Expressing the Passive Agent with توسط

Persian passives normally omit the actor, but formal prose can restore it with توسط: طرح توسط شهرداری تصویب شد “the plan was approved by the municipality.” The phrase is grammatical and useful when both the affected entity and the actor must be named, especially in administrative, academic, technical, and news writing.

It is not the default conversational equivalent of every English by. When the actor is the most informative participant, Persian usually makes that actor the subject of an active clause.

Form and position

توسط is followed by a noun phrase linked through pronounced ezafe: توسطِ مدیر، توسطِ یک شرکت، توسطِ پژوهشگران دانشگاه. The ezafe after the final consonant is not written in ordinary Persian, but it appears in spokenForm and romanization.

Function	Pattern	Register
affected subject	مقاله ... ارزیابی شد	neutral/formal passive organization
expressed agent	توسط دو داور مستقل	formal, academic, administrative
full clause	مقاله توسط دو داور مستقل ارزیابی شد	formal written standard

این مقاله توسط دو داور مستقل ارزیابی شده است.

in maqâle tavassot-e do dâvar-e mostaqel arzyâbi shode ast.

This article has been evaluated by two independent reviewers. (academic; expressed human agents)

سامانه‌ی تازه توسط یک شرکت داخلی طراحی شد.

sâmâne-ye tâze tavassot-e yek sherkat-e dâkheli tarrâhi shod.

The new system was designed by a domestic company. (formal technical register; institutional agent)

The usual position is between the passive subject and the predicate, though Persian word order can move it for contrast. توسط itself does not make the following noun an object, so the agent phrase never receives را.

For basic passive formation, see Passive with شدن: First Pattern.

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Pronounce the hidden ezafe: توسطِ شهرداری is tavassot-e shahrdâri. The written absence of a vowel does not turn the two words into an unlinked sequence.

What counts as an agent

A prototypical passive agent intentionally performs or controls the event. People, committees, companies, ministries, and software systems construed as responsible operators fit naturally in formal توسط phrases.

بودجه‌ی پیشنهادی توسط کمیته‌ی مالی رد شد.

budje-ye pishnehâdi tavassot-e komite-ye mâli rad shod.

The proposed budget was rejected by the finance committee. (formal administrative register)

خطاهای تکراری توسط نرم‌افزار شناسایی می‌شوند.

khatâ-hâ-ye tekrâri tavassot-e narm-afzâr shenâsâyi mi-shavand.

Repeated errors are identified by the software. (formal technical register; nonhuman operational agent)

Pure causes and instruments require more specific phrases. بر اثر introduces a cause, while با or به‌وسیله‌ی can introduce a means or instrument. A storm does not become an intentional passive agent merely because English says by the storm.

چند درخت بر اثر طوفان ریشه‌کن شد.

chand derakht bar asar-e tufân rishe-kan shod.

Several trees were uprooted in the storm. (formal-neutral; cause, not passive agent)

نمونه‌ها با دستگاه جدید اندازه‌گیری شد.

nemune-hâ bâ dastgâh-e jadid andâze-giri shod.

The samples were measured with the new device. (academic/technical; instrument, inanimate collective agreement)

The boundary is conceptual rather than purely animate: software can be framed as an operational agent, while a human's hand may be framed as an instrument. Choose the relation the sentence actually means.

توسط versus از طرف

از طرف literally presents a source, side, or representative relation. With messages, invitations, payments, and official communications, it often means “from” or “on behalf of,” not necessarily “physically performed by.”

دعوت‌نامه از طرف دفتر رئیس دانشگاه فرستاده شد.

da'vat-nâme az taraf-e daftar-e ra'is-e dâneshgâh ferestâde shod.

The invitation was sent from the university president's office. (formal; institutional source)

این پیام از طرف مدیرعامل برای همه‌ی کارکنان خوانده شد.

in peyâm az taraf-e modir-âmel barâ-ye hame-ye kârkonân khânde shod.

This message was read to all employees on behalf of the chief executive. (formal; represented source, not necessarily the reader)

Replacing از طرف with توسط in the second sentence would identify the chief executive as the reader. The phrases overlap in some institutional contexts, but they are not synonyms.

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Ask “who performed the action?” for توسط, and “whose message, authority, or representation is this?” for از طرف. That contrast prevents many bureaucratic mistranslations.

An expressed agent is often new or contrastive information. Persian can usually foreground it more directly as an active subject, avoiding both شدن and توسط.

✅ این نمایشگاه توسط یک گروه دانشجویی برگزار شده است.

in namâyeshgâh tavassot-e yek goruh-e dâneshju-yi bar-gozâr shode ast.

This exhibition has been organized by a student group. (formal; exhibition-centered)

✅ یک گروه دانشجویی این نمایشگاه را برگزار کرده است.

yek goruh-e dâneshju-yi in namâyeshgâh râ bar-gozâr karde ast.

A student group has organized this exhibition. (neutral standard; organizer-centered)

Both sentences are grammatical. The passive answers “What has happened to the exhibition?”; the active answers “Who organized it?” In conversation, the active is usually lighter when the group matters.

— این پوستر رو کی طراحی کرده؟ — خواهرم طراحی‌اش کرده.

— in poster ro ki tarrâhi karde? — khâhar-am tarrâhi-ash karde.

— Who designed this poster? — My sister did. (informal, regional: Tehran; active answer preferred)

Replying توسط خواهرم طراحی شده would sound needlessly official in this exchange.

Bureaucratic overuse

Administrative prose sometimes piles up passive predicates and توسط phrases even when the actor could be a clear subject. The result is grammatical but heavy: فرم توسط متقاضی تکمیل و توسط مسئول بررسی می‌شود. A clearer revision divides responsibilities actively: متقاضی فرم را تکمیل می‌کند و مسئول آن را بررسی می‌کند.

This is a style issue, not a ban. Passive organization is justified when a document follows the life cycle of فرم, پرونده, or درخواست across several steps. It is poor when every clause restores a salient actor through توسط, defeating the reason for choosing passive voice.

Common Mistakes

1. Adding را to the passive agent

❌ گزارش توسط مدیر را امضا شد.

Incorrect — the توسط phrase is prepositional and cannot take object marker را.

✅ گزارش نهایی توسط مدیر بخش امضا شد.

gozâresh-e nahâyi tavassot-e modir-e bakhsh emzâ shod.

The final report was signed by the department manager.

2. Doubling the preposition

❌ مقاله از توسط استاد بازبینی شد.

Incorrect — توسط directly introduces its noun phrase; do not add از.

✅ مقاله توسط استاد راهنما بازبینی شد.

maqâle tavassot-e ostâd-e râhnamâ bâzbini shod.

The article was reviewed by the supervisor.

3. Treating a natural cause as an intentional agent

❌ سقف توسط باران شدید خراب شد.

as marked bureaucratic or translation-influenced usage with a broadly construed cause

Unnatural for the intended neutral cause relation — ordinary Iranian Persian uses بر اثر for heavy rain as a cause.

✅ سقف بر اثر باران شدید آسیب دید.

saqf bar asar-e bârân-e shadid âsib did.

The roof was damaged by the heavy rain.

4. Combining an overt active subject with توسط

❌ شهرداری توسط این پل را تعمیر کرد.

Incorrect — شهرداری is already the active subject and should not be followed by agent marker توسط.

✅ شهرداری این پل قدیمی را در بهار تعمیر کرد.

shahrdâri in pol-e qadimi râ dar bahâr ta'mir kard.

The municipality repaired this old bridge in spring.

Key Takeaways

توسط + noun phrase expresses a passive agent mainly in formal, academic, technical, and administrative registers.
Pronounce an unwritten ezafe after توسط; never add را to its noun phrase.
از طرف marks source or representation and need not identify the person who physically performed the action.
Use بر اثر for causes and با / به‌وسیله‌ی for instruments when those relations are intended.
If the agent is the most important new information, an active clause is usually clearer and more natural.

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