Passive Voice in Journalism and Administration | Arabic (Modern Standard) Grammar

Journalism and administration use the Arabic passive to keep an event or affected participant in focus, especially when the agent is unknown, obvious, legally irrelevant, or deliberately deferred. They also use active clauses and verbal nouns. Good formal contemporary MSA does not maximize one construction: it chooses the form that shows responsibility, chronology, and information structure most clearly.

The internal passive is often the most compact option. Form I نَشَرَ — يَنْشُرُ — نَشْرًا “publish,” root ن-ش-ر, has نُشِرَ — يُنْشَرُ. It changes the stem vowels rather than adding an auxiliary. Its passive subject controls gender and the normal VSO/SVO agreement pattern, while mood remains visible on an imperfect verb. The impersonal-passive page separately explains source-distancing formulas such as يقال إن.

Why formal prose chooses the passive

News writers commonly begin with what happened, then identify a source or actor later if relevant. Administrative writers foreground the application, decision, deadline, or procedure that the reader needs to track.

نشر البيان بعد انتهاء الاجتماع بساعتين.

nushira l-bayānu baʿda ntihāʾi l-ijtimāʿi bisāʿatayn.

The statement was published two hours after the meeting ended. (formal journalism; agent backgrounded)

ترسل الطلبات المكتملة إلى اللجنة المختصة كل خميس.

tursalu ṭ-ṭalabātu l-muktamilatu ʾilā l-lajnati l-mukhtaṣṣati kulla khamīs.

Completed applications are sent to the competent committee every Thursday. (formal procedure)

اعتقل مشتبهان قرب الميناء، ولم تعلن هويتاهما.

uʿtuqila mushtabahāni qurba l-mīnāʾi, wa-lam tuʿlan huwiyyatāhumā.

Two suspects were arrested near the port, and their identities were not announced. (formal journalism)

The verb-first اعتقل is singular before the dual مشتبهان. هويتاهما is dual but follows singular feminine لم تعلن in neutral verb-first order. A nonhuman plural such as الطلبات likewise triggers feminine-singular ترسل.

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The passive is strongest when it maintains the paragraph's topic. If a paragraph tracks a decision from proposal to publication, keeping القرار as passive subject can create a clearer thread than repeatedly changing grammatical subjects.

Active voice is equally formal—and often more accountable

When the actor is known and newsworthy, make it the subject. An active clause answers “who did this?” immediately and avoids a heavy agent phrase.

أعلنت الوزارة الخطة الجديدة في مؤتمر صحفي.

ʾaʿlanati l-wizāratu l-khuṭṭata l-jadīdata fī muʾtamarin ṣaḥafiyy.

The ministry announced the new plan at a press conference. (clear formal active)

راجعت لجنتان مستقلتان الحسابات ثم نشرتا ملاحظاتهما.

rājaʿat lajnatāni mustaqillatāni l-ḥisābāti thumma nasharatā mulāḥaẓātihimā.

Two independent committees reviewed the accounts and then published their observations. (formal active)

Writing رُوجِعَت الحسابات من قبل لجنتين مستقلتين is grammatical, but it delays an important agent and adds bulk. The passive may still be justified if الحسابات are the established topic. Register does not determine voice by itself; discourse purpose does.

Internal passive, جرى, and تم

Administrative MSA frequently competes among three designs:

Design	Example	Typical effect
Internal passive	اُعْتُمِدَتِ الْخُطَّةُ	Compact event; the plan is the passive subject
جَرَى + verbal noun	جَرَى اعْتِمَادُ الْخُطَّةِ	Formal procedural framing
تَمَّ + verbal noun	تَمَّ اعْتِمَادُ الْخُطَّةِ	Very common administrative completion formula

Form VIII اِعْتَمَدَ — يَعْتَمِدُ — اِعْتِمَادًا “approve; adopt,” root ع-م-د, has passive اُعْتُمِدَ — يُعْتَمَدُ. The direct passive is normally the shortest. جرى اعتماد is useful when the text conceptualizes approval as a procedure. تم اعتماد is widespread and grammatical in contemporary official prose, but repeated تم + maṣdar makes clauses abstract and can conceal whether تم means genuine completion or merely substitutes for a passive.

اعتمدت الخطة بعد إدخال تعديلات جوهرية.

uʿtumidati l-khuṭṭatu baʿda ʾidkhāli taʿdīlātin jawhariyya.

The plan was approved after substantial amendments were made. (compact internal passive)

جرى اعتماد الخطة في جلسة استثنائية للمجلس.

jarā ʿtimādu l-khuṭṭati fī jalsatin istithnāʾiyyatin lil-majlis.

Approval of the plan took place at an extraordinary council session. (formal procedural framing)

تم اعتماد الخطة، لكن تنفيذها لم يبدأ بعد.

tamma ʿtimādu l-khuṭṭati, lākinna tanfīdhahā lam yabdaʾ baʿd.

The plan was approved, but its implementation has not yet begun. (common administrative formula)

These are not perfect synonyms. تم foregrounds completion; جرى foregrounds occurrence or procedure; the internal passive simply presents the event. Choose the semantic contribution, not a prestige formula.

Nominalization can organize—or suffocate—a sentence

Verbal nouns help name procedures and connect them inside documents: تقديم الطلب, مراجعة الوثائق, إصدار القرار. They are useful headings and can compress repeated processes. Too many linked verbal nouns, however, hide participants and force readers to unpack a chain of abstract relations.

بعد مراجعة الوثائق، تصدر الإدارة القرار وترسله إلى مقدم الطلب.

baʿda murājaʿati l-wathāʾiqi, tuṣdiru l-ʾidāratu l-qarāra wa-tursiluhu ʾilā muqaddimi ṭ-ṭalab.

After reviewing the documents, the department issues the decision and sends it to the applicant. (readable formal procedure)

بعد مراجعة الوثائق، يصدر القرار ويرسل إلى مقدم الطلب خلال أسبوع.

baʿda murājaʿati l-wathāʾiqi, yuṣdaru l-qarāru wa-yursalu ʾilā muqaddimi ṭ-ṭalabi khilāla ʾusbūʿ.

After the documents are reviewed, the decision is issued and sent to the applicant within a week. (agentless formal procedure)

The active version identifies the department; the passive version works if the document has already established who performs the procedure. Neither voice is inherently clearer in isolation.

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Revise administrative prose by circling every verbal noun and every تم. Keep those that genuinely mean a process or completed result; turn the others into finite verbs so readers can see who acts and when.

Tense and mood still matter

Institutional register does not suspend Arabic verb grammar. لن governs subjunctive تُنْشَرَ, and لم governs jussive تُنْشَرْ. A future deadline cannot be expressed by swapping in an English tense mechanically.

لن تنشر النتائج قبل أن تكمل اللجنة مراجعتها.

lan tunshara n-natāʾiju qabla ʾan tukmila l-lajnatu murājaʿatahā.

The results will not be published before the committee completes its review. (subjunctive after lan and an)

لم تنشر النتائج في الموعد المعلن.

lam tunshari n-natāʾiju fī l-mawʿidi l-muʿlan.

The results were not published at the announced time. (jussive after lam)

Common Mistakes

Assuming formal writing must be passive

❌ أعلن القرار من قبل الوزارة في مؤتمرها.

Needlessly heavy when the ministry is important and known; the active is clearer.

✅ أعلنت الوزارة القرار في مؤتمرها الصحفي.

ʾaʿlanati l-wizāratu l-qarāra fī muʾtamarihā ṣ-ṣaḥafiyy.

The ministry announced the decision at its press conference.

Using completed تم for a future event

❌ تم نشر البيان غدا بعد الاجتماع.

Incorrect time framing—تم presents completion and cannot locate the publishing event tomorrow in this sentence.

✅ سينشر البيان غدا بعد الاجتماع.

sayunsharu l-bayānu ghadan baʿda l-ijtimāʿ.

The statement will be published tomorrow after the meeting.

Hiding an important responsible actor

❌ حذفت الفقرة من التقرير.

Ambiguous and evasive if responsibility for deleting the paragraph is central to the story.

✅ حذفت هيئة التحرير الفقرة من التقرير قبل النشر.

ḥadhafat hayʾatu t-taḥrīri l-fiqrata mina t-taqrīri qabla n-nashr.

The editorial board deleted the paragraph from the report before publication.

Giving a verb-first passive dual agreement

❌ اعتقلا مشتبهان قرب الميناء.

Incorrect in neutral VSO—the verb preceding an overt dual subject is singular: اعتقل.

✅ اعتقل مشتبهان قرب الميناء.

uʿtuqila mushtabahāni qurba l-mīnāʾ.

Two suspects were arrested near the port.

Ignoring mood in a deadline statement

❌ لن تنشر النتائج قبل الخميس.

lan tunsharu n-natāʾiju qabla l-khamīs

Incorrect reading—لن governs subjunctive تنشرَ, not indicative تنشرُ.

✅ لن تنشر النتائج هذا الأسبوع قبل الخميس.

lan tunshara n-natāʾiju hādhā l-ʾusbūʿa qabla l-khamīs.

The results will not be published this week before Thursday.

Key Takeaways

Use the passive to foreground an event or affected participant, not merely to sound official.
Use an active clause when a known actor is important for attribution or accountability.
Internal passive, جرى + verbal noun, and تم + verbal noun have different discourse effects.
Nominalization helps name procedures but becomes opaque when chains hide actors and chronology.
Formal register still requires correct passive agreement and governed mood.

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