The passive past participle -it- presents an affected participant in relation to a completed action or its result. Despite the traditional label “past participle,” -it- does not by itself mean “before now,” and in standard Esperanto it does not always place the action before the tense of esti.
Completion from the Object's Perspective
Passive participles describe the participant that would be the object of the corresponding active clause. Their contrast concerns the stage of the passive action.
In the full six-part system, active -ant-/-int-/-ont- describes the subject during, after, or before its action, while passive -at-/-it-/-ot- describes the object in those same three phases. This page concentrates on the passive “after” form -it-.
| Form | View of the passive action | Example |
|---|---|---|
| -at- | ongoing or recurring | la riparata biciklo — the bicycle being repaired |
| -it- | completed or resulting state | la riparita biciklo — the repaired bicycle |
| -ot- | not yet begun | la riparota biciklo — the bicycle to be repaired |
La riparita biciklo denove funkcias perfekte.
The repaired bicycle works perfectly again.
Ĉu la dokumentoj jam estas subskribitaj?
Have the documents already been signed?
In both examples, attention falls on the affected thing after completion. The person who repaired or signed may be irrelevant. If named, the agent normally follows de: la dokumentoj subskribitaj de la direktoro.
Voice must be kept separate from time. La mekanikisto riparinta la biciklon describes the doer who completed the repair; la biciklo riparita de la mekanikisto describes the object affected by it.
La teknikisto riparinta la servilon foriris antaŭ unu horo.
The technician who repaired the server left an hour ago.
La servilo riparita de la teknikisto nun funkcias stabile.
The server repaired by the technician now runs reliably.
Building -IT- Forms
Attach -it- to the verb root, then add the regular part-of-speech ending.
| Ending | Form from inviti | Function |
|---|---|---|
| -a | invitita | adjective: invited |
| -e | invitite | adverb: having been invited |
| -o | invitito | noun: an invited person |
The nominal form invitito transparently means a person who has been invited. As with other nominal participles, a fuller phrase such as invitita gasto may be clearer when the person's particular role matters more than the general affected-participant label.
Adjectival -ITA
An adjectival -ita form agrees with the noun it describes and can keep complements of its verb.
Mi ne ricevis la mesaĝojn senditajn post noktomezo.
I did not receive the messages sent after midnight.
La plano aprobita de la komisiono ekvalidos en Januaro.
The plan approved by the committee will take effect in January.
In the first example, senditajn is plural and accusative with mesaĝojn. In the second, the participle keeps the agent phrase de la komisiono. Long participial modifiers generally follow the noun in contemporary prose because that order is easier to process.
An -ita adjective can describe a state that persists after the action:
Bonvolu lasi la pordon fermita dum la kunveno.
Please keep the door closed during the meeting.
Here the relevant result is the door's closed condition, not the past moment of closing. Some -ita forms become strongly lexicalized: okupita “busy/occupied” and edukita “educated/well-mannered” may function much like ordinary adjectives. By contrast, laca “tired” is not a participle at all. Context determines how vividly the underlying action is felt.
Adverbial -ITE
An adverbial passive participle presents the main-clause subject as having undergone a completed action. Its understood subject must be the subject of the main clause.
Invitite al la konferenco, ŝi tuj rezervis trajnbileton.
Having been invited to the conference, she immediately booked a train ticket.
Surprizite de la novaĵo, ni dum momento ne sciis, kion diri.
Surprised by the news, for a moment we did not know what to say.
The construction is compact and especially common in edited prose. Everyday speech often uses a full clause: Kiam ŝi estis invitita... or Ĉar la novaĵo surprizis nin.... A dangling -ite clause is just as wrong as a dangling active participle: the person affected must be the subject of the main clause.
Nominal -ITO
The nominal form normally names a person who has undergone the action: arestito “arrestee/detainee,” dungito “employee,” elektito “person chosen/elected.” It behaves as a regular noun.
La arestito petis paroli kun advokato.
The detainee asked to speak with a lawyer.
La kompanio ofertas sanasekuron al ĉiuj dungitoj.
The company offers health insurance to all employees.
These words may become stable social or institutional labels. A dungito is an employee throughout the employment relationship, not merely at the instant after being hired. Do not add -ul- mechanically; arestito and dungito are already person nouns.
-IT- with ESTI: Tense and Completion
The tense of esti establishes the reference time. -It- says that the passive action is considered complete at that time or that its result holds then.
| Form | Typical interpretation |
|---|---|
| estas finita | is complete now |
| estis finita | was completed or in the completed state then |
| estos finita | will be completed/in the completed state then |
La laboro estas finita. Ni povas iri hejmen.
The work is finished. We can go home.
La ponto estis konstruita en 2019 kaj malfermita la sekvan printempon.
The bridge was built in 2019 and opened the following spring.
La raporto estos finita antaŭ la kunveno morgaŭ.
The report will be finished before tomorrow's meeting.
The second example reveals an important difference between active -int- and passive -it-. Active -int- normally places the subject's completed action before the reference point: la inĝeniero estis konstruinta la ponton means the engineer had built it by then. Passive la ponto estis konstruita en 2019 can report the completed event itself in 2019; -it- does not force the construction to have occurred before some separate past state.
This is why standard Esperanto says:
Marie Curie estis naskita en Varsovio en 1867.
Marie Curie was born in Warsaw in 1867.
The birth was completed as an event at that historical time. Estis naskata would instead place the person inside the ongoing birth process, a very different and rarely intended claim.
The Standard -AT- versus -IT- Contrast
Standard Esperanto uses -at- for duration or repetition and -it- for completion or result.
Kiam la kuriero alvenis, la pakaĵo estis preparata.
When the courier arrived, the parcel was being prepared.
Kiam la kuriero alvenis, la pakaĵo estis preparita.
When the courier arrived, the parcel was ready/prepared.
With preparata, the preparation is underway at arrival. With preparita, it is complete by then or is reported as a completed event. Useful diagnostic expressions expose the viewpoint:
- iom post iom, plu kaj plu, ree kaj ree fit an unfolding or repeated -at- action;
- jam, tute, definitive, or a result available for use fit -it-.
Bounded repetition can be treated as a set of completed events:
La sama demando estis ripetata dum la tuta intervjuo.
The same question was repeated throughout the interview.
La sama demando estis ripetita tri fojojn.
The same question was repeated three times.
The first views recurrence as an ongoing pattern; the second counts three completed repetitions. This is not a rigid ban on either suffix but a meaningful choice of aspect.
An alternative theory known as atismo has historically treated -at- mainly as simultaneous and -it- mainly as earlier. It is an attested reform position, not the standard production norm. The Fundamento's examples and official decisions of the Akademio uphold the process-versus-completion system commonly called itismo. Learners should therefore write estis naskita, estis mortigita, and estis trafita for completed events, even when the event occurs at the time expressed by estis. The dedicated guide to -at- versus -it- treats further borderline cases.
Transitivity and Agents
Because -it- is passive, it normally attaches to a verb used with an object. From Oni ŝlosis la pordon comes la ŝlosita pordo. Purely intransitive okazi, dormi, and veni do not yield passive okazita, dormita, or venita for “having happened/slept/come.” Use simple active forms or active -int-: la okazinta eraro, la endormiĝinta infano, la veninta gasto.
La alveninta gasto trovis la pordon jam ŝlosita.
The guest who had arrived found the door already locked.
This sentence neatly contrasts active alveninta with passive-resultative ŝlosita.
The agent, when relevant, normally uses de:
La decido estis aprobita de ĉiuj dek du membroj.
The decision was approved by all twelve members.
Fare de is available when de would be ambiguous or in some administrative styles, but it should not replace neutral de automatically. See agents with de.
Avoiding Overbuilt Passive Chains
Esperanto permits a large theoretical grid—estis estinta aprobita, estos estinta verkita, and more—but regular morphology does not make every possible chain good prose. A simple verb, an adverb, or a subordinate clause usually communicates more quickly.
La komitato jam aprobis la proponon.
The committee has already approved the proposal.
This active sentence is generally lighter than La propono estas jam estinta aprobita de la komitato. Use esti + -ita when the passive viewpoint or resulting state matters, not to imitate every English perfect passive mechanically.
Common Mistakes
Using active -INT- for the affected object
❌ Mi legis la raporton verkintan de la komisiono.
Incorrect — this says the report did the writing.
✅ Mi legis la raporton verkitan de la komisiono.
I read the report written by the committee.
Using -IT- for an action still underway
❌ Kiam mi eniris, la ĉambro estis pentrita kaj la laboristoj ankoraŭ laboris.
Incorrect for the intended process — <em>pentrita</em> presents the painting as complete.
✅ Kiam mi eniris, la ĉambro estis pentrata kaj la laboristoj ankoraŭ laboris.
When I entered, the room was being painted and the workers were still working.
Applying the nonstandard simultaneity rule
❌ Li estis naskata en 2001.
Nonstandard for a biographical birth date; it means the birth process was underway.
✅ Li estis naskita en 2001.
He was born in 2001.
Forming a passive from an intransitive verb
❌ La gasto estas venita.
Incorrect for ‘the guest has come’ — ordinary <em>veni</em> has no passive object.
✅ La gasto estas veninta.
The guest has come.
Copying an English perfect passive too literally
❌ La biletoj estas jam estis aĉetitaj de ni.
Incorrect — two finite forms of <em>esti</em> cannot occupy one verb phrase.
✅ Ni jam aĉetis la biletojn.
We have already bought the tickets.
Key Takeaways
- -it- describes an affected participant after completion or in the resulting state.
- -ita, -ite, and -ito function as adjective, adverb, and person-denoting noun.
- In standard Esperanto, passive -it- marks completion, not automatically “earlier than the tense of esti.”
- Contrast process/repetition -at- with completion/result -it-, including estis naskita for “was born.”
- Use passive participles only where the verb has an object in that meaning, and avoid unnecessary chains of esti plus participles.
Related Topics
- The Six Participles: A System MapB1 — Map Esperanto's six participles by voice and relative time, then use them as adjectives, adverbs, nouns, and compound verb forms.
- Passive Present Participle -AT-B2 — Use -at- for an affected participant while an action is in progress or regularly repeated.
- Passive Future Participle -OT-C1 — Use -ot- for an object whose action is still ahead relative to the reference point, without confusing prospect with obligation.
- The Esti-PassiveB1 — Form the standard Esperanto passive with esti plus an agreeing passive participle, while keeping tense and event phase separate.
- Choosing -AT- versus -IT-B2 — Choose -at- for an unfolding or repeated passive action and -it- for completion or its result, independently of the reference tense.
- Agents with DeB2 — Use de to identify the semantic doer of a passive participle, while distinguishing agents from sources, instruments, and experiencers.