Passive voice in Croatian
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Sign up for freeIf a subject of a sentence acts upon an object, the sentence is written in the active form.
Ona čita knjigu. - She reads a book.
An alternative to this sentence structure is the passive voice. The passive voice means that the action is performed over the subject.
Knjiga je pročitana. - The book is read.
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In Croatian language the passive voice is formed in two ways:
The auxiliary verb "biti" in any active tense form + passive verbal adjective
Brod je bio izgrađen. - The boat was build. (In the past tense)
Ona će biti pohvaljena. - She will be praised.
Using the particle "se" next to the verb in it's active form
Brod se gradi. - The boat is being build.
Voda se prolijeva. - The water is being spilled.
As an example of the conjugation for every tense is chosen the verb "graditi" (to build) in the 3rd person singular. Other persons follow corresponding tense conjugation rules.
Ova kuća biva građena. - This house is being build.
Ova kuća će biti građena. - This house will be build.
Ova kuće bude građena. - This house will be build.
Ova kuća je bila građena. - This house was build.
Ova kuća bijaše građena. - This house was build.
Ova kuća bijaše bila građena prije nego sam se ja rodio. - This house had been build, before I was born.
Ova kuća bi građena u 19. stoljeću. - This house was build in 19th century.
Remember the formation of the passive voice and remember to follow the general conjugation rules.