Lesson 17

In the name of Allah, Most Beneficent, Most Merciful.

Assalamu'alaikum and greetings to all.


LESSON 17 ACTIVE AND PASSIVE VOICE

1. The verb in the active voice is called by the Arab Grammarians اَلْمَعْرُوْفُ ( اَلْمَعْلُوْمُ ) فَاعِلَهٌ اَلْفِعْلُ [ alfi’lu alma’ruf ( alma’lum ) fa’ilah ], the action of which the agent is known.
2. The agent, whose act affects an object, is the subject, فَاعِلٌ ( faʿil ) of the active voice.
3. The object of such verb is called مَفْعُوْلٌ بِهِ ( maf’ulun bih ).
4. The verb in the passive voice is called اَلْفِعْلُ اَلْمَجْهُوْلُ فَاعِلَهٌ ( alfi’lu almajhul fa’ilah ), the action of which the agent is unknown.
5. Unlike in English, the passive is not used in Arabic when the agent of the act is expressed. A passive sentence in English such as “ A letter was written by Zaki ” would become كَتَبَ ذَكِيٌ اَلرِّسَالَةُ( kataba zakiyun arrisalah ) in Arabic i.e. “ Zaki wrote the letter ”.
6. The passive is formed from the active by a change of vowels.
7. In the perfect tense, the first radical takes ُ ( dhommah ), the second radical takes ِ ( kasrah )and the third radical remains unchanged. Kindly see Table 42 below.

TABLE 42 THE PERFECT TENSE

No	ACTIVE اَلْمَعْرُوْفُ	ENGLISH	PASSIVE اَلْمَجْهُوْلُ	ENGLISH
1)	فَعَلَ fa’ala	He did	فُعِلَ fu’ila	He was done
2)	ضَرَبَ daraba	He beat.	ضُرِبَ duriba	He was beaten
3)	سَمِعَ sami’a	He heard.	سُمِعَ sumi’a	He was heard.



8. In the imperfect tense, the sign of the imperfect takes ُ ( dhommah ), the second radical takes َ ( fathah ) and the third radical remains unchanged. Kindly see Table 43 below.

TABLE 43 THE IMPERFECT TENSE

No	ACTIVE اَلْمَعْرُوْفُ	ENGLISH	PASSIVE اَلْمَجْهُوْلُ	ENGLISH
1)	يَفْعَلُ yaf’alu	He is doing.	يُفْعَلُ yuf’alu	He is being done.
2)	يَضْرِبُ yadribu	He is beating.	يُضْرَبُ yudrabu	He is being beaten.
3)	يَسْمَعُ yasma’u	He is hearing.	يُسْمَعُ yusma’u	He is being heard



9. The following table 44 shows the difference between active and passive sentences.

TABLE 44 ACTIVE AND PASSIVE SENTENCES

No	TYPES	EXAMPLES	ENGLISH
1)	ACTIVE اَلْمَعْرُوْفُ	زَرَاَ اَلْفَلَاحُ اَلْقُطْنَ zara-a alfalahu alqutna	The peasant cultivated cotton.
2)	PASSIVE اَلْمَجْهُوْلُ	زُرِاَ اَلْقُطْنُ zuri-a alqutnu	Cotton was cultivated.



10. The active sentence is analysed thus :
1. زَرَاَ is the active verb, اَلْمَعْرُوْفُ فَاعِلَهٌ اَلْفِعْلُ
2. اَلْفَلَاحُ is the subject or doer, فَاعِلٌ
3. اَلْقُطْنَ is the object, مَفْعُوْلٌ بِهِ
11. The passive sentence is analysed thus :
1. زُرِاَ is the passive verb, اَلْفِعْلُ اَلْمَجْهُوْلُ فَاعِلَهٌ
2. اَلْقُطْنُ is the substitute of the doer , نَائِبٌ فَاعِلٌ ( naib fa’il ).
12. The subject فَاعِلٌ ( faʿil ) and نَائِبٌ فَاعِلٌ ( naib fa’il ) must always be in the nominative case, مَرْفُوْعٌ ( marfuʿ), and any objects مَفْعُوْلٌ بِهِ ( maf’ulun bih ) must always be in the accusative case مَنْصُوْبٌ ( manṣub ).
13. A transitive verb, مُتَعَدِّي ( muta’addi ) is a verb that denotes an action which passes over from the doer or subject to an object. The verb زَرَاَ ( cultivated ) in the example above is a transitive verb.
14. An intransitive verb, on the other hand, expresses a state or condition or signifies an act which is confined to the subject. For example in the sentence جَلَسَ اَلْوَلَدُ عَلَى اَلْكُرْسِيٌ ( jalasa alwaladu ‘ala alkursi ), meaning “The boy sat on the chair”, جَلَسَ ( jalasa ) is an intransitive verb.
15. Only transitive verbs can be used in the passive voice.

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