# Urdu: The house was built



## ihsaan

Hi,
How can I express a passive form of verbs?

"The house was built." 

"The house is beeing built."


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## Qureshpor

ihsaan said:


> Hi,
> How can I express a passive form of verbs?
> 
> "The house was built."
> 
> "The house is beeing built."



1) makaan banaayaa gayaa.

2) makaan banaayaa jaa rahaa hai.


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## ihsaan

Thank you!


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## Qureshpor

ihsaan said:


> Thank you!



You are welcome ihasaan SaaHibah. If you wish any more equivalents of the passive voice, please do not hesitate to ask.


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## ihsaan

Thank you. I´ve been pondering on the sentence and the way to construct the passive voice. I understand how jana is conjugated to agree with the subject and time. I´m not quite sure about the verb "to build" however. Is this conjugated according to past tense no matter what? (I noticed it says banaayaa in both sentences). 

How about e.g. a sentence like "The boy was hit by his teacher."/"The boy is going to be hit by his teacher." ?


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## Qureshpor

ihsaan said:


> Thank you. I´ve been pondering on the sentence and the way to construct the passive voice. I understand how jana is conjugated to agree with the subject and time. I´m not quite sure about the verb "to build" however. Is this conjugated according to past tense no matter what? (I noticed it says banaayaa in both sentences).
> 
> How about e.g. a sentence like "The boy was hit by his teacher."/"The boy is going to be hit by his teacher." ?




In Urdu, it is not normal practice to include the agent in a passive voice construction. Here is a link you might find helpful.

http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=2179587&highlight=az

ustaad ne laRke ko maaraa = The teacher hit the boy (Active)

laRkaa ustaad ke haathoN maaraa gayaa = The boy was hit by the teacher.

This is somewhat ambiguous because one can deduce that the boy was killed by the teacher! 

The boy is going to be hit by the teacher.

laRkaa ustaad ke haathoN maaraa jaa'e gaa.

And yes "maaraa" stays the same (unless the noun is feminine when it will change to an -ii ending) because it is the past participle.

maarnaa = to hit, maaraa jaanaa = to be hit


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## UrduMedium

QURESHPOR said:


> In Urdu, it is not normal practice to include the agent in a passive voice construction. Here is a link you might find helpful.
> 
> http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=2179587&highlight=az
> 
> ustaad ne laRke ko maaraa = The teacher hit the boy (Active)
> 
> *laRkaa ustaad ke haathoN maaraa gayaa = The boy was hit by the teacher.*
> 
> This is somewhat ambiguous because one can deduce that the boy was killed by the teacher!
> 
> The boy is going to be hit by the teacher.
> 
> laRkaa ustaad ke haathoN maaraa jaa'e gaa.
> 
> And yes "maaraa" stays the same (unless the noun is feminine when it will change to an -ii ending) because it is the past participle.
> 
> maarnaa = to hit, maaraa jaanaa = to be hit



To remove the ambiguity in maara gaya (killed), we can use piTaa or piT gaya

*laRkaa ustaad ke haathoN piT gayaa
**laRkaa ustaad ke haathoN piTaa*


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## marrish

mbasit said:


> To remove the ambiguity in maara gaya (killed), we can use piTaa or piT gaya
> 
> *laRkaa ustaad ke haathoN piT gayaa
> **laRkaa ustaad ke haathoN piTaa*


I agree with this but the question was about the passive voice! and would say _maara piiTaa gayaa_. However it is despicable.


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## UrduMedium

marrish said:


> I agree with this but the question was about the passive voice! and would say _maara piiTaa gayaa_. However it is despicable.



I thought piT gayaa and piTaa (not piiTaa) are both passive verbs.


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## Qureshpor

mbasit said:


> I thought piT gayaa and piTaa (not piiTaa) are both passive verbs.



You are absolutely right in your thinking. However, piTnaa (like marnaa) is an inherently passive verb whereas the enquirer is asking about true passive voice, which, as you are aware, is formulated from an active verb like "piiTnaa" and "maarnaa".


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## UrduMedium

QURESHPOR said:


> You are absolutely right in your thinking. However, piTnaa (like marnaa) is an inherently passive verb whereas the enquirer is asking about true passive voice, which, as you are aware, is formulated from an active verb like "piiTnaa" and "maarnaa".



I'm actually not following you, perhaps because I'm not familiar with the inherent and true passive difference. 

Why is piT not the passive form of piiT? Just like dabnaa would be passive for dabanaa, haarnaa for haranaa, and so on. If any of this makes sense , then would _piT gayaa_ not be passive for _piiTna_?


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## Qureshpor

mbasit said:


> I'm actually not following you, perhaps because I'm not familiar with the inherent and true passive difference.
> 
> Why is piT not the passive form of piiT? Just like dabnaa would be passive for dabanaa, haarnaa for haranaa, and so on. If any of this makes sense , then would _piT gayaa_ not be passive for _piiTna_?



piTnaa is the same as piT jaanaa, though one could say the latter is a little more emphatic.

piiTnaa and piiTaa jaanaa are NOT the same!


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## ihsaan

QURESHPOR said:


> In Urdu, it is not normal practice to include the agent in a passive voice construction. Here is a link you might find helpful.
> 
> http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=2179587&highlight=az
> 
> ustaad ne laRke ko maaraa = The teacher hit the boy (Active)
> 
> laRkaa ustaad ke haathoN maaraa gayaa = The boy was hit by the teacher.
> 
> This is somewhat ambiguous because one can deduce that the boy was killed by the teacher!
> 
> The boy is going to be hit by the teacher.
> 
> laRkaa ustaad ke haathoN maaraa jaa'e gaa.
> 
> And yes "maaraa" stays the same (unless the noun is feminine when it will change to an -ii ending) because it is the past participle.
> 
> maarnaa = to hit, maaraa jaanaa = to be hit



Very helpful! It´s starting to make more sense to me now. Thank you.


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## tonyspeed

mbasit said:


> I'm actually not following you, perhaps because I'm not familiar with the inherent and true passive difference.
> 
> Why is piT not the passive form of piiT? Just like dabnaa would be passive for dabanaa, haarnaa for haranaa, and so on. If any of this makes sense , then would _piT gayaa_ not be passive for _piiTna_?



Using verbs that are inherently passive ignores the doer of the action _completely_ from the picture. 
The passive form at least hints that someone did it you; you are definitely admitting that someone beat you when you say _mujhe burii tarah piitaa gayaa_, but you're not focusing on them right now.

Maybe in English a similar situation might be "she got hit" vs "she was hit" - a very minute difference. The first seems as if the action just occurred without an agent. If you blink, the difference might disappear.


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## Qureshpor

tonyspeed said:


> Using verbs that are inherently passive ignores the doer of the action _completely_ from the picture.
> The passive form at least hints that someone did it you; you are definitely admitting that someone beat you when you say _*mujhe* burii tarah piitaa gayaa_, but you're not focusing on them right now.
> 
> Maybe in English a similar situation might be "she got hit" vs "she was hit" - a very minute difference. The first seems as if the action just occurred without an agent. If you blink, the difference might disappear.



Tony SaaHib. Two things.

1) Do you mind being referred to as "Tony SaaHib" or would you prefer I said, "tonyspeed"?

2) I would possibly say, "_*maiN*_ burii tarH piiTaa gayaa".


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## tonyspeed

QURESHPOR said:


> Tony SaaHib. Two things.
> 
> 1) Do you mind being referred to as "Tony SaaHib" or would you prefer I said, "tonyspeed"?
> 
> 2) I would possibly say, "_*maiN*_ burii tarH piiTaa gayaa".



Thanks for catching that. I mean, sahib is ok. Unlike Alfaaz shahenshah, it doesn't bother me.


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## marrish

tonyspeed said:


> Thanks for catching that. I mean, sahib is ok. Unlike Alfaaz shahenshah, it doesn't bother me.


Tony SaaHib, I don't want to saw discord but I don't consider _mujhe burii tarH piiTaa gayaa_ wrong! It is absolutely correct, but the other way, as suggested by Qureshpor SaaHib, is correct, too. It shifts the focus on the object (here: I).


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## tonyspeed

I should also add that inherently passive verbs are used in actions that are accidental, natural, or unintentional. Passive shows that there was intent. This is according to Usha R. Jain Advanced Hindi.

Also, marrish-saahib you are right. Usha R. Jain states that the use of ko with animate individuals , as would normally be used with direct objects, is optional. Thank you for that additional information.


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