Active voice is a grammatical voice prevalent in many of the world's languages. It is the default voice for clauses that feature a transitive verb in nominative–accusative languages, including English and most Indo-European languages. In these languages, a verb is typically in the active voice when the subject of the verb is the doer of the action.
In active voice, the subject of the sentence performs the action expressed by the main verb and is thus the agent. For example, in the sentence "The cat ate the fish", 'the cat' is the agent performing the action of eating. This contrasts with the passive voice, where the subject is the recipient of the action, such as in "The fish was eaten by the cat." The use of both active and passive voices in languages enhances versatility in sentence construction, allowing either the semantic agent or patient to assume the syntactic role of the subject.
Even in sentences with impersonal verbs, where no agent is specified, the verb form remains active, such as "It rains."
Examples
Below are examples demonstrating the active and passive voices with pairs of sentences using the same transitive verb across various languages.
| Language | Active voice | Passive voice |
|---|---|---|
| Afrikaans | Die hond het die posbode gebyt Die hond het die posbode gebyt The dog bit the postal carrier. |
Die posbode is deur die hond gebyt 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 De hond beet de postbezorger The dog bit the postal carrier. |
De postbezorger werd gebeten door de hond 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 عَضّ الكلبُ ساعي البريد 'ad alkalbu sa'eya albareed The dog bit the postal carrier. |
عُضّ 'oud ساعي sa'eya البريد albareed بواسطة biwasitat الكلب alkalb عُضّ ساعي البريد بواسطة الكلب 'oud sa'eya albareed biwasitat alkalb The postal carrier was bitten by the dog. |
| French | Le chien a mordu le facteur Le chien a mordu le facteur The dog bit the postal carrier. |
Le facteur a été mordu par le chien Le facteur a été mordu par le chien The postal carrier was bitten by the dog. |
| German | Der Hund biss den Postboten Der Hund biss den Postboten The dog bit the postal carrier. |
Der Postbote wurde vom Hund gebissen Der Postbote wurde vom Hund gebissen The postal carrier was bitten by the dog. |
| Italian | Il cane ha morso il postino Il cane ha morso il postino The dog bit the postal carrier. |
Il postino è stato morso dal cane Il postino è stato morso dal cane The postal carrier was bitten by the dog. |
| Latin | Canis epistulārium momordit Canis epistulārium momordit The dog bit the postman. |
Epistulārius a cane morsum erat Epistulārius a cane morsum erat The postman was bitten by the dog. |
| Korean | 개가 gaega 우편집배원을 upyeonjibbaewon-eul 물었다 mul-eossda 개가 우편집배원을 물었다 gaega upyeonjibbaewon-eul mul-eossda A dog bit the postal carrier. |
우편집배원은 upyeonjibbaewon-eun 개에게 gaeege 물렸다 mullyeossda 우편집배원은 개에게 물렸다 upyeonjibbaewon-eun gaeege 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. 犬が 郵便 配達員に かんだ。 Inu-ga yūbin haitatsuin-ni kanda. A dog bit the mailman. |
郵便 Yūbin 配達員が haitatsuin-ga 犬に inu-ni 噛まれた。 kamareta. 郵便 配達員が 犬に 噛まれた。 Yūbin haitatsuin-ga inu-ni kamareta. The mailman was bitten by the dog. |
| Chinese | 狗 Gǒu 咬了 yǎole 邮递员。 yóudìyuán 狗 咬了 邮递员。 Gǒu yǎole yóudìyuán The dog bit the postal carrier. |
邮递员 Yóudìyuán 被 bèi 狗 gǒu 咬了。 yǎole 邮递员 被 狗 咬了。 Yóudìyuán bèi gǒu yǎole The postal carrier was bitten by the dog. |
| Slovak | Pes uhryzol poštara. Pes uhryzol poštara. The dog bit the postal carrier. |
Poštár bol uhryznutý psom. Poštár bol uhryznutý psom. The postal carrier was bitten by the dog. |
| Polish | Pies ugryzł listonosza Pies ugryzł listonosza The dog bit the postal carrier. |
Listonosz został ugryziony przez psa Listonosz został ugryziony przez psa The postal carrier was bitten by the dog. |
| Spanish | El perro mordió al cartero El perro mordió al cartero The dog bit the postal carrier. |
El cartero fue mordido por el perro El cartero fue mordido por el perro The postal carrier was bitten by the dog. |
| Swahili | Mbwa aliuma tarishi Mbwa aliuma tarishi The dog bit the postal carrier. |
Tarishi aliumwa na mbwa Tarishi aliumwa na mbwa The postal carrier was bitten by the dog. |
| Swedish | Hunden bet brevbäraren Hunden bet brevbäraren The dog bit the postal carrier. |
Brevbäraren bets av hunden Brevbäraren bets av hunden The postal carrier was bitten by the dog. |
| Telugu | కుక్క 'kukka పోస్టల్ postal క్యారియర్ని carrierni కరిచింది karichindi కుక్క పోస్టల్ క్యారియర్ని కరిచింది 'kukka postal carrierni karichindi The dog bit the postal carrier. |
పోస్టల్ postal క్యారియర్ carrier కుక్క kukka చేత cheta కరవబడింది karavabadindi పోస్టల్ క్యారియర్ కుక్క చేత కరవబడింది postal carrier kukka cheta karavabadindi The postal carrier was bitten by the dog. |
| Thai | หมา H̄mā กัด kạd บุรุษ burus̄ʹ ไปรษณีย์ pịrs̄ʹṇīy̒ หมา กัด บุรุษ ไปรษณีย์ H̄mā kạd burus̄ʹ pịrs̄ʹṇīy̒ The dog bit the postal carrier. |
บุรุษ Burus̄ʹ ไปรษณีย์ pịrs̄ʹṇīy̒ ถูก t̄hūk หมา h̄mā กัด kạd บุรุษ ไปรษณีย์ ถูก หมา กัด Burus̄ʹ pịrs̄ʹṇīy̒ t̄hūk h̄mā kạd The postal carrier was bitten by the dog. |
| Filipino | ᜃᜒᜈᜄᜆ᜔ Kinagat ᜅ᜔ ng ᜀᜐᜓ aso ᜀᜅ᜔ ang ᜃᜍ᜔ᜆᜒᜍᜓ. kartero. ᜃᜒᜈᜄᜆ᜔ ᜅ᜔ ᜀᜐᜓ ᜀᜅ᜔ ᜃᜍ᜔ᜆᜒᜍᜓ. Kinagat ng aso ang kartero. The dog bit the postman. |
ᜈᜃᜄᜆ᜔ Nakagat ᜅ᜔ ng ᜀᜐᜓ aso ᜀᜅ᜔ ang ᜃᜍ᜔ᜆᜒᜍᜓ. kartero. ᜈᜃᜄᜆ᜔ ᜅ᜔ ᜀᜐᜓ ᜀᜅ᜔ ᜃᜍ᜔ᜆᜒᜍᜓ. Nakagat ng aso ang kartero. The postman was bitten by the dog. |
| Cebuano | ᜄᜒᜉᜀᜃ᜔ Gipaak ᜐ sa ᜁᜍᜓ iro ᜀᜅ᜔ ang ᜃᜍ᜔ᜆᜒᜍᜓ. kartero. ᜄᜒᜉᜀᜃ᜔ ᜐ ᜁᜍᜓ ᜀᜅ᜔ ᜃᜍ᜔ᜆᜒᜍᜓ. Gipaak sa iro ang kartero. The dog bit the postman. |
ᜈᜉᜀᜃᜈ᜔ Napaakan ᜂᜄ᜔ og ᜁᜍᜓ iro ᜀᜅ᜔ ang ᜃᜍ᜔ᜆᜒᜍᜓ. kartero. ᜈᜉᜀᜃᜈ᜔ ᜂᜄ᜔ ᜁᜍᜓ ᜀᜅ᜔ ᜃᜍ᜔ᜆᜒᜍᜓ. Napaakan og iro ang kartero. The postman was bitten by the dog. |
| Ilocano | ᜃᜒᜈᜄᜆ᜔ Kinagat ᜆᜒ ti ᜀᜐᜓ aso ᜆᜒ ti ᜃᜍ᜔ᜆᜒᜍᜓ. kartero. ᜃᜒᜈᜄᜆ᜔ ᜆᜒ ᜀᜐᜓ ᜆᜒ ᜃᜍ᜔ᜆᜒᜍᜓ. Kinagat ti aso ti kartero. The dog bit the postman. |
ᜈᜃᜄᜆ᜔ Nakagat ᜆᜒ ti ᜀᜐᜓ aso ᜆᜒ ti ᜃᜍ᜔ᜆᜒᜍᜓ. kartero. ᜈᜃᜄᜆ᜔ ᜆᜒ ᜀᜐᜓ ᜆᜒ ᜃᜍ᜔ᜆᜒᜍᜓ. Nakagat ti aso ti kartero. The postman was bitten by the dog. |
See also
- Anti-passive voice
- Mediopassive voice
- E-Prime, a version of the English language that excludes forms of the verb to be
References
- O'Grady, William, John Archibald, Mark Aronoff, and Janie Rees-Miller (eds.) (2001). Contemporary Linguistics: An Introduction Fourth edition. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's. ISBN 0-312-24738-9
- Saeed, John (1997). Semantics. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-20035-5