B1 · Intermediate Chapter 35

Passive Voice (ተ-)

1 Total Rules
1 min
Rules in This Chapter Quick Practice

Chapter in 30 Seconds

Master the art of focusing on the action rather than the actor using the 'tä-' prefix.

  • Identify verbs transformed into passive or reflexive forms.
  • Construct sentences where the subject receives the action.
  • Distinguish between passive and reflexive meanings of the same verb.
Shift your focus: from the actor to the action.

What You'll Learn

Using the 'tä-' prefix to indicate that an action is performed on the subject. We also cover reflexive meanings.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:

  1. 1
    By the end you will be able to: Transform active verbs into passive/reflexive forms to describe events where the subject is the recipient.

Tips & Tricks (1)

💡

Check the root

Always find the root first. If you know the active root, adding 'tä-' is easy.
frontend.learn_grammar.from_rule: Passive Prefix 'tä-'

Key Vocabulary (5)

ተሰበረ (täsäbbärä) it was broken ተገኘ (tägäññä) it was found ተጠራ (tätärra) he was called ተዘጋ (täzägga) it was closed ተለበሰ (täläbbäsä) it was worn

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Review Summary

  • tä- + verb root

Common Mistakes

Passive verbs do not take direct objects in the same way active ones do. The thing affected becomes the subject.

Wrong: እሱ ተሰበረ መስኮት
Correct: መስኮቱ ተሰበረ

In passive sentences, the receiver of the action is the subject.

Wrong: እሱ ተቀረጸ ቪዲዮ
Correct: ቪዲዮው ተቀረጸ

Ensure the verb agrees with the subject's gender and number.

Wrong: ተበላ እራት
Correct: እራቱ ተበላ

Rules in This Chapter (1)

1

Passive Prefix 'tä-'

B1

Next Steps

You are making incredible progress! Keep practicing these transformations to sound more native every day.

Read a news article and find passive verbs.

Continue to: Causative Verbs (አ-)

Quick Practice (3)

Correct the sentence.

Find and fix the mistake:

መጽሐፉ ተጻፈ በ እሱ።

✓ Correct! ✗ Not quite. Correct answer: መጽሐፉ ተጻፈ።
No agent in passive.

frontend.learn_grammar.from_rule: Passive Prefix 'tä-'

Which is the correct passive form?

Which means 'It was bought'?

✓ Correct! ✗ Not quite. Correct answer: ተገዛ
Correct prefix and agreement.

frontend.learn_grammar.from_rule: Passive Prefix 'tä-'

Fill in the blank with the passive form of the root.

መስኮቱ ___ (ሰበረ).

✓ Correct! ✗ Not quite. Correct answer: ተሰበረ
Passive prefix 'tä-' + root.

frontend.learn_grammar.from_rule: Passive Prefix 'tä-'

Score: /3

Common Questions (2)

No, only transitive verbs that can logically take a passive form.
You don't. The passive voice is specifically used to omit the agent.
Previous Chapter
Relative Clauses (የ-)
Next Chapter
Causative Verbs (አ-)
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