Passive verbs.  I had a history professor in college that advised me to never use the passive voice in a paper.  He said that the content would always read better and sound stronger if I used the active voice.  For example, he preferred the sentence “During the Holocaust, perpetrators murdered over 6 million Jews” to “During the Holocaust, over 6 million Jews were murdered.”  After I started avoiding the passive voice in papers, I agreed with him that my writing sounded much stronger.  I think the difference is similar to people who simply say what they mean rather than take the passive agressive approach and beat around the bush.  Actually, now that I think about it, I used to be somewhat passive-agressive and when I changed my writing style, I began to be more aggressive in my decision making and interactions with people.  So, while I definitely think the passive voice should be avoided in formal papers, it is simply impossible to filter out of everyday speech.  I don’t know if we are just so comfortable using it or if there is another reason.  Regardless, the passive voice is used often.  So let’s learn how to use the passive voice in Norwegian.  It’s pretty simple, actually. 

The passive voice in past tense Norwegian employs the verb å bli (to be).  For example, ”I was sent home” would be ”Jeg ble sent hjem.” The active way to express that sentence would require the use of the subject who initiated the verb.  By that I mean you would have to say ”The principle sent me home” or ”The nurse sent me home” or something along those lines.  You’ll notice that with the passive voice, it is easier to leave out the other subject by just ending the sentence after ”hjem” rather than saying ”Jeg ble sent hjem fordi jeg var syk.”  By nature, the active voice requires that you provide more information.   

In the present tense, the passive voice simply employs the use of an ‘s’ after the verb and omits the verb å bli, although it is implied.  For example, ”I am being sent home” would be ”Jeg sendes hjem.”  Or, ”Can this be exchanged” (speaking of a bill perhaps) is ”Kan dette veksles?”  ”The class is divided into 5 groups” is ”Klassen deles i 5 grupper.” 

Now, you may be wondering about the verb synes, to think, which has an ‘s’ at the end in the active voice.  This is an exception.  ”I think this is difficult” is active, and is translated to ”Jeg synes dette er vanskelig.”  Another exception is the verb ”møtes,” which means ”meet” in the active voice.  For example, ”we’ll meet each other on the train” is ”Vi møtes på toget.”  Keep these exceptions in mind when you hear or read them so you don’t assume they imply the passive voice.

Also remember that the passive voice can be used with modal verbs.  For example, ”Must this be eaten?” would be ”Må dette spises?”  ”Can this be used?” is ”Kan dette brukes?”  ”Do you want to be served?” is ‘Vil du serveres?” 

It would be a good exercise to look at Norwegian newspapers online and try to identify passive verber.