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N4

Passive Form Basics

Build and understand the passive form for direct passive sentences and simple formal descriptions.

Form the passive for godan, ichidan, and irregular verbs.Understand who receives the action in a passive sentence.Recognize basic passive patterns in formal and neutral writing.
Guided study

How to form the passive

For godan verbs, change the final う-row sound to the あ-row and add れる. For ichidan verbs, replace る with られる. する becomes される, and 来る becomes 来られる. The passive shifts the focus to the person or thing receiving the action.

書く → 書かれる

write → be written

食べる → 食べられる

eat → be eaten

する → される

do → be done

Practice guides for this lesson

Use these hub pages to connect this lesson with related reading practice and grammar paths.