The passive voice is used in Palestinian-Jordanian Levantine Arabic when the performer of the action is not mentioned. The passive voice can be used with past, present, and future tenses.
Table of Contents
- Passive Voice Using Forms V, VI, and VII
- Passive Voice Using Passive Participles
- Summary
- Level VI – Advanced II (C2)
Passive Voice Using Forms V, VI, and VII
In MSA, there are specific past and present verb forms used to express the passive voice. However, these patterns are rarely used outside of written and formal contexts.
Instead, in most Arabic dialects, including Palestinian-Jordanian Arabic, reflexive and passive forms V, VI, and VII are often used to express the passive voice.
In general, the passive voice of many past verbs of Form I follows Form VII, which prefixes Form I with اِنْــ (in-). The passive voice of many past verbs of Forms II and III follows Forms V and VI, respectively, which prefix Forms II and III with تْــ (t-).
| Active Voice | Passive Voice | ||||
| Form I | فـــعـــل fx‘xl | —> | Form VII | اِنْــفَــعَــل infa‘al | |
| Form II | فَـــعَّـــل fa‘‘al | —> | Form V | تْــفَــعَّـــل tfa‘‘al | |
| Form III | فَـــاعَـــل fā‘al | —> | Form VI | تْــفَــاعَــل tfā‘al | |
Here are some examples of the passive voice of past verbs from Form I, II, and III:
| I –> VII | قَـــطَـــع qaṭa‘ he cut | —> | اِنْـــقَـــطَـــع inqaṭa‘ it got cut | عِــــرِف ‘irif he knew | —> | اِنْــعَـــرَف in‘araf it got known |
| II –> V | جَــــرَّب jarrab he tried | —> | تْـــجَــــرَّب tjarrab it got tried | زَبَّـــــط zabbaṭ he fixed | —> | تْـــزَبَّـــط tzabbaṭ it got fixed |
| III –> VI | عَــــاقَــــب ‘āqab he punished | —> | تْـــعَــــاقَــــب t‘āqab he got punished | فَــــاجَــــأ fāja’ he surprised | —> | تْـــفَــــاجَــــأ tfāja’ he was surprised |
All passive forms are conjugated according to the gender and number of the subject.
The passive voice of the present verb is obtained directly from the present tense of Forms V, VI, and VII. The passive voice in the present tense often conveys a present continuous meaning—that is, ‘is being done’—rather than a simple present meaning, ‘is done.’
| .الِــكْــتَــاب اِنْــكَــتَــب li-ktāb inkatab The book was written. | .الِــكْــتَــاب بِــنْــكِــتِــب li-ktāb binkitib The book is being written. |
To express a passive action in the simple present tense, it is more common to use the passive participle, as will be discussed in the next section.
The performer of the action can be denoted by مِـن (min), if it needs to be explicitly mentioned. For example:
| .الِــكْــتَــاب اِنْــكَــتَــب مِــن مُــــؤَلِّــف مَـــشْـــهُـــوْر li-ktāb inkatab min mu’allif mash hūr The book was written by a famous author. |
| .اِلــسَّــيَّــارَة تْــجَــرَّبَــت مِـــن اِلــزّْبُـــوْن قَـــبْــل مَـــا يِــشْــتْــرِيْـهَــا is-sayyārah tjarrabat min iz-zbūn qab(i)l mā yisht(i)rīha The car was tested by the client before he purchased it. |
Passive Voice Using Passive Participles
Another way to express the passive voice in Palestinian-Jordanian Arabic is using passive participle forms, especially when referring to actions in the present tense.
As we have learned in Level V, Lesson 4, a passive participle is derived from the corresponding verb and describes the action performed or the object upon which the action is done.
The ten most common passive participle patterns are:
| I | II | III | IV | V |
| مَــفْــعُــوْل maf ‘ūl | مْـــفَــعَّـــل mfa‘‘al | مُــفَــاعَـــل mufā‘al | مُــفْــعَــل muf ‘al | مُــتَــفَــعَّــل mutafa‘‘al |
| VI | VII | VIII | IX | X |
| مُــتَــفَــاعَــل mutafā‘al | مُــنْــفَــعَــل munfa‘al | مُــفْــتَــعَــل mufta‘al | مِـــفْـــعَـــلّ mif ‘all | مُــسْــتَــفْــعَــل mustaf ‘al |
Consider the Form I verb كَـــسَـــر (kasar) ‘he broke.’ The passive participle is مَـــكْـــسُـــوْر (maksūr), meaning ‘broken.’
Here are some more examples in context:
| .الِــكْــتَــاب مَـــكْـــتُـــوْب فِـــي بْــرِيْــطَــانْــيَــا li-ktāb maktūb fi brīṭānya The book is written in Britain. |
| .اِلــسَّــيَّــارَة مْـــجَـــرَّبِـــة مِـــن اِلــزّْبُـــوْن is-sayyārah mjarrabeh min iz-zbūn The car is tested by the client. |
| .اِلْــمَــطْــعَــم مْــسَــكَّــر مِــن اِلْــبَــلَــدِيِّــة il-maṭ‘am msakkar min il-baladiyyeh The restaurant is closed by the municipality. |
Note that if the verb is preceded by a modal verb or is in the future tense, the present subjunctive is used. For example:
| .الِــكْــتَــاب مُــمْــكِــن يِــنْــكِــتِــب فِـــيْ بْــرِيْــطَــانْــيَــا li-ktāb mumkin yinkitib fi brīṭānya The book can be written in Britain. |
| .اِلــسَّــيَّــارَة لَازِم تِــتْــجَــرَّب مِـــن اِلــزّْبُـــوْن is-sayyārah lāzim titjarrab min iz-zbūn The car must be tested by the client. |
| .اِلْــمَــطْــعَــم رَح يِــتْــسَــكَّــر مِــن اِلْــبَــلَــدِيِّــة il-maṭ‘am raḥ yitsakkar min il-baladiyyeh The restaurant will be closed by the municipality. |
Summary
Here is a summary of when to use the two discussed methods to express the passive voice using a simple example. Note that the grayed-out text is rarely used in daily speech.
| . الِــكْــتَــاب ــــــــــــــــ li-ktāb _______ The book _______. | ||
| Form VII | Passive Participle | |
| was written | اِنْــكَــتَــب inkatab | † كَـــان مَـــكْـــتُـــوْب kān maktūb |
| is written | * بِــنْــكِــتِــب binkitib | مَـــكْـــتُـــوْب maktūb |
| will be written | رَح يِــنْــكِــتِــب raḥ yinkitib | رَح يْـــكُـــوْن مَـــكْـــتُـــوْب # raḥ ykūn maktūb |
| can be written | مُــمْــكِــن يِــنْــكِــتِــب mumkin yinkitib | مُــمْــكِــن يْـــكُـــوْن مَـــكْـــتُـــوْب mumkin ykūn maktūb |
† The meaning focuses more on the adjective rather than on the action itself.
* The meaning is closer to ‘it is being written.’
# The meaning can also be translated as ‘it will have been written.’
Other lessons in Level VI: