Hindi normally builds a verbal passive with an agreeing participial form of the lexical verb followed by जाना: लिखना → लिखा जाना “to be written,” बनाना → बनाया जाना “to be made.” The label “stem plus -ā जाना” is a useful first approximation, but the -आ element is really the masculine singular perfective participle. It changes to -ई or -ए when the promoted patient requires different agreement.
For the construction’s overall function, begin with passive voice with जाना. This page concentrates on building its lexical layer correctly.
The two-part passive core
Start with a transitive lexical verb, form its perfective participle, and add जाना. In a finite clause, जाना then carries habitual, progressive, perfective, future, or modal material. The lexical participle and the जाना layer normally agree with the passive subject.
| Lexical verb | Masculine singular | Feminine singular | Masculine plural | Feminine plural |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| लिखना “write” | लिखा जाना | लिखी जानी | लिखे जाने | लिखी जानी |
| खोलना “open” | खोला जाना | खोली जानी | खोले जाने | खोली जानी |
| भेजना “send” | भेजा जाना | भेजी जानी | भेजे जाने | भेजी जानी |
The table shows agreeing passive infinitives. The dictionary citation is masculine singular लिखा जाना, but the final infinitive also changes when the whole passive phrase agrees: लिखी जानी, लिखे जाने. In ordinary finite clauses, the following aspectual form makes the same agreement especially visible.
हर आवेदन ध्यान से पढ़ा जाता है।
har āvedan dhyān se paṛhā jātā hai.
Every application is read carefully.
हर शिकायत ध्यान से पढ़ी जाती है।
har śikāyat dhyān se paṛhī jātī hai.
Every complaint is read carefully.
सभी दस्तावेज़ ईमेल से भेजे जाते हैं।
sabhī dastāvez īmel se bheje jāte haiṃ.
All the documents are sent by email.
सभी रसीदें ग्राहक को भेजी जाती हैं।
sabhī rasīdeṃ grāhak ko bhejī jātī haiṃ.
All the receipts are sent to the customer.
Regular-looking and irregular participial bases
For many consonant-final verbs, the passive participle looks predictable: लिखना → लिखा, पढ़ना → पढ़ा, खोलना → खोला, भेजना → भेजा. Causative-looking verbs retain their full lexical base: बनाना → बनाया, सजाना → सजाया, बुलाना → बुलाया. Do not remove every occurrence of ना that happens to appear inside a stem.
Several extremely common verbs use the same forms already required in the simple perfective. These are not special passive irregularities; the passive inherits their perfective participles.
| Infinitive | Passive participle | Passive citation form |
|---|---|---|
| करना | किया | किया जाना |
| देना | दिया | दिया जाना |
| लेना | लिया | लिया जाना |
| पीना | पिया | पिया जाना |
| खाना | खाया | खाया जाना |
| कहना | कहा | कहा जाना |
यह काम दो चरणों में किया जाता है।
yah kām do caraṇoṃ meṃ kiyā jātā hai.
This work is done in two stages.
मीटिंग में चाय नहीं दी जाती है।
mīṭiṅg meṃ cāy nahīṃ dī jātī hai.
Tea is not served at the meeting.
इस दवा के साथ दूध नहीं पिया जाता।
is davā ke sāth dūdh nahīṃ piyā jātā.
Milk is not drunk with this medicine.
English uses one invariant past participle in is written / are written. Hindi exposes gender and number twice: लिखी जाती है, लिखे जाते हैं. That visible repetition is grammatical agreement, not redundant decoration.
What जाना contributes
Here जाना does not mean literal motion. It supplies the passive verbal frame and carries the clause’s aspect, tense, mood, and agreement. Compare habitual खोला जाता है “is opened,” progressive खोला जा रहा है “is being opened,” and perfective खोला गया “was opened.” The lexical participle stays before it.
मुख्य दरवाज़ा सुबह सात बजे खोला जाता है।
mukhya darvāzā subah sāt baje kholā jātā hai.
The main door is opened at seven in the morning.
मुख्य खिड़की अभी खोली जा रही है।
mukhya khiṛkī abhī kholī jā rahī hai.
The main window is being opened right now.
सारे कमरे कल साफ़ किए गए।
sāre kamre kal sāf kie gae.
All the rooms were cleaned yesterday.
The passive generally needs a transitive event with a patient that can become the grammatical subject. With ordinary intransitives, a personal passive such as “he was arrived” is impossible in both Hindi and English. Hindi does have marked impersonal patterns such as मुझसे चला नहीं जाता “I cannot manage to walk,” but those have their own syntax and meaning; they are covered on the impersonal passive page.
Negatives and questions keep the same core
Negation does not remove जाना. Put नहीं in the ordinary preverbal area; the exact position can vary with focus, but नहीं before the passive complex is the safest neutral pattern. Yes–no questions can add initial क्या, while content questions stay in their normal constituent position.
यह जानकारी बाहर साझा नहीं की जाती।
yah jānkārī bāhar sājhā nahīṃ kī jātī.
This information is not shared outside.
क्या यहाँ कार्ड स्वीकार किए जाते हैं?
kyā yahā̃ kārḍ svīkār kie jāte haiṃ?
Are cards accepted here?
ये तस्वीरें कहाँ दिखाई जाएँगी?
ye tasvīreṃ kahā̃ dikhāī jāẽgī?
Where will these pictures be shown?
Common Mistakes
Adding -आ mechanically to irregular verbs
❌ यह काम करा जाता है।
Incorrect for ‘This work is done’ — करना has the participle किया, not करा.
✅ यह काम किया जाता है।
yah kām kiyā jātā hai.
This work is done.
Leaving out जाना in a finite passive
❌ रिपोर्ट कल तैयार की।
Incorrect as an agentless passive — this reads as an incomplete active clause.
✅ रिपोर्ट कल तैयार की गई।
riporṭ kal taiyār kī gaī.
The report was prepared yesterday.
Keeping masculine agreement with a feminine patient
❌ चिट्ठी आज भेजा जाता है।
Incorrect — चिट्ठी is feminine singular.
✅ चिट्ठी आज भेजी जाती है।
ciṭṭhī āj bhejī jātī hai.
The letter is sent today.
Scrambling the passive layers
❌ यहाँ खाना बनाया है जाता।
Incorrect — the auxiliary cannot be inserted before the inflected passive carrier.
✅ यहाँ खाना बनाया जाता है।
yahā̃ khānā banāyā jātā hai.
Food is prepared here.
Using an infinitive as the finite predicate
❌ ये नियम हर दिन समझाया जाना।
Incorrect — the citation form cannot stand alone as this finite present clause.
✅ ये नियम हर दिन समझाए जाते हैं।
ye niyam har din samjhāe jāte haiṃ.
These rules are explained every day.
Key Takeaways
The productive passive core is an agreeing perfective participle plus जाना, not a mechanically invariant -आ form. Common irregular participles such as किया, दिया, लिया, पिया carry directly into the passive. Keep the lexical, passive, aspectual, and auxiliary layers distinct; that analysis predicts forms far beyond a single English translation.
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Start learning Hindi →Related Topics
- Passive voice with जानाB1 — Build Hindi passives from a perfective participle plus जाना, with the patient controlling agreement and the outer verb carrying tense, aspect, and mood.
- Passive agreementB1 — Identify the agreement controller in Hindi passives, including feminine and plural patients, को-marked patients, and expressed agents.
- Passive across aspect and tenseB2 — Combine the Hindi passive with habitual, progressive, perfective, future, subjunctive, and modal layers without copying English tense forms.
- Simple perfective formationA2 — Form the Hindi simple perfective, distinguish regular and irregular stems, and choose agreement from clause structure.
- Transitive and intransitive verbsA1 — Distinguish verbs with direct objects from one-participant verbs and predict their core agreement patterns in imperfective and perfective clauses.
- जाना as completion separation or passive vectorA2 — Distinguish bare-stem plus जाना compounds of completion and separation from participle plus जाना passive predicates.