Passive participle formation

Level 4

The příčestí trpné (passive participle) is a formal, short-form verbal adjective used with the auxiliary verb být to form the analytic (periphrastic) passive voice. It is primarily found in written, official, or literary Czech.

How It Works

The passive voice is formed by pairing the conjugated auxiliary verb být with the passive participle (být + passive participle). Forming the passive participle depends on the verb's infinitive or past stem. The participle must agree with the subject in gender and number. The singular endings are listed below, while the plural endings are: masculine animate -áni / -eni / -ti; masculine inanimate and feminine -ány / -eny / -ty; neuter -ána / -ena / -ta.

  • -án / -ána / -áno: Verbs ending in -at usually take this ending (e.g., napsat → napsán). This includes the very common verbs ending in -ovat, which take the -ován ending (e.g., milovat → milován, kupovat → kupován).
  • -en / -ena / -eno: Verbs ending in -it, -et, or consonant stems take this ending. This frequently triggers consonant mutations in the stem: t > c (platit → placen), d > z (nahradit → nahrazen), s > š (nosit → nošen), z > ž (urazit → uražen), st > šť (pustit → puštěn). However, labial consonants (p, b, v, m) do not mutate and simply attach the ending (e.g., koupit → koupen). Note that some -nout verbs (especially those with roots ending in k, h, ch, sk) also take the -en ending and trigger mutations (e.g., obléknout → oblečen), sometimes existing alongside -t forms.
  • -t / -ta / -to: Verbs ending in a vowel + -t or many -nout verbs take this ending. Importantly, long vowels in the stem usually shorten before the -t ending (e.g., pít → pit, mýt → myt, zabít → zabit, krýt → kryt).

Verbal Aspect:
The passive voice interacts closely with verbal aspect. Imperfective verbs describe an ongoing process (e.g., Dům je stavěn. - The house is being built.). Perfective verbs describe a resulting state in the present tense (e.g., Dům je postaven. - The house is built.), but in the past or future tenses, they describe completed actions or events (e.g., Dům byl postaven v roce 2020. - The house was built in 2020.).

Register and Usage:
The short-form passive participle is highly formal and bookish. In everyday spoken Czech, native speakers default to the active voice, the reflexivní pasivum se (for general processes), or the long adjectival form (e.g., saying je to napsaný instead of je to napsáno).

Syntax Restriction:
Unlike English, only the direct object (accusative) of an active sentence can become the subject of a Czech passive sentence. You cannot make an indirect object the subject. For example, the active sentence Dali mu knihu. (They gave him a book.) becomes Byla mu dána kniha. (A book was given to him.), where the book is the subject. You cannot say Byl dán knihu. (He was given a book.). However, verbs taking the dative case can form an impersonal passive (e.g., Bylo mu pomoženo. - He was helped.), where the verb takes the default neuter singular form.

Expressing the Agent:
To express the agent of a passive sentence (who performed the action), Czech uses the bare instrumental case without a preposition. For example: Kniha byla napsána Karlem Čapkem. (The book was written by Karel Čapek).

Examples (4)

  1. Ten dům byl postaven v roce 1925.

    That house was built in 1925.

    Word by Word: That house was built in year 1925.

    Standard formal usage with a perfective verb, expressing a specific completed result. The ending '-en' agrees with the masculine inanimate subject.

  2. Dohoda byla podepsána oběma stranami.

    The agreement was signed by both parties.

    Word by Word: Agreement was signed by-both by-parties.

    Shows the unique ability of this pattern to take an expressed agent in the instrumental case (oběma stranami). The ending '-ána' agrees with the feminine subject.

  3. Všechny pokoje jsou už uklizeny.

    All rooms are already cleaned.

    Word by Word: All rooms are already cleaned.

    Expresses a state resulting from a completed action. The ending '-eny' agrees with the masculine inanimate plural subject.

  4. Účet musí být zaplacen do konce měsíce.

    The bill must be paid by the end of the month.

    Word by Word: Bill must be paid until end of-month.

    Demonstrates the consonant mutation (t > c) from the verb 'zaplatit' to the participle 'zaplacen'.

Common Mistakes

  • Using the short-form passive in casual talk, for example chatting with a friend in a pub.

    Different MeaningTen dopis je už napsán.
    Ten dopis je už napsaný.

    'Ten dopis je už napsán' is correct, but it is bookish. Because it mirrors the English 'to be + past participle', English speakers often overuse it. Using the short-form příčestí trpné in casual conversation sounds unnaturally stiff and robotic. Native speakers use the long adjectival form or the active voice instead.

  • Making the indirect object the subject of a passive sentence (English syntax transfer).

    Byl jsem dán knihu.
    Byla mi dána kniha.

    In English, you can say 'I was given a book.' In Czech, this direct translation is strictly ungrammatical. Only the direct object (accusative) can become the subject of a passive sentence. The indirect object must remain in the dative case ('mi').

How It Connects

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Passive participle formationLevel 4

Learn This First

To form and use the passive participle, you need to understand how verb stems change (similar to the past tense), how to choose the correct aspect (usually perfective for results), and how the resulting form must agree in gender and number with the noun it describes.

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Patterns that build on this one.