Forming the Passive Voice
Use the passive voice to focus on the receiver of an action rather than who performed it. In Croatian, form the passive voice by combining the verb biti (to be) with the passive participle.
Because the passive participle functions as an adjective, its ending must agree with the subject in gender and number.
| The new paintings are exhibited in the gallery. | Nove su slike izložene u galeriji. |
The feminine plural subject (slike) dictates the feminine plural ending of the participle (izložene).
| The painting is painted on a white canvas. | Slika je naslikana na bijelom platnu. |
Here, the feminine singular subject (slika) takes the feminine singular participle (naslikana).
| These small towns are painted on a large canvas. | Ovi su mali gradovi naslikani na velikom platnu. |
For a masculine plural subject (gradovi), the participle takes the masculine plural ending (naslikani).
Tense in the Passive Voice
The time of the action is shown by the tense of the verb biti. When you use a perfective verb (a completed action) with the present-tense auxiliary of biti (like je or su), it usually translates to the past tense in English.
| That famous work was stolen yesterday. | To poznato djelo ukradeno je jučer. |
| All the walls were restored while the artist was in the building. | Svi su zidovi restaurirani dok je umjetnik bio u zgradi. |
To form the future passive, use the future tense of biti (će biti or bit će) followed by the passive participle. The participle still agrees with the subject.
| The whole collection will be exhibited because of its great value. | Cijela kolekcija bit će izložena zbog velike vrijednosti. |
| That old work will be restored when the curator arrives. | To staro djelo bit će restaurirano kada kustos dođe. |