ถูก Passives and Affected Subjects | Thai Grammar

Thai ถูก can place an affected participant first and present the event from that participant’s perspective: รถผมถูกกิ่งไม้ทับ “My car was crushed under a branch.” The participant that would normally follow the active verb becomes the clause topic or subject, while the actor or cause can be omitted or placed between ถูก and the main predicate.

Traditional descriptions emphasize adversity, and unpleasant events remain highly typical. Modern ถูก, however, also occurs in neutral institutional writing and even with favorable outcomes. It is therefore inaccurate to teach either “ถูก always means something bad” or “ถูก is simply the Thai equivalent of English passive be.” Thai chooses it when affectedness and information structure justify that viewpoint.

From active event to affected-subject frame

Function	Productive frame	Model
active event	agent + verb + patient	กิ่งไม้ทับรถ
passive, agent expressed	patient + ถูก + agent + verb	รถถูกกิ่งไม้ทับ
passive, agent omitted	patient + ถูก + verb	รถถูกลากไปแล้ว
formal agent phrase	patient + ถูก + verb + โดย + agent	รายงานถูกตรวจโดยคณะกรรมการ
negative passive	patient + ไม่ได้ถูก + verb	เที่ยวบินไม่ได้ถูกยกเลิก
ongoing passive	patient + กำลังถูก + verb	ระบบกำลังถูกตรวจสอบ

รถของผมถูกกิ่งไม้ใหญ่ทับเมื่อคืนครับ

rot khong phom thuk king mai yai thap muea khuen khrap

My car was crushed under a large branch last night. (ordinary polite report, male speaker; adverse affected-subject passive)

ผู้สมัครถูกคณะกรรมการถามเรื่องประสบการณ์ค่ะ

phu samak thuk khana kammakan tham rueang prasopkan kha

The applicant was asked about their experience by the committee. (formal-neutral report, female speaker; agent between ถูก and predicate)

กระเป๋าของนักท่องเที่ยวถูกขโมยบนรถไฟครับ

krapao khong nak thongthiao thuk khamoi bon rotfai khrap

The tourist's bag was stolen on the train. (ordinary polite report, male speaker; agent omitted)

In the first example, กิ่งไม้ใหญ่ is the cause of ทับ. In the second, คณะกรรมการ performs ถาม. In the third, the thief is unknown or irrelevant. Thai has not added a passive suffix to any verb: ทับ, ถาม, and ขโมย retain their ordinary forms.

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When an agent is a short noun phrase, the characteristic Thai order is patient + ถูก + agent + verb: เด็กถูกสุนัขกัด. Do not mechanically put the agent after the verb as English does with by.

Affected does not always mean harmed

Unpleasant readings are prototypical, especially in conversation: being deceived, blamed, bitten, or dismissed. Yet ถูก has expanded into a more general passive marker in formal-neutral contexts. Selection, appointment, publication, and institutional processing can occur with ถูก without implying that the outcome is bad.

ข้อเสนอของทีมเราถูกเลือกให้เข้าสู่รอบสุดท้ายค่ะ

khosanoe khong thim rao thuk lueak hai khao su rop sutthai kha

Our team's proposal was selected for the final round. (formal-neutral announcement, female speaker; favorable outcome)

เอกสารชุดนี้จะถูกส่งให้ลูกค้าพรุ่งนี้ครับ

ekkasan chut ni cha thuk song hai luk kha phrung ni khrap

This set of documents will be sent to the customer tomorrow. (formal-neutral workplace report, male speaker; prospective passive)

The selection example foregrounds what happened to the proposal. ให้เข้าสู่รอบสุดท้าย states the selected result. The sending example has benefactive/recipient ให้ลูกค้า inside the passive event. Neither ให้ causes the proposal or customer to become the passive subject; ถูก scopes over the transitive event whose affected participant has been foregrounded.

In ordinary conversation, an active clause is often more natural when no special reason exists to foreground the patient. Thai does not require passive merely because an English translation uses one. See choosing among Thai passive strategies.

Agents: integrated noun phrase or formal โดย phrase

The compact order ถูก + agent + verb is highly characteristic: ถูกครูเรียก, ถูกตำรวจจับ. โดย + agent after the verb is available, especially in formal, bureaucratic, academic, and news writing. It can sound heavy in casual speech.

รายงานฉบับนี้ถูกตรวจสอบโดยคณะกรรมการอิสระค่ะ

raingan chabap ni thuk truat sop doi khana kammakan itsara kha

This report was reviewed by an independent committee. (formal written-style report, female speaker; postverbal โดย agent)

ผมถูกหัวหน้าเรียกไปคุยเมื่อเช้าครับ

phom thuk hua na riak pai khui muea chao khrap

My supervisor called me in for a talk this morning. (ordinary polite report, male speaker; compact preverbal agent)

The second event may or may not end badly; ถูก presents the speaker as the person drawn into it. Context supplies the evaluation.

Negation, time, and aspect

ถูก is not past-tense morphology. A past adverb, จะ, กำลัง, or แล้ว locates and shapes the event while the predicate remains unchanged.

เที่ยวบินของเราไม่ได้ถูกยกเลิกค่ะ แค่เลื่อนเวลาออกไป

thiao bin khong rao mai dai thuk yokloek kha khae luean wela ok pai

Our flight wasn't canceled; it was only delayed. (ordinary polite correction, female speaker; passive event denied)

ระบบชำระเงินกำลังถูกตรวจสอบอยู่ครับ

rabop chamra ngoen kamlang thuk truat sop yu khrap

The payment system is being inspected now. (formal-neutral update, male speaker; ongoing passive event)

ผู้บาดเจ็บถูกนำตัวส่งโรงพยาบาลแล้วค่ะ

phu bat chep thuk nam tua song rongphayaban laeo kha

The injured person has now been taken to the hospital. (formal news-style report, female speaker; passive scopes over a motion chain)

Initial ไม่ได้ถูก denies the passive event. กำลังถูก...อยู่ frames it as ongoing. Final แล้ว presents the transport as achieved and currently relevant. None conjugates ยกเลิก, ตรวจสอบ, or นำ.

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A passive marker can precede a whole predicate chain. In ถูกนำตัวส่งโรงพยาบาล, the patient participates across taking and transporting; do not translate each adjacent predicate as a separate English infinitive.

Lexical ถูก is not passive

The same written form has established lexical uses: ถูก “correct,” ราคาถูก “inexpensive,” and ถูก “touch/come into contact with.” The words that follow and the participant structure distinguish them from passive ถูก.

คำตอบข้อนี้ถูกครับ แต่เหตุผลยังอธิบายไม่ชัด

kham top kho ni thuk khrap tae hetphon yang athibai mai chat

This answer is correct, but the reasoning is still unclear. (ordinary polite evaluation, male speaker; lexical property ถูก)

อย่าให้สายไฟถูกน้ำค่ะ

ya hai sai fai thuk nam kha

Don't let the electrical cable come into contact with water. (ordinary polite warning, female speaker; lexical contact sense)

Neither example has an understood outside agent acting through a passive auxiliary. The first directly predicates correctness; the second uses ถูก as a contact predicate after causative/allowative ให้.

Ordinary-polite dialogue

Two colleagues discuss a misplaced delivery.

พัสดุของลูกค้าถูกส่งไปผิดสาขาหรือคะ

phatsadu khong luk kha thuk song pai phit sakha rue kha

Was the customer's parcel sent to the wrong branch? (polite surprised question, female speaker)

ใช่ครับ ถูกเจ้าหน้าที่ส่งผิดไปเชียงใหม่

chai khrap thuk chaonathi song phit pai chiang mai

Yes. It was mistakenly sent to Chiang Mai by a staff member. (ordinary polite reply, male speaker; parcel omitted as recoverable)

ตอนนี้ถูกส่งกลับมาหรือยังคะ

ton ni thuk song klap ma rue yang kha

Has it been sent back yet? (polite question, female speaker; patient remains recoverable)

ส่งกลับมาแล้วครับ พรุ่งนี้น่าจะถึง

song klap ma laeo khrap phrung ni na cha thueng

It has been sent back. It should arrive tomorrow. (ordinary polite reply, male speaker; active agent and patient omitted from context)

Common Mistakes

1. Putting a bare agent after the main verb

❌ ประตูถูกเปิดพนักงานค่ะ

Incorrect for ‘the door was opened by an employee’; a bare agent belongs between ถูก and the verb.

✅ ประตูถูกพนักงานเปิดไว้ตั้งแต่เช้าค่ะ

pratu thuk phanak ngan poet wai tangtae chao kha

The door was left open by an employee from early morning. (ordinary polite report, female speaker)

2. Making an intransitive result passive

❌ กระจกถูกแตกเพราะลูกบอลครับ

Incorrect neutral frame—แตก describes the glass's resulting state; it is not passivized like English ‘was broken.’

✅ ลูกบอลกระแทกกระจกจนแตกครับ

luk bon krathaek krachok chon taek khrap

The ball struck the glass and broke it. (ordinary polite report, male speaker; explicit cause and result)

3. Placing negation after ถูก

❌ เอกสารถูกไม่ส่งเมื่อวานค่ะ

Incorrect—broad passive-event negation precedes ถูก.

✅ เอกสารไม่ได้ถูกส่งเมื่อวานค่ะ

ekkasan mai dai thuk song muea wan kha

The documents weren't sent yesterday. (formal-neutral correction, female speaker)

4. Treating ถูก as required past morphology

❌ เมื่อวานผมถูกไปตลาดครับ

Incorrect—ไป is an intransitive motion predicate with the speaker as actor; no passive marker is licensed.

✅ เมื่อวานผมไปตลาดก่อนกลับบ้านครับ

muea wan phom pai talat kon klap ban khrap

Yesterday I went to the market before returning home. (ordinary polite report, male speaker)

5. Reading lexical correctness as passive voice

❌ คำว่า “ถูก” ใน “คำตอบถูก” เป็นเครื่องหมายกรรมวาจกครับ

Incorrect analysis—ถูก here is the property ‘correct,’ not a passive marker.

✅ คำตอบสองข้อนี้ถูกทั้งคู่ครับ

kham top song kho ni thuk thang khu khrap

Both of these answers are correct. (ordinary polite evaluation, male speaker; lexical ถูก)

Key Takeaways

Passive ถูก foregrounds an affected participant: patient + ถูก + agent + predicate.
The agent may be omitted; postverbal โดย + agent is especially formal.
Adverse readings are prototypical, but modern ถูก also serves neutral and favorable passives.
Time, aspect, and negation surround an invariant predicate; ถูก is not a tense ending.
Lexical ถูก “correct/contact” must be distinguished through meaning and argument structure.

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