English builds the passive one way — be plus a past participle: "the house is being built," "the house was built." Russian has no single recipe. Instead it splits the passive cleanly down the middle of its verb system: imperfective actions (ongoing processes) take a -ся verb, and perfective actions (completed results) take быть plus a short past passive participle. Choosing the right one is mechanical once you know which aspect you mean. But there is a deeper, more practical lesson on this page, and it is the one to carry away: Russian dislikes the passive. It is a bookish, written device, and in real speech Russians recast almost every English passive as an active — usually the indefinite-personal "they"-construction (Мне сказа́ли, literally "they told me," for "I was told"). Learn the forms, then learn when not to use them.
Two passives, split by aspect
| Imperfective passive | Perfective passive | |
|---|---|---|
| Built from | verb + -ся | быть + short past passive participle |
| Meaning | ongoing process: "is being V-ed" | completed result: "has been / was V-ed" |
| Example | Дом стро́ится. | Дом постро́ен. |
| Gloss | The house is being built. | The house has been built. |
The split feels exotic to English speakers, but it follows directly from Russian aspect: an unfinished, in-progress action is imperfective and a finished, result-bearing one is perfective, so the passive simply inherits the aspect you would have chosen anyway.
The imperfective -ся passive: an action in progress
For an action that is going on, you add -ся to an imperfective transitive verb. The thing acted on becomes the subject, the verb agrees with it, and — if you name the doer — the agent stands in the instrumental. This is overwhelmingly a written, formal device: notices, reports, scholarly and journalistic prose.
Сейча́с до́м стро́ится рабо́чими — въезд закры́т.
The house is being built by workers right now — entry is closed. — imperfective -ся passive стро́ится; agent рабо́чими in the instrumental.
Э́тот вопро́с ещё обсужда́ется на заседа́нии.
This question is still being discussed at the meeting. — обсужда́ется, an ongoing process; typical formal register.
Биле́ты продаю́тся в ка́ссе у вхо́да.
Tickets are sold at the box office by the entrance. — продаю́тся: a general, repeated process; no agent named.
Notice that this is the same -ся you met as an intransitive marker — Russian recycles one particle for both jobs, which is exactly why the -ся passive can be ambiguous and why it is treated in depth on its own page, the -ся passive in detail.
The perfective participial passive: a finished result
For a completed action with a lasting result, you use быть + the short past passive participle (постро́ен, напи́сан, при́нят, решён). The participle agrees with the subject in gender and number; быть is invisible in the present, but appears as был / была́ / бы́ло / бы́ли in the past and бу́дет / бу́дут in the future.
| Tense | Example | Gloss |
|---|---|---|
| Present (result-state) | Письмо́ напи́сано. | The letter is/has been written. |
| Past | Дом был постро́ен в 1990 году́. | The house was built in 1990. |
| Future | Реше́ние бу́дет при́нято за́втра. | The decision will be made tomorrow. |
Дом был постро́ен в девяно́стом году́, ещё до на́шего перее́зда.
The house was built in '90, before we moved in. — perfective passive был постро́ен; a finished, dated event.
Реше́ние уже́ при́нято, обсужда́ть бо́льше не́чего.
The decision has already been made, there's nothing left to discuss. — short participle при́нято (neuter), быть invisible in the present.
Зада́ча была́ решена́ непра́вильно.
The problem had been solved incorrectly. — feminine зада́ча → была́ решена́, with stress on the participle ending.
The short-participle forms themselves — their endings, the result-state meaning, and the one-н spelling trap — get a full treatment on short-form passive participles.
The agent is always instrumental — there is no word for "by"
Whichever passive you use, the agent (English's "by"-phrase) goes in the bare instrumental with no preposition. This is non-negotiable and one of the few hard rules of the whole topic: not постро́ен от ма́стера, not постро́ен с ма́стером, but постро́ен ма́стером.
Э́тот рома́н был напи́сан изве́стным писа́телем.
This novel was written by a famous writer. — agent писа́телем in the instrumental; the adjective изве́стным is instrumental too.
Зако́н принима́ется парла́ментом.
The law is being passed by parliament. — -ся passive принима́ется + agent парла́ментом, instrumental.
The unifying logic — tool, agent, and natural force all sharing the instrumental — is laid out on the instrumental of agent.
The real lesson: Russian prefers the active
Here is what textbooks undersell. The passive is formal, academic, and literary — perfectly at home in a contract, a news bulletin, or a history book, and stiff to the point of comic in casual speech. In conversation, Russians overwhelmingly recast a passive as an active, most often the indefinite-personal construction: a 3rd-person-plural verb with no subject, where the unnamed "they" stands in for the agent. English's agentless passive ("I was told," "the house is being built here") maps directly onto it.
| English passive | Bookish Russian passive | Natural spoken Russian (indefinite-personal) |
|---|---|---|
| I was told that… | Мне бы́ло ска́зано, что… | Мне сказа́ли, что… |
| A house is being built here. | Здесь стро́ится дом. | Здесь стро́ят дом. |
| The bridge was built long ago. | Мост был постро́ен давно́. | Мост постро́или давно́. |
Мне сказа́ли, что магази́н уже́ закры́т.
I was told the shop is already closed. — natural spoken Russian uses the indefinite-personal сказа́ли ('they told'), not a passive.
Здесь стро́ят но́вую шко́лу.
A new school is being built here. — spoken Russian prefers the active стро́ят ('they're building') over the -ся passive стро́ится.
So the practical guidance for B2: recognise the passive everywhere in reading, produce the participial passive in formal writing, but in everyday speech reach first for the active and the "they"-construction. The stylistic trade-offs between passive, indefinite-personal, and impersonal framings are explored on passive and impersonal style.
Common Mistakes
❌ Дом постро́ен ма́стером? Нет — дом постро́ен с ма́стером.
с + instrumental means 'together with', not 'by'; the agent takes the bare instrumental.
✅ Дом постро́ен ма́стером.
The house was built by the master craftsman. — bare instrumental, no preposition.
❌ Дом постро́ен от рабо́чих.
от + genitive means 'from', not 'by'; there is no preposition for the passive agent.
✅ Дом постро́ен рабо́чими.
The house was built by the workers.
❌ Сейча́с дом постро́ен рабо́чими (meaning 'is being built now').
Aspect mismatch — постро́ен is a finished result; an ongoing process needs the imperfective -ся passive.
✅ Сейча́с дом стро́ится рабо́чими.
The house is being built by workers right now.
❌ Мне бы́ло ска́зано, что ты прие́дешь (in casual chat).
Stilted — the bookish passive sounds absurd in conversation.
✅ Мне сказа́ли, что ты прие́дешь.
I was told you're coming. — the natural indefinite-personal active.
Key Takeaways
- Russian splits the passive by aspect: imperfective = -ся passive for a process (Дом стро́ится, Вопро́с обсужда́ется); perfective = быть + short past passive participle for a result (Дом был постро́ен, Реше́ние при́нято).
- The agent is always the bare instrumental (постро́ен рабо́чими) — never с or от; there is no Russian word for the agentive "by." See the instrumental of agent.
- The participial forms (постро́ен, напи́сан, при́нят) are detailed on short-form passive participles; the -ся passive on the -ся passive in detail.
- The passive is bookish — fine in formal writing, stiff in speech. Natural Russian recasts it as an active, especially the indefinite-personal "they"-form: Мне сказа́ли "I was told," Здесь стро́ят дом "a house is being built here."
- This is the most important habit a B2 learner can build with the passive: read it everywhere, write it in formal registers, but speak in the active.
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- The -ся Passive in DetailB2 — The imperfective half of the passive: an inanimate patient as nominative subject + a 3rd-person -ся verb + an optional agent in the INSTRUMENTAL (Дом стро́ится рабо́чими 'the house is being built by workers'). It is IMPERFECTIVE only — completed results use быть + a participle (Дом постро́ен). The construction is bookish; ordinary speech recasts it as the indefinite-personal active (Дом стро́ят).
- Short-Form Passive Participles and the Result ConstructionB1 — The short past passive participle (откры́т, закры́т, напи́сан, постро́ен, про́дан) is the everyday face of participles. With быть it expresses a result-state or the analytic passive — Магази́н закры́т, Письмо́ напи́сано — agreeing in gender and number, and spelled with ONE -н-.
- The Instrumental of AgentB2 — In passive sentences, Russian marks the agent — the doer English introduces with 'by' — in the bare instrumental, with NO preposition: Дом постро́ен рабо́чими (the house was built by workers), Кни́га напи́сана изве́стным а́втором. The same case marks the impersonal natural force in accident sentences (Кры́шу сорва́ло ве́тром). Tool, agent, and force all share one case — Russian has no separate word for 'by'.
- Indefinite-Personal Sentences (the Russian Passive Substitute)B1 — A 3rd-person-plural verb with NO subject pronoun — Говоря́т, Здесь не ку́рят, Меня́ пригласи́ли — is the everyday Russian equivalent of the English agentless passive. Instead of building был + participle, native speakers reflexively say 'they do X' with an unnamed they: I was told = Мне сказа́ли, English is spoken here = Здесь говоря́т по-англи́йски. Learning to convert English passives into this 'they-do-X' shape is one of the biggest single steps toward Russian that sounds native rather than translated.
- Passive, Impersonal, and Agentless StyleB2 — When you want to background or omit who did something, Russian gives you four routes — the -ся imperfective passive, the быть + participle perfective passive, the indefinite-personal third-person plural, and reflexive-impersonal verbs. The key skill is knowing that the natural Russian for most English passives is NOT a passive at all, but the active 3rd-person-plural: 'I was told' = Мне сказали.
- Impersonal ConstructionsB1 — Russian has whole sentences with NO nominative subject, where the verb sits frozen in the 3rd-person singular (present) or neuter (past). Types: dative-experiencer states (Мне хо́лодно), weather/nature (Темне́ет, Похолода́ло), natural-force instrumentals (Доро́гу занесло́ сне́гом), reflexive-impersonals (Мне не спи́тся, Хо́чется ча́я), and the 3rd-plural indefinite-personal (Говоря́т, Здесь не ку́рят). Where English forces a dummy 'it' or 'one', Russian simply has no subject.