{"id":5528,"date":"2017-07-18T10:15:36","date_gmt":"2017-07-18T10:15:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/?p=5528"},"modified":"2017-07-19T18:17:00","modified_gmt":"2017-07-19T18:17:00","slug":"the-passive-voice-as-straightforward-as-it-seems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/2017\/07\/18\/the-passive-voice-as-straightforward-as-it-seems\/","title":{"rendered":"The Passive Voice: As Straightforward As It Seems?"},"content":{"rendered":"

That’s a resounding nei<\/strong>, but you can get used to it.\u00a0You can\u2019t be passive if you want to learn to use the passive voice (\u00feolmynd) in Icelandic. From the beginning of my education in English grammar, my teachers taught me to avoid the passive voice at all costs. In university lectures, the passive was reserved for the sciences \u2013 it\u2019s proper place, couched in the unbiased voice of microbiology, pharmacology. (Though everyone knows that not using the passive in English is like fitting a square peg into a round hole). But in Icelandic\u2026<\/p>\n

It\u2019s come in handy quite a lot, and it\u2019s used very frequently. For reference, the Icelandic term for passive form of the verb is \u00feolmynd<\/strong> and the Icelandic term for active (voice) is germynd. <\/strong><\/p>\n

In case you don\u2019t know, or aren\u2019t sure, the passive voice is used when the subject of the sentence either isn\u2019t known or isn\u2019t important \u2013 or at the very least, isn\u2019t emphasized. In its stead, the recipient of the action becomes the emphasized component (look at how packed full of passive those sentences are!). In English, you\u2019d say, e.g., \u201cthe car was bought\u201d (b\u00edllinn var keyptur<\/em>) as opposed to \u201cI bought the car\u201d (\u00c9g keypti b\u00edlinn). <\/em><\/p>\n

So the car is the important part \u2013 maybe it was a Mustang! Or the speaker is the car salesman \u2013 and the buyer is of little or no consequence in the specific context.<\/p>\n

Str<\/em>\u00ed\u00f0i\u00f0 var unni\u00f0. <\/em>vs. Vi\u00f0 unnum str\u00ed\u00f0i\u00f0.<\/em><\/p>\n

The war was won. vs. We won the war.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Context.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So how do we properly form the passive?<\/p>\n

Well. There are a few components to pay attention to.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The recipient of the action. You\u2019ll notice that, above, when we switched from \u00e9g keypti b\u00edlinn<\/em> to b\u00edllinn var keyptur<\/em>, two things happened.\n
      \n
    1. The case of b\u00edll shifted to the nominative when the b\u00edll took the first position in the sentence. In \u00feolmynd, the object becomes the subject. It\u2019s then in nominative case and comes first in the sentence\/clause.<\/li>\n
    2. The verb \u201cto be\u201d (vera) comes next in the sentence, after the subject.<\/li>\n
    3. The verb transformed into an adjectival form, which you can see in the \u2013ur ending. This is called l\u00fdsingarh\u00e1ttur \u00fe\u00e1ti\u00f0ar\u00a0<\/em>(past participle).
      <\/div>
      \nIF THERE IS NOT EVIDENT SUBJECT, use \u00fea\u00f0 <\/em>+ the neuter adjective ending. (e.g., \u00fea\u00f0 var hj\u00f3la\u00f0 \u00ed b\u00e6inn<\/em> X hj\u00f3la\u00f0i \u00ed b\u00e6inn. <\/em>\u2013It was ridden in the town vs. X biked in the town). \u00dea\u00f0 is sort of the default subject with passive when you just don\u2019t know.
      \n
      <\/div><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

       <\/p>\n

      I\u2019m going to give a few more examples, and then I\u2019d like to continue this explanation in my next entry \u2013 if only because it gets quite sticky and I\u2019d rather take baby steps (side note: I’m going to be writing this blog more frequently henceforth. I’ve been traveling this month). There are additional nuances: e.g., the subject of the passive phrase is not always <\/em>in nominative. It is sometimes in the dative<\/em> case. And when the past participle of the verb is employed in this very specific instance\u2013 i.e., it becomes a sort of adjective \u2013 it has two potential forms (and one \u201cmixed\u201d form for special verbs). A commenter suggested that I specify that by “forms,” I mean the adjectival form will be either “strong\/weak,” depending on the type of verb, or a “mixed” version that takes the appearance of both.<\/strong> It is also possible to use an \u2013st verb to express the passive.<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      So let\u2019s do a couple of practices. I\u2019ll list the questions, and in the dropdown below, I\u2019ll give the solutions.<\/p>\n

      Here are the phrases. Transform them into the passive voice! Remember to go to bin.arnastofnun.is<\/a> if you aren\u00b4t sure what form to use, or how the verb conjugates. (check the “leita a\u00f0 beygingarmynd” box).<\/em><\/p>\n