang itu dilempar ke luar. Penumpang itu terlempar ke laut. Kaki orang itu diinjak oleh Ahmad. Kaki orang itu terinjak oleh Ahmad. Rumahnya dibakar tadi malam. Rumahnya terbakar tadi malam.

The passenger was thrown outside. The passenger was accidentally thrown outside. The man’s foot was trampled on by Ahmad. The man’s foot was accidentally trampled on by Ahmad. The house was burned down last night. The house was burned down by accident last night.

Passive Sentences With Affix ke-an

The affix ke-an has a passive tone also.

Saya kedinginan karena AC. Mereka kehujanan kemarin. Soal itu ketahuan oleh orangtuanya. Saya kehabisan uang. Tadi malam saya kecurian dompet.

I suffered from the cold because of the air conditioner. They were caught in the rain(yesterday). The matter was found out by his parents. I ran out of money. Last night my wallet was stolen.

Passive Sentences With The Word ‘Kena‘

Saya ditipu oleh orang itu. Uangnya dicuri. Kami didenda polisi. Anakitu dihukum bapaknya.

Saya kena tipu orang itu. Uangnya kena curi. Kami kena denda polisi. Anak itu kena hukum bapaknya.

I was cheated by that person. His money was stolen. We were fined by the police. That boy was punished by his father.

*) SPOC: Subject – Predicate – Object – Complement
    SPOA: Subject – Predicate – Object – Adverb