This is the single-shape reference for the passive（受身, うけみ）— the form that turns "someone does it to me" into "it gets done (to me)." The anchor is 書く→書かれる（かかれる, "gets written"）. A 五段 verb walks its final kana to the あ-row and adds れる; a 一段 verb adds られる; する becomes される; 来る becomes 来られる（こられる）. Two things need care: the -う verbs sneak in a わ (言う→言われる), and for 一段 verbs the passive is spelled identically to the potential and the honorific — three jobs, one string.
The core split: あ-row+れる vs +られる
A 五段 verb builds the passive on the あ-row (the same "mizenkei" base as the negative 書かない), then adds れる:
- 書く（ka-ku）→ 書かれる（ka-ka-reru）
- 読む（yo-mu）→ 読まれる（yo-ma-reru）
- 取る（to-ru）→ 取られる（to-ra-reru）
A 一段 verb just adds られる to its fixed stem:
- 食べる → 食べられる
- 見る → 見られる
発表のあと、先生にすごく褒められた。
happyō no ato, sensei ni sugoku homerareta
After my presentation, the teacher really praised me.
満員電車で足を踏まれた。
man'in-densha de ashi o fumareta
Someone stepped on my foot in the packed train.
この小説は世界中で読まれている。
kono shōsetsu wa sekaijū de yomarete iru
This novel is read all over the world.
The -う verbs insert わ
An honest trap: 五段 verbs that end in the kana う do not have a bare "あ" to walk onto — the あ-row of that column is わ. So 言う does not become ×言あれる; it becomes 言われる. This is the same わ you see in the negative (言わない) and causative (言わせる).
- 言う（i-u）→ 言われる（i-wa-reru）
- 買う（ka-u）→ 買われる（ka-wa-reru）
- 誘う（saso-u）→ 誘われる（saso-wa-reru）
そんなこと言われても、正直こまる。
sonna koto iwarete mo, shōjiki komaru
Even if you say that to me, honestly, I'm stuck.
同僚に飲み会に誘われた。
dōryō ni nomikai ni sasowareta
A colleague invited me out for drinks.
The full table
| Class | Dictionary | Passive | Reading | Rule |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 五段 -く | 書く | 書かれる | kakareru | あ-row + れる |
| 五段 -む | 読む | 読まれる | yomareru | あ-row + れる |
| 五段 -る | 取る | 取られる | torareru | あ-row + れる |
| 五段 -す | 話す | 話される | hanasareru | あ-row + れる |
| 五段 -う | 言う | 言われる | iwareru | あ-row + れる（う→わ） |
| 一段 | 食べる | 食べられる | taberareru | stem + られる |
| 一段 | 見る | 見られる | mirareru | stem + られる |
| する (irregular) | する | される | sareru | suppletive |
| 来る (irregular) | 来る | 来られる | korareru | こ + られる |
Like the potential, the passive you produce is itself a 一段 verb: 書かれる → 書かれない・書かれます・書かれた・書かれて.
The agent is marked with に
The doer of a passive action — the person or thing that does the deed — takes the particle に (English "by"). This is the single most reliable signal that you are looking at a passive rather than a potential.
知らない人に道を聞かれた。
shiranai hito ni michi o kikareta
A stranger asked me for directions.
子供の頃、よく犬に吠えられた。
kodomo no koro, yoku inu ni hoerareta
When I was a kid, dogs used to bark at me a lot.
In formal or written Japanese — especially when the agent is an institution or the verb is one of creating/discovering — に is replaced by によって（この橋は有名な建築家によって建てられた; see passive with によって）.
する→される and the suffering passive
する becomes される (not ×しられる), which is why every サ変 noun-verb passivizes cleanly: 注意する→注意される, 建設する→建設される.
会議は来週に延期された。
kaigi wa raishū ni enki sareta
The meeting was postponed to next week.
Japanese also has a passive English lacks entirely: the 迷惑の受身（suffering passive）, where even an intransitive verb passivizes to say something happened to your detriment. The classic is 来る itself — being "come-upon" — and 降る (rain falling on you):
忙しい時に友達に来られて、仕事が進まなかった。
isogashii toki ni tomodachi ni korarete, shigoto ga susumanakatta
A friend came over while I was busy, and I couldn't get any work done.
帰り道で雨に降られて、びしょ濡れになった。
kaerimichi de ame ni furarete, bishonure ni natta
I got rained on on the way home and ended up soaked.
There is no agent doing something to an object in 雨に降られた — the rain simply fell, and the passive expresses that it inconvenienced me. See the indirect / suffering passive for the full logic.
Three meanings, one shape (一段 only)
Here is the collision the brief warns about. For a 一段 verb, these three are the identical string 食べられる:
| Meaning | Signal in the sentence |
|---|---|
| Passive ("gets eaten") | an agent marked with に; often adversative |
| Potential ("can eat") | a が-marked object; about ability |
| Honorific ("[a respected person] eats") | a socially superior subject; polite register |
変な目で見られるのが、ちょっと嫌だった。
hen na me de mirareru no ga, chotto iya datta
I didn't love being looked at strangely. (passive)
社長はもうこの資料を見られましたか。
shachō wa mō kono shiryō o miraremashita ka
Has the company president already seen this document? (honorific — note the superior subject)
The 五段 class is spared this: 書く has a passive 書かれる but a potential 書ける and an honorific 書かれる — so only passive and honorific collide for 五段, never the potential. The three-way pile-up is a 一段 problem. The honorific reading in particular is disambiguated on the honorific られる page, and the whole triangle on passive vs potential vs honorific.
Common mistakes
❌ そんなこと言あれても困る。
Incorrect — a -う verb inserts わ, not a bare あ. The あ-row of the う-column is わ: 言う → 言われる.
✅ そんなこと言われても困る。
sonna koto iwarete mo komaru
Even if you tell me that, I'm at a loss.
❌ 先生で褒められた。
Wrong particle — the passive agent is marked with に (by), never で. で would read as a location/means.
✅ 先生に褒められた。
sensei ni homerareta
I was praised by the teacher.
❌ 電車で私の足が踏まれた。
Unnatural — Japanese keeps the affected body part as the を-object of the passive (足を踏まれた, 'I got my foot stepped on'). English 'my foot was stepped on' misleads you into が.
✅ 電車で足を踏まれた。
densha de ashi o fumareta
I got my foot stepped on in the train.
❌ この漢字は読まれますか。
Wrong form for 'can this be read?' — that is the potential 読めますか. 読まれる is the passive ('gets read [by someone]'), which isn't what you mean.
✅ この漢字は読めますか。
kono kanji wa yomemasu ka
Can you read this kanji? / Is this kanji readable?
❌ 上司に注意しられた。
Wrong — する doesn't passivize as ×しられる. The suppletive passive of する is される: 注意される.
✅ 上司に注意された。
jōshi ni chūi sareta
I got told off by my boss.
Key takeaways
- 書かれる is the anchor. 五段 = final kana to the あ-row + れる; 一段 = stem + られる; する→される; 来る→来られる（こられる）.
- The -う verbs insert わ (言う→言われる) — the あ-row of that column is わ.
- The agent takes に ("by"); formal/creative contexts use によって.
- Japanese has a suffering passive even on intransitives (雨に降られた, 友達に来られた) — no English equivalent.
- For 一段 verbs, passive = potential = honorific in shape (食べられる); 五段 verbs only collide on passive/honorific (書かれる), never the potential (書ける).
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- Causative 使役: Formation TableN4 — The one-shape reference for 'make / let do': 五段 walk to the あ-row and add せる (書く→書かせる), 一段 add させる (食べさせる), する→させる, 来る→来させる — with the わ-insertion trap and the せる/される mix-up untangled.
- Causative-Passive 使役受身: TableN3 — The reference for 'be made to do': 五段 contract to あ-row+される (飲む→飲まされる) alongside the full せられる, 一段 keep the full させられる (食べさせられる), する→させられる, 来る→来させられる — plus the す-verb no-contraction rule.
- 〜れる／られる: The Honorific Passive-FormN2 — The lightest honorific, built exactly like the passive — 五段 to the あ-row + れる, 一段 + られる — with the fully regular ます-conjugation and the three-jobs-one-shape ambiguity that context has to resolve.