English builds the passive with a helper verb and a participle: was praised, is eaten, got bitten. Japanese builds it with a verb ending — the auxiliary れる／られる welded onto the verb — and marks the doer not with the word "by" but with the particle に. This page covers the mechanics: how to form the passive (受身, うけみ, also called 受動態) for every verb class, how to mark the agent, and the one fact that makes Japanese passives genuinely tricky — れる／られる is spelled and sounded exactly like the potential and the honorific.
The core idea
A passive turns "X did something to Y" into "Y had something done (by X)." The affected party moves into the spotlight; the doer recedes and, when mentioned, attaches to に.
発表がうまくいって、先生に褒められた。
happyō ga umaku itte, sensei ni homerareta
My presentation went well, and I was praised by the teacher.
先生に = "by the teacher." That に is the heart of the Japanese passive — hold onto it, because the number-one English-speaker error is reaching for で (see the mistakes below).
Formation by verb class
The passive auxiliary is れる for godan (u-)verbs and られる for ichidan (ru-)verbs — attached to the same "-a base" you already use for the negative -ない.
ru-verbs (ichidan): drop る, add られる
| Dictionary | Passive | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| 食べる (to eat) | 食べられる | taberu → taberareru |
| 褒める (to praise) | 褒められる | homeru → homerareru |
| 見る (to see) | 見られる | miru → mirareru |
| 建てる (to build) | 建てられる | tateru → taterareru |
u-verbs (godan): shift the final -u to the -a row, add れる
The final kana moves to its あ-row partner — the very same base as the negative (書か-ない → 書か-れる) — then れる is attached.
| Row | Dictionary | Passive | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|
| く → かれる | 書く (to write) | 書かれる | kaku → kakareru |
| ぐ → がれる | 泳ぐ (to swim) | 泳がれる | oyogu → oyogareru |
| す → される | 刺す (to sting) | 刺される | sasu → sasareru |
| つ → たれる | 待つ (to wait) | 待たれる | matsu → matareru |
| ぬ → なれる | 死ぬ (to die) | 死なれる | shinu → shinareru |
| ぶ → ばれる | 遊ぶ (to play) | 遊ばれる | asobu → asobareru |
| む → まれる | 飲む (to drink) | 飲まれる | nomu → nomareru |
| う → われる | 歌う (to sing) | 歌われる | utau → utawareru |
| る → られる | 叱る (to scold) | 叱られる | shikaru → shikarareru |
The う-row is the one to watch: 歌う → 歌われる, not ×歌あれる. The あ-row partner of う is わ (the same reason 買う → 買わない). This catches learners constantly.
Irregulars: する → される, 来る → 来られる
- する → される (sareru). Every compound する-verb inherits it: 招待する → 招待される, 逮捕する → 逮捕される, 延期する → 延期される.
- 来る（くる）→ 来られる（こられる）. The kanji 来 stays; the reading shifts from kuru to korareru.
ゆうべ、キャンプで蚊にたくさん刺された。
yūbe, kyanpu de ka ni takusan sasareta
Last night at the campsite I got bitten by loads of mosquitoes.
友達に結婚式に招待されて、とても嬉しかった。
tomodachi ni kekkonshiki ni shōtai sarete, totemo ureshikatta
I was invited to a friend's wedding, and I was really happy.
What you build is an ichidan verb
Whatever route you took, the result ends in -れる／-られる and therefore conjugates as an ichidan verb. You never touch the original verb again — treat 書かれる, 刺される, される as fresh dictionary-form verbs.
| 書かれる (be written) | 刺される (be stung) | |
|---|---|---|
| Negative | 書かれない | 刺されない |
| Past | 書かれた | 刺された |
| Polite | 書かれます | 刺されます |
| te-form | 書かれて | 刺されて |
この歌は今でも世界中で歌われている。
kono uta wa ima demo sekaijū de utawareteiru
This song is still sung all over the world today.
The agent takes に (in formal writing, によって)
The doer of the action attaches to に. Not "by," not で. This is the single most important particle fact on this page.
駅前で知らない人に道を聞かれた。
ekimae de shiranai hito ni michi o kikareta
A stranger asked me for directions in front of the station.
In formal or written Japanese — especially with verbs of creation and named agents — the fuller によって ("by, by means of") replaces に. It sounds documentary and is the norm for authorship, invention, and construction.
『坊っちゃん』は夏目漱石によって書かれた。
botchan wa natsume sōseki ni yotte kakareta
Botchan was written by Natsume Sōseki.
The collision: れる／られる is passive, potential, AND honorific
Here is what makes the Japanese passive genuinely hard, and why it deserves its own page. For a ru-verb, the passive is spelled identically to the potential and to the honorific. All three of these are 食べられる:
- passive — ケーキが弟に食べられた ("the cake was eaten by my little brother")
- potential — 私はこれが食べられる ("I can eat this")
- honorific — 先生はもう食べられましたか ("Has the teacher eaten yet?" — respectful)
One form, three jobs. What disambiguates them is particles and context: a passive typically has an affected topic plus a に-agent; a potential has a が-marked object of ability; an honorific has a socially superior subject. Learn to read those cues. The full three-way strategy lives on the passive vs potential vs honorific page.
Why Japanese reaches for the passive so readily
English uses the passive sparingly and often prefers the active. Japanese does the opposite: it turns to the passive far more freely, for two deep reasons.
To keep the topic constant. Japanese likes to hold one person — especially the speaker — in the spotlight across a stretch of discourse. If I am the topic and a mosquito bites me, Japanese keeps me as topic and makes the verb passive: 蚊に刺された. English cheerfully switches to "a mosquito bit me," letting the mosquito take the subject slot.
To express things done to one. Japanese can passivize events that merely affect a person, even when nothing was done to them directly — a friend showing up, rain falling, a baby crying. This is the suffering passive, a construction English lacks entirely. That the passive can carry this "it happened to me, and it mattered" load is why it is everywhere in natural Japanese.
The two main uses — the direct passive (Y was acted on by X) and the indirect / suffering passive (someone was adversely affected) — each get their own page.
Common mistakes
1. Marking the agent with で. English "by" tempts you toward で, which marks means or place, never the doer.
❌ 私は犬で噛まれた。
watashi wa inu de kamareta
Incorrect — the agent takes に, not で.
✅ 私は犬に噛まれた。
watashi wa inu ni kamareta
I was bitten by a dog.
2. Adding られる to a godan verb. Godan verbs take plain れる on the あ-base — 叱る → 叱られる, not ×叱らられる. The double ら is a real, frequent slip.
❌ 社長に叱らられた。
shachō ni shikararareta
Incorrect — 叱る is godan, so the passive is 叱られる (one ら-れる, not two).
✅ 社長に叱られた。
shachō ni shikarareta
I was scolded by the company president.
3. Forgetting the う → わ shift. The あ-row partner of う is わ, so 笑う → 笑われる.
❌ みんなに笑あれた。
minna ni waraareta
Incorrect — the あ-base of 笑う is 笑わ; the passive is 笑われる.
✅ みんなに笑われた。
minna ni warawareta
I was laughed at by everyone.
4. Using the masu-stem instead of the -a base. The passive attaches to the same base as -ない (書か-), never to the masu-stem (書き-).
❌ 悪口を書きれた。
waruguchi o kakireta
Incorrect — passive is on the あ-base: 書かれる, not ×書きれる.
✅ 悪口を書かれた。
waruguchi o kakareta
Nasty things were written about me.
Key takeaways
- The passive 受身 is built with the auxiliary れる (godan) / られる (ichidan), plus される for する and 来られる for 来る.
- Godan verbs use the あ-base (same as -ない): 書く → 書かれる, 飲む → 飲まれる, 待つ → 待たれる, 買う → 買われる (う → わ!).
- The result is an ichidan verb — conjugate the passive itself (書かれない, 書かれた).
- The agent takes に (formal/creative writing: によって) — never で.
- れる／られる is three-way ambiguous for ru-verbs (passive = potential = honorific); particles and context disambiguate.
- Japanese uses the passive far more than English — to keep a person as topic and to express being affected.
Now practice Japanese
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Start learning Japanese→Related Topics
- Direct Passive: 〜に〜られるN4 — The direct passive, where an active clause's object becomes the subject — 先生が私を褒めた turns into 私は先生に褒められた — and why Japanese chooses it as a matter of viewpoint, not formality.
- The Suffering Passive 迷惑の受身N3 — The adversative passive, where a person is negatively affected by an event — even an intransitive one like 雨に降られた or 子供に泣かれた — a construction English cannot reproduce without bolting on 'and it bothered me.'
- One 〜られる, Three MeaningsN3 — How a single 〜られる ending carries passive, potential, and honorific meanings at once — and the systematic particle, animacy, and register cues that tell them apart.
- Potential Formation by Verb ClassN4 — How to build the potential form class by class — られる for ru-verbs, the -eる shift for u-verbs, and the suppletive できる / 来られる irregulars.