How to Avoid Impossible Passive Imperatives | Arabic (Modern Standard) Grammar

Arabic has active and passive finite verbs, but it has no ordinary passive imperative paradigm. A command such as راجعوا العقد “review the contract” addresses the people expected to act. Once that addressee is removed from the role of agent, the defining logic of the imperative disappears. Formal MSA therefore changes the construction: it can retain an active command, introduce دع, use يجب أن with a passive subjunctive, or choose an impersonal institutional formula.

English obscures this problem because “Have the contract reviewed” and “Let the contract be reviewed” look like commands while keeping the reviewer in the background. Translating either phrase word for word does not create a new Arabic verb form. The choice among the Arabic alternatives depends on who controls the action and how official the instruction should sound.

Why there is no passive imperative cell

The positive imperative is derived from a second-person active jussive. For Form III رَاجَعَ / يُرَاجِعُ “review,” root ر-ج-ع, compare the following minimal system:

Environment	Form	Function
active perfect	رَاجَعَ	he reviewed
active imperfect	يُرَاجِعُ	he reviews / will review
active command, m.sg.	رَاجِعْ	review!
passive perfect	رُوجِعَ	it was reviewed
passive imperfect	يُرَاجَعُ	it is / will be reviewed
after يجب أن	يُرَاجَعَ	that it be reviewed

There is no corresponding form meaning “be reviewed!” The passive imperfect remains available inside another construction, and أن puts it in the subjunctive: يجب أن يُراجَعَ.

راجع العقد مع المستشار قبل أن توقعه

rājiʿi l-ʿaqda maʿa l-mustashāri qabla ʾan tuwaqqiʿah

Review the contract with the adviser before you sign it. (One male addressee; direct active instruction.)

يجب أن يراجع العقد مستشار مستقل قبل التوقيع

yajibu ʾan yurājiʿa l-ʿaqda mustashārun mustaqillun qabla t-tawqīʿ

An independent adviser must review the contract before signature. (Formal; active VSO with an explicit agent.)

Arabic also has a marked third-person directive with command لِـ: لِيُراجَعْ “let it be reviewed.” Here لِـ governs a passive imperfect in the jussive; it does not create a passive imperative cell. This pattern is useful in elevated, legislative, or deliberative prose, but يجب أن and impersonal institutional formulas are generally more neutral ways to state routine requirements.

ليراجع العقد قبل التوقيع

liyurājaʿi l-ʿaqdu qabla t-tawqīʿ

Let the contract be reviewed before signature. (Elevated formal directive; command لِـ plus passive jussive.)

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A passive English translation is not evidence for a passive Arabic imperative. First ask whether Arabic should name an agent, assign responsibility to the addressee, or deliberately suppress the agent.

Keep the command active when the addressee controls the task

Often English “have/get something done” merely means “arrange for this result.” Arabic normally addresses the responsible person with an active imperative and names the object or result. The addressee need not perform every physical step personally.

أرسلوا الأجهزة إلى القسم الفني لفحصها اليوم

ʾarsilū l-ʾajhizata ʾilā l-qismi l-fanniyyi lifaḥṣihā l-yawm

Have the equipment sent to the technical department for inspection today. (Formal instruction to a male or mixed group.)

أرسلي النسخة إلى المترجمة قبل الظهر

ʾarsilī n-nuskhata ʾilā l-mutarjimati qabla ẓ-ẓuhr

Have the copy sent to the translator before noon. (One female addressee.)

Form IV أَرْسَلَ / يُرْسِلُ “send,” root ر-س-ل, has hamzat al-qaṭʿ in the imperative أَرْسِلْ. Its dual أرسلا, masculine/mixed plural أرسلوا, and feminine plural أرسلنَ preserve addressee agreement. These remain active commands even when English prefers “have … sent.”

Use دع when the instruction is “let/allow”

Active دَعْ is the masculine-singular imperative of Form I وَدَعَ / يَدَعُ in this surviving sense “leave, let,” root و-د-ع. In contemporary formal usage it is especially common with an object plus an active imperfect: دعهم يقررون “let them decide.” The following imperfect presents the action being allowed or deliberately left to another participant.

دع الخبراء يراجعون البيانات قبل نشرها

daʿi l-khubarāʾa yurājiʿūna l-bayānāti qabla nashrihā

Let the experts review the data before it is published. (Formal; one male addressee.)

دعي اللجنة تتخذ قرارها بعد سماع الطرفين

daʿī l-lajnata tattakhidhu qarārahā baʿda samāʿi ṭ-ṭarafayn

Let the committee make its decision after hearing both parties. (One female addressee.)

دعوا النظام يعالج الطلبات تلقائيا

daʿū n-niẓāma yuʿāliju ṭ-ṭalabāti tilqāʾiyyan

Let the system process the applications automatically. (A male or mixed group.)

In these contemporary examples, the clause after the object is indicative: plural يراجعون retains its nūn, and دع itself does not impose subjunctive mood. A formally possible jussive can arise under a different analysis as the result of a preceding request, especially in inherited constructions such as دعني أذهبْ; that is not a passive and should not be mixed mechanically with the ordinary indicative pattern shown here.

Do not use دع merely to hide an inconvenient agent. It adds a real meaning: someone is being told not to interfere, or to permit a process to proceed. For an impersonal requirement, يجب أن is usually better.

Use يجب أن + passive subjunctive for a required result

Invariant يجب is an imperfect verb meaning “it is necessary / must.” When أن introduces a finite passive verb, that verb is subjunctive. The construction makes the affected entity central and leaves the performer unexpressed.

يجب أن يراجع العقد قبل نهاية الأسبوع

yajibu ʾan yurājaʿa l-ʿaqdu qabla nihāyati l-ʾusbūʿ

The contract must be reviewed before the end of the week. (Formal; agent suppressed.)

يجب أن ترسل النسختان في ظرفين منفصلين

yajibu ʾan tursala n-nuskhatāni fī ẓarfayni munfaṣilayn

The two copies must be sent in separate envelopes. (Formal; singular-feminine preverbal passive with a feminine dual subject.)

يجب أن تحدث الأنظمة قبل إعادة تشغيلها

yajibu ʾan tuḥaddatha l-ʾanẓimatu qabla ʾiʿādati tashghīlihā

The systems must be updated before they are restarted. (Formal; a non-human plural takes feminine-singular agreement.)

In the last example, Form II passive تُحَدَّثَ comes from حَدَّثَ / يُحَدِّثُ “update,” root ح-د-ث. أن changes indicative تُحَدَّثُ to subjunctive تُحَدَّثَ. The non-human plural الأنظمة triggers feminine-singular agreement, not a plural passive form.

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With يجب أن, listen for the final mood vowel when it is pronounced in careful speech: indicative يُراجَعُ becomes subjunctive يُراجَعَ. Unvocalized spelling hides the contrast, but the syntax does not erase it.

Institutional formulas suppress both speaker and agent

Notices and administrative correspondence often use يُرجى “it is requested,” followed by a maṣdar or أن clause. Signs use nominal expressions such as مطلوب “required.” These are (formal) and impersonal; they are not conversational substitutes for every command.

يرجى إرفاق نسخة من الهوية مع الطلب

yurjā ʾirfāqu nuskhatin mina l-huwiyyati maʿa ṭ-ṭalab

Please attach a copy of the identity document to the application. (Formal institutional wording.)

مطلوب تسليم جميع الأجهزة قبل مغادرة المبنى

maṭlūbun taslīmu jamīʿi l-ʾajhizati qabla mughādarati l-mabnā

All devices must be handed in before leaving the building. (Formal notice.)

The legal-directives page compares these with يُمنع and على + responsible party + maṣdar in binding rules.

Common Mistakes

Inventing a passive command by changing the vowels

❌ روجع العقد قبل التوقيع

Incorrect as a command—روجع is the passive perfect ‘was reviewed,’ not a passive imperative.

✅ يجب أن يراجع العقد قبل التوقيع

yajibu ʾan yurājaʿa l-ʿaqdu qabla t-tawqīʿ

The contract must be reviewed before signature.

Leaving the verb indicative after أن

❌ يجب أن يراجع العقد

Incorrect in fully vocalized grammar if يراجع is read yurājaʿu; أن requires subjunctive yurājaʿa.

✅ يجب أن يراجع العقد خبير مستقل

yajibu ʾan yurājiʿa l-ʿaqda khabīrun mustaqill

An independent expert must review the contract. (Active subjunctive.)

Losing feminine or dual passive agreement

❌ يجب أن يرسل النسختان اليوم

Incorrect—the feminine dual subject النسختان requires ترسل in the passive clause.

✅ يجب أن ترسل النسختان اليوم

yajibu ʾan tursala n-nuskhatāni l-yawm

The two copies must be sent today.

Using دع as a neutral impersonal requirement

❌ دع التقرير يراجع كل شهر

Misleading for a standing requirement—دع implies allowing or leaving the process to proceed.

✅ يجب أن يراجع التقرير كل شهر

yajibu ʾan yurājaʿa t-taqrīru kulla shahr

The report must be reviewed every month.

Copying English “get” into an Arabic passive formula

❌ احصل على الأجهزة مرسلة اليوم

Incorrect calque of English ‘get the devices sent’; Arabic normally uses an active command here.

✅ أرسل الأجهزة إلى المختبر اليوم

ʾarsili l-ʾajhizata ʾilā l-mukhtabari l-yawm

Have the devices sent to the laboratory today. (One male addressee.)

Key Takeaways

Arabic has passive perfect and imperfect stems, but no normal passive imperative.
Keep the command active when the addressee is responsible for arranging the result.
دع + object + active imperfect means “let/allow”; it is not a neutral passive.
يجب أن + passive subjunctive presents a required result while suppressing the agent.
يُرجى + maṣdar and nominal formulas belong especially to formal institutional language.

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