The Dynamic Passive with "Verða"
When we talk about urban development and city planning, we often focus on what is being done rather than who is doing it. To describe an action that will be or is being done to a subject, Icelandic uses the dynamic passive voice.
While the active voice focuses on the doer of the action, the passive voice shifts the focus to the receiver.
Compare an active intention with a passive outcome:
| The mayor intends to expand the playground. | Bæjarstjórinn ætlar að stækka leikvöllinn. |
| The footpath by the school will be expanded tomorrow. | Göngustígurinn hjá skólanum verður stækkaður á morgun. |
Forming the Passive and Gender Agreement
To form the dynamic passive, you use the verb verða (to become / will be) followed by a past participle.
Because the receiver of the action is now the grammatical subject of the sentence, the past participle must act like an adjective and agree with this new subject in gender and number.
Let's look at the verb malbika (to pave). If the subject is masculine like göngustígurinn (the footpath), the participle takes the masculine ending -ur. If the subject is feminine like gatan (the street), it takes the feminine ending -uð:
| Will the whole footpath be paved? | Verður göngustígurinn allur malbikaður? |
| The street will be paved soon. | Gatan verður malbikuð bráðum. |
This agreement rule applies to all past participles in the passive voice. Notice how the feminine subjects below take feminine participle endings:
| If the drawing is good, the new building will be approved. | Ef teikningin er góð verður nýbyggingin samþykkt. |
| The old church will definitely be protected. | Gamla kirkjan verður örugglega friðuð. |
Plural Subjects
If the subject is plural, both the verb verða and the past participle must take plural forms.
For example, samgöngurnar (the transportation / transit links) is a feminine plural noun. Therefore, verða is in its plural form, and the participle takes the feminine plural ending:
| The transportation will be planned well. | Samgöngurnar verða skipulagðar vel. |
Adding the Agent
Often in the passive voice, the person or thing performing the action (the "agent") is left out because it is obvious or unimportant.
However, if you want to include who is responsible for the action, you use the preposition af (by) followed by the dative case:
| The construction will be financed by the bank. | Framkvæmdin verður fjármögnuð af bankanum. |