Passive Voice
There are two ways to form the passive voice in Czech:
1. By the verb být (to be) and the passive participle (as in English):
- Město bylo založeno ve 14. století. The town was founded in the 14th century.
2. By adding the reflexive pronoun se:
- Ono se neudělalo. It has not been done.
- To se vyrábí v Číně. It is produced in China.
However, the use of se is not exclusive to the passive voice.
Read more about this topic: Czech Conjugation
Famous quotes containing the words passive and/or voice:
“It is my conviction that in general women are more snobbish and class conscious than men and that these ignoble traits are a product of men’s attitude toward women and women’s passive acceptance of this attitude.”
—Mary Barnett Gilson (1877–?)
“English audiences of working people are like an instrument that responds to the player. Thought ripples up and down them, and if in some heart the speaker strikes a dissonance there is a swift answer. Always the voice speaks from gallery or pit, the terrible voice which detaches itself in every English crowd, full of caustic wit, full of irony or, maybe, approval.”
—Mary Heaton Vorse (1874–1966)