Active, Passive, or Generic Third Plural? | Farsi Grammar

Choose an explicit active when the actor is relevant, contrastive, or responsible: شرکت نتیجه را منتشر کرد “the company published the result.” Choose a passive when the affected participant or institutional process should organize the sentence: نتیجه منتشر شد “the result was published.” Choose a subjectless third-person plural active when unnamed people are understood and ordinary Persian rhythm matters: نتیجه را منتشر کردند “they published the result / the result was published.”

English uses the passive very freely and requires an overt subject in finite clauses. Persian is pro-drop and therefore has a third option: an active plural verb whose human subject remains unspoken. The three choices can describe the same event, but they distribute attention and responsibility differently.

The decision tree

Do readers need to know who acted, evaluate that actor, or assign responsibility? Use an explicit active subject.
Is the affected entity already the topic, while the actor is irrelevant or unknown? Use a passive.
Are unspecified staff, officials, neighbors, or people in general understood—especially in conversation? Use a null third-plural active.
Is the sentence a formal process description, scientific method, or official notice? A passive often gives the intended process-centered organization.
Would omitting the actor conceal responsibility that the context demands? Restore an explicit active, even if a passive is grammatical.
Is there no plausible human actor because the event is spontaneous? Use the appropriate intransitive/change predicate, not generic third plural.

Choice	Persian frame	Grammatical center	Typical discourse use
explicit active	کمیته درخواست را رد کرد	actor as subject	agency, contrast, accountability
passive	درخواست رد شد	affected subject	patient or process foregrounded
generic third plural	درخواست را رد کردند	unspoken human plural subject	actor backgrounded, especially in speech

Choose active when agency matters

An explicit active names the actor and keeps the affected participant as object. A specific object normally takes را. This is the clearest form for responsibility, intentional action, and contrasts between possible agents.

پیمانکار سقف مدرسه را پیش از شروع باران تعمیر کرد.

peymânkâr saqf-e madrese râ pish az shoru'-e bârân ta'mir kard.

The contractor repaired the school roof before the rain began. (formal-neutral; actor relevant)

هیئت داوری طرح دوم را انتخاب کرد، نه مدیر نمایشگاه.

hey'at-e dâvari tarh-e dovvom râ entekhâb kard, na modir-e namâyeshgâh.

The jury selected the second design, not the exhibition director. (formal; actor contrast)

واحد مالی پرداخت اشتباه را هنوز اصلاح نکرده است.

vâhed-e mâli pardâkht-e eshtebâh râ hanuz eslâh nakarde ast.

The finance unit has not yet corrected the mistaken payment. (formal; accountability)

A passive version of the third example—پرداخت اشتباه هنوز اصلاح نشده است—is grammatical, but it removes the unit responsible from subject position. That may be appropriate in a status update and evasive in a complaint. Grammar and rhetoric interact.

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When a sentence answers “Who caused this, and who must fix it?”, explicit active voice is usually the honest and efficient choice.

Choose passive when the affected participant organizes the message

The Persian passive promotes the affected participant to subject and builds the predicate with شدن. The actor can remain absent because the document, result, or procedure—not the doer—is the continuing topic.

صورت‌جلسه‌ی نهایی پس از بازبینی از سوی هر دو طرف امضا شد.

surat-jalse-ye nehâyi pas az bâzbini az su-ye har do taraf emzâ shod.

The final minutes were signed after both parties reviewed them. (formal-neutral)

نمونه‌ها تا زمان آزمایش در دمای ثابت نگهداری می‌شوند.

nemune-hâ tâ zamân-e âzmâyesh dar damâ-ye sâbet negahdâri mi-shavand.

The samples are kept at a constant temperature until testing. (academic procedure)

درخواست شما دریافت شده است و فردا بررسی می‌شود.

darkhâst-e shomâ daryâft shode ast va fardâ barrasi mi-shavad.

Your request has been received and will be reviewed tomorrow. (formal administrative)

Formal, academic, and procedural prose uses this organization naturally. Conversation also permits passives, but a long chain of them can sound administrative. The full form system belongs on Passive in Present and Past.

Choose generic third plural for unnamed people

A third-person plural verb can have no overt آن‌ها. Its missing subject is interpreted as relevant staff, officials, neighbors, or people generally. The construction remains active: a specific affected object keeps را, and plural agreement belongs to the unspoken human actor.

در این آزمایشگاه هنگام تحویل نمونه کارت شناسایی می‌خواهند.

dar in âzmâyeshgâh hengâm-e tahvil-e nemune kârt-e shenâsâyi mi-khâhand.

They ask for identification when a sample is submitted at this laboratory. (neutral; generic staff)

این خیابان را شب‌ها برای نظافت می‌بندند.

in khiyâbân râ shab-hâ barâ-ye nezâfat mi-bandand.

This street is closed at night for cleaning. (neutral; unnamed workers/authorities)

گفتند جواب آزمایش را عصر می‌فرستند.

goftand javâb-e âzmâyesh râ asr mi-ferestand.

They said they would send the test result this afternoon. (neutral conversation; contextually understood staff)

English may translate the last two with passives, but the Persian syntax is active. The test is simple: خیابان را and جواب آزمایش را are objects, while می‌بندند / می‌فرستند carry third-plural human agreement. Avoiding the Passive with Third-Plural Actives develops this construction.

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Look for را. A را-marked affected phrase plus a plural active verb is not a passive, even if natural English uses “is/was + participle.”

Minimal three-way contrast

مدیر مدرسه کلاس عصر را لغو کرد.

modir-e madrese kelâs-e asr râ laghv kard.

The school principal canceled the afternoon class. (active; decision-maker foregrounded)

کلاس عصر به‌دلیل برف لغو شد.

kelâs-e asr be-dalil-e barf laghv shod.

The afternoon class was canceled because of snow. (passive-like; event status foregrounded)

کلاس عصر را به‌دلیل برف لغو کردند.

kelâs-e asr râ be-dalil-e barf laghv kardand.

They canceled the afternoon class because of snow. (active third plural; decision-makers backgrounded)

The event is essentially the same. The active names or implies decision-makers; the passive turns کلاس عصر into the subject and status topic. This is information structure, not just stylistic substitution.

Two ambiguous contexts resolved

گفتند

گفتند can refer to a known plural group or invoke diffuse report. If the source matters, name it. If the report itself matters, a passive can sound more formal.

پزشکان بخش گفتند بیمار فردا مرخص می‌شود.

pezeshkân-e bakhsh goftand bimâr fardâ morakhkhas mi-shavad.

The ward doctors said the patient would be discharged tomorrow. (referential active source)

گفته می‌شود جاده تا فردا بسته می‌ماند.

gofte mi-shavad jâde tâ fardâ baste mi-mânad.

It is said that the road will remain closed until tomorrow. (formal, diffuse report)

در را بستند

Without context, در را بستند may mean a known group closed the door or unspecified people did. نگهبان‌ها در را بستند identifies the actor; در بسته شد shifts attention to the door and event.

وقتی آخرین مهمان رفت، نگهبان‌ها در اصلی را بستند.

vaqti âkharin mehmân raft, negahbân-hâ dar-e asli râ bastand.

When the last guest left, the guards closed the main door. (explicit active)

Register, naturalness, and responsibility

Standard third plural می‌کنند / کردند occurs in both speech and writing. In (informal, regional: Tehran) it becomes می‌کنن / کردن; those reductions belong only in a consistently colloquial passage. Formal reports often prefer a passive to maintain a patient-centered chain. Conversation frequently prefers generic third plural because it sounds lighter and keeps familiar active predicate structure.

Neither backgrounding strategy is neutral when accountability is disputed. “The data were deleted” and “they deleted the data” both avoid naming the responsible party. A clear report should say واحد فنی داده‌ها را حذف کرد if that fact is known and relevant.

Spontaneous changes form a separate decision. پنجره در طوفان شکست “the window broke in the storm” does not require unnamed people. Generic شکستند would create a human plural actor, and a passive would suggest an externally caused event. The choice between causative and change-of-state predicates is summarized on کردن or شدن?.

Common Mistakes

1. Mixing active object marking with a passive verb

❌ این فرم را بررسی می‌شود.

Incorrect hybrid — را marks an active object, while می‌شود tries to make it a passive subject.

✅ این فرم فردا بررسی می‌شود.

in form fardâ barrasi mi-shavad.

This form will be reviewed tomorrow. (formal-neutral passive)

2. Omitting را from a specific object in generic third plural

❌ این پرونده‌ها هفته‌ی بعد تحویل می‌گیرند.

Incorrect for the active third-plural reading — این پرونده‌ها is a specific object and needs را.

✅ این پرونده‌ها را هفته‌ی بعد در بایگانی تحویل می‌گیرند.

in parvande-hâ râ hafte-ye ba'd dar bâygâni tahvil mi-girand.

These files will be received at the archives next week. (generic third plural)

3. Using توسط to supply the subject of an active plural

⚠️ گزارش را توسط دبیرخانه فرستادند.

gozâresh râ tavassot-e dabir-khâne ferestâdand.

Possible only if توسط دبیرخانه means ‘through the secretariat’; it does not make دبیرخانه the grammatical subject of فرستادند.

✅ دبیرخانه‌ی مرکزی گزارش را برای همه‌ی شعبه‌ها فرستاد.

dabir-khâne-ye markazi gozâresh râ barâ-ye hame-ye sho'be-hâ ferestâd.

The central secretariat sent the report to all branches. (explicit active)

4. Using generic plural for a nonhuman spontaneous event

❌ دیشب درخت را افتادند.

Incorrect — no human plural actor is intended, and افتادن is intransitive.

✅ دیشب درخت کهنسال در طوفان افتاد.

dishab derakht-e kohansâl dar tufân oftâd.

The old tree fell in the storm last night. (intransitive change)

Key Takeaways

Actor important, contrastive, or accountable: explicit active.
Affected participant or procedure is the continuing topic: passive.
Unnamed but human staff/people are understood, especially in conversation: null third-plural active.
را remains on a specific object in the generic active; it disappears when that participant becomes a passive subject.
Formal prose often favors passive organization; ordinary speech often favors third plural.
No plausible human actor: choose an intransitive change predicate rather than inventing a generic plural.

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