Active voice is a grammatical voice common in many of the world's languages. It is the unmarked voice for clauses featuring a transitive verb in nominative–accusative languages, including English and most other Indo-European languages. A verb in such languages is usually in the active voice when the subject of the verb performs the action named.
Active voice is used in a clause whose subject expresses the main verb's agent. That is, the subject does the verb's designated action.[1] A clause whose agent is marked as grammatical subject is called an active clause. In contrast, a clause in which the subject has the role of patient or theme is named a passive clause, and its verb is expressed in passive voice. Many languages have both an active and a passive voice and this allows for greater flexibility in sentence construction, as either the semantic agent or patient may take the subject syntactic role.[2]
In a clause including an impersonal verb, the verb is active in form, but no agent is specified.
Examples
In the following examples, the active and passive voice are illustrated with pairs of sentences using the same transitive verb.
| Language | Active voice | Passive voice |
|---|---|---|
| Afrikaans | Die hond het die posbode gebyt The dog bit the postal carrier. |
Die posbode is deur die hond gebyt The postal carrier was bitten by the dog. |
| English | The dog bit the postal carrier. | The postal carrier was bitten by the dog. |
| Dutch | De hond beet de postbezorger The dog bit the postal carrier. |
De postbezorger werd gebeten door de hond The postal carrier was bitten by the dog. |
| Arabic | عَضّ 'ad الكلبُ alkalbu ساعي sa'eya البريد albareed The dog bit the postal carrier. |
عُضّ 'oud ساعي sa'eya البريد albareed بواسطة biwasitat الكلب alkalb The postal carrier was bitten by the dog. |
| Estonian | Koer hammustas postimeest The dog bit the postal carrier. |
Postimeest hammustas koer The postal carrier was bitten by the dog. |
| Finnish | Koira puri postimiestä The dog bit the postal carrier. |
Postimiestä puri koira The postal carrier was bitten by the dog. |
| French | Le chien a mordu le facteur The dog bit the postal carrier. |
Le facteur a été mordu par le chien The postal carrier was bitten by the dog. |
| German | Der Hund biss den Postboten The dog bit the postal carrier. |
Der Postbote wurde vom Hund gebissen The postal carrier was bitten by the dog. |
| Italian | Il cane ha morso il postino The dog bit the postal carrier. |
Il postino è stato morso dal cane The postal carrier was bitten by the dog. |
| Latin | Canis epistulārium momordit The dog bit the postman. |
Epistulārius a cane morsum erat The postman was bitten by the dog. |
| Korean | 개가 gaega 우편집배원을 upyeonjibbaewon-eul 물었다 mul-eossda A dog bit the postal carrier. |
우편집배원은 upyeonjibbaewon-eun 개에게 gaeege 물렸다 mullyeossda The postal carrier was bitten by a dog. |
| Japanese | 犬が Inu-ga 郵便 yūbin 配達員に haitatsuin-ni かんだ。 kanda. A dog bit the mailman. |
郵便 Yūbin 配達員が haitatsuin-ga 犬に inu-ni 噛まれた。 kamareta. The mailman was bitten by the dog. |
| Chinese | 狗 Gǒu 咬了 yǎole 邮递员。 yóudìyuán The dog bit the postal carrier. |
邮递员 Yóudìyuán 被 bèi 狗 gǒu 咬了。 yǎole The postal carrier was bitten by the dog. |
| Slovak | Pes uhryzol poštara. The dog bit the postal carrier. |
Poštár bol uhryznutý psom. The postal carrier was bitten by the dog. |
| Polish | Pies ugryzł listonosza The dog bit the postal carrier. |
Listonosz został ugryziony przez psa The postal carrier was bitten by the dog. |
| Spanish | El perro mordió al cartero The dog bit the postal carrier. |
El cartero fue mordido por el perro The postal carrier was bitten by the dog. |
| Swahili | Mbwa aliuma tarishi The dog bit the postal carrier. |
Tarishi aliumwa na mbwa The postal carrier was bitten by the dog. |
| Swedish | Hunden bet brevbäraren The dog bit the postal carrier. |
Brevbäraren bets av hunden The postal carrier was bitten by the dog. |
| Telugu | కుక్క 'kukka పోస్టల్ postal క్యారియర్ని carrierni కరిచింది karichindi The dog bit the postal carrier. |
పోస్టల్ postal క్యారియర్ carrier కుక్క kukka చేత cheta కరవబడింది karavabadindi The postal carrier was bitten by the dog. |
| Thai | หมา H̄mā กัด kạd บุรุษ burus̄ʹ ไปรษณีย์ pịrs̄ʹṇīy̒ The dog bit the postal carrier. |
บุรุษ Burus̄ʹ ไปรษณีย์ pịrs̄ʹṇīy̒ ถูก t̄hūk หมา h̄mā กัด kạd The postal carrier was bitten by the dog. |
| Filipino | ᜃᜒᜈᜄᜆ᜔ Kinagat ᜅ᜔ ng ᜀᜐᜓ aso ᜀᜅ᜔ ang ᜃᜍ᜔ᜆᜒᜍᜓ. kartero. The dog bit the postman. |
ᜈᜃᜄᜆ᜔ Nakagat ᜅ᜔ ng ᜀᜐᜓ aso ᜀᜅ᜔ ang ᜃᜍ᜔ᜆᜒᜍᜓ. kartero. The postman was bitten by the dog. |
| Cebuano | ᜄᜒᜉᜀᜃ᜔ Gipaak ᜐ sa ᜁᜍᜓ iro ᜀᜅ᜔ ang ᜃᜍ᜔ᜆᜒᜍᜓ. kartero. The dog bit the postman. |
ᜈᜉᜀᜃᜈ᜔ Napaakan ᜂᜄ᜔ og ᜁᜍᜓ iro ᜀᜅ᜔ ang ᜃᜍ᜔ᜆᜒᜍᜓ. kartero. The postman was bitten by the dog. |
| Ilocano | ᜃᜒᜈᜄᜆ᜔ Kinagat ᜆᜒ ti ᜀᜐᜓ aso ᜆᜒ ti ᜃᜍ᜔ᜆᜒᜍᜓ. kartero. The dog bit the postman. |
ᜈᜃᜄᜆ᜔ Nakagat ᜆᜒ ti ᜀᜐᜓ aso ᜆᜒ ti ᜃᜍ᜔ᜆᜒᜍᜓ. kartero. The postman was bitten by the dog. |
See also
- Antipassive voice
- Mediopassive voice
- E-Prime, a version of the English language that excludes forms of the verb to be