LEARN KOREAN (한국어) [GRAMMAR] #1

KOREAN PASSIVE VERBS - 하다 TO 되다

I've told you twice before that verbs ending in 하다 can usually be separated from 하다 to create a noun form of that verb. 하다 then has the meaning of "do":

나는 일했어 - I worked
which has the same meaning of:
나는 일을 했어 - I did work/I worked

When dealing with 하다 verbs, most of the time you can simply exchange 하다 with 되다, to make that verb passive. For example:

포함하다  - to include
포함되다 - to be included

제공하다 - to provide
제공되다 - to be provided

대체하다 - to replace
대체되다 - to be replaced

You can use passive verbs to create sentences that have similar meaning to sentences with each respective active verb. Structurally the sentences will be different however, because the passive version of a verb cannot act on an object. For example:

이 값은 세금을 포함해요 - This price includes tax
세금은 포함돼요 - The tax is included

저는 점심을 준비했어요 - I prepared (the) lunch
점심이 준비되었어요 - (The) lunch was prepared

회사는 기계를 대체했어 - The company replaced the machine
기계는 대체되었어 - The machine was replaced

Adding 어 to 되 creates either 되어 or 돼 with no difference in meaning. (For example, 되다 in the present tense can either be 돼 or 되어. In the past tense, it can either be 되었다 or 됐다.

Often the speaker wants to indicate by whom/what the lunch was prepared, or by whom/what the machine was replaced. For example:

– The lunch was prepared by the school
– The machine was replaced by the company

In the examples above, although we are still using a passive verb, information about how the passive verb occurred is given. This is an example of when it is much more common to use the active form over the passive form in Korean. In Korean (and most likely in English as well), it would be much more natural to say "I prepared the lunch" instead of "The lunch was prepared by me." Nonetheless, the grammar within these sentences is important, so I need to continue teaching it to you here.

In order to create these sentences, you need to remember that sentences with a predicating passive verb can NOT have an object – which means that you CANNOT attach ~를/을 to "the school" or "the company." For example, the sentence below would be ridiculous and probably wouldn't be understood at all:

점심이 학교를 준비되었어요

In these types of sentences, in order to indicate how/by which means the passive verb occurs, you need to use different particles. If this part of a sentence is a person, it is acceptable to attach the particle "에게" to the noun. For example:

그것은 이해되었어 - It was understood
그것은 학생들에게 이해되었어 - It was understood by the students

집은 청소되었어 - The house was cleaned
집은 아버지에게 청소되었어 - The house was cleaned by my dad

Again, I highly suggest that you refrain from using this passive voice in Korean. I need you to understand what is being introduced here so I can build on it in later lessons. The two sentences above would be better said as:

학생들은 그것을 이해했어요 - The students understood that
아버지는 집을 청소했어요 - My dad cleaned the house

The particle ~에 can be used when this part of a sentence is a non-person. For example:

점심이 학교에 준비되었어요 - The lunch was provided by the school

The particle "~에 의해" can also be attached to nouns that are non-people in these situations, but the distinction between ~에 and ~에 의해 isn't formally introduced, Since I'm advising against using this passive form, it's best to focus on the current presentation.

Also, remember the meaning of ~(으)로. You learned that ~(으)로 can be used to indicate with what tool/device/method/material something is carried out. This means that you can say something like:

저는 집을 청소기로 청소했어요 - I cleaned the house with a vacuum cleaner

But, if you wanted to say that sentence by using the passive verb (to be cleaned), you would have to again use ~(으)로 as the particle attached to 청소기 because that was the method/tool that was used for it to be cleaned:

집은 청소기로 청소되었어요 - the house was cleaned by a vacuum cleaner, whereas:
집은 청소기에 청소되었어요 - is not correct, although most Korean people would probably understand you.

Wow. Confusing.

It's confusing for me, I'm sure it is confusing to you, and it is actually confusing to Korean people as well – so don't get too hung up on the difference between ~에/에게 /~(으)로 in these situations because, as I said – Korean people don't use passive verbs as much as they use active verbs.

What do you need to take from all of this? Because it is so confusing, I wrote the main points that you should know:

1. Clauses ending in a passive verb can never have a word with an object marker (를/을) within the clause.
2. Passive verbs are conjugated just like active verbs, even though they feel like adjectives
3. Though clauses ending in a passive verb cannot have an object in the clause, other particles can be attached to nouns to indicate how the passive action occurred. These particles are usually:
•에 – to indicate that something occurred due to a non-person
•에 의해 – to indicate that something occurred due to a non-person, but we haven't studied this specifically yet
•에게 – to indicate that something occurred due to a person
•~(으)로 – to indicate the tool/method by which something occurred

One other thing. Just because a noun in a passive sentence has the particle ~에 (or ~에게, or ~에 의해 for that matter) attached to it, it doesn't necessarily mean that is the noun that caused the passive verb to occur. ~에 could also have its more familiar function of designating a place. For example, we saw this sentence before:

세금은 포함돼요 - the tax is included

I could put the noun "값" in the sentence to indicate the location of where the tax is included in.

세금은 값에 포함된다 - The tax is included in the price

Notice in the example above that the particle "~에" is not denoting that the tax is included by the price. Rather, it is included in the price. Being able to recognize things like this just takes practice and your understanding of this will increase as you progress through your studies. For now, try not to focus too much on the tiny parts of this lessons, and focus more on the big-picture.