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 voice, passive and/or voice:
“We have not passed that subtle line between childhood and adulthood until we move from the passive voice to the active voice—that is, until we have stopped saying “It got lost,” and say, “I lost it.””
—Sydney J. Harris (b. 1917)
“...if you are to gain any great amount of good from the world, you must attain a passive condition of mind. ...it is never to be forgotten that it is the rest of the world and not you that holds the great share of the world’s wealth, and that you must allow yourself to be acted upon by the world, if you would become a sharer in the gain of all the ages to your own infinite advantage.”
—Anna C. Brackett (1836–1911)
“Ships that pass in the night, and speak each other in passing,
Only a signal shown and a distant voice in the darkness;
So on the ocean of life we pass and speak one another,
Only a look and a voice; then darkness again and a silence.”
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882)