Passive Voice With būti
Namas buvo pastatytas. = The house was built. Knyga buvo parašyta. = The book was written.
How It Works
Why use the passive. The passive makes the affected thing the grammatical subject in this pattern. Often the doer is unknown or does not matter: Vilnius pirmą kartą paminėtas 1323 metais. (Vilnius was first mentioned in 1323.)
Būti sets the tense.
- Past: Namas buvo pastatytas 1990 metais. (The house was built in 1990.)
- Present: Laiškas jau (yra) išsiųstas. (The letter has already been sent.)
- Future: Visi bilietai bus parduoti iki penktadienio. (All tickets will be sold by Friday.)
Agreement. The participle matches the subject in gender and number: tiltas pastatytas, mokykla pastatyta, namai pastatyti, durys užrakintos. Years are read as ordinals, as in 1990 metais.
Naming the doer. If you want to say who did it, use the genitive, not the instrumental: Namas buvo pastatytas mano senelio. (The house was built by my grandfather.) See the agent in the genitive.
Passive or "by itself"? Durys buvo atidarytos means someone opened the door. Durys atsidarė describes the door opening without naming an agent. For an action still going on, Lithuanian uses the present passive participle: Namas statomas. (The house is being built.)
Examples (6)
- Namas buvo pastatytas 1990 metais.
The house was built in 1990.
Read the year as tūkstantis devyni šimtai devyniasdešimtaisiais.
- Parduotuvė uždaryta.
The shop is closed.
Present passive with yra left out.
- Laiškas jau išsiųstas.
The letter has already been sent.
- Vilnius pirmą kartą paminėtas 1323 metais.
Vilnius was first mentioned in 1323.
- Durys buvo užrakintos.
The door was locked.
Durys is feminine plural, so užrakintos.
- Visi bilietai bus parduoti iki penktadienio.
All the tickets will be sold by Friday.
Common Mistakes
Not making the participle agree with the subject.
Knyga buvo parašytas prieš šimtą metų.Knyga buvo parašyta prieš šimtą metų.Knyga is feminine, so the participle ends in -a.
Putting the doer in the instrumental.
Namas buvo pastatytas mano tėvu.Namas buvo pastatytas mano tėvo.Lithuanian marks the doer of a passive with the genitive, not the instrumental as in Russian or Polish.
Using the active -ęs participle for the passive.
Tiltas buvo pastatęs prieš šimtą metų.Tiltas buvo pastatytas prieš šimtą metų.Buvo pastatęs means "had built", as if the bridge built something. The passive needs -tas.
How It Connects
Learn This First
The passive combines a form of būti with a passive participle.
- Past Passive Participle: -tas, -taPast Passive Participle
Know the past passive participle describing the affected subject.
Level 4 - būti: esu, esi, yraThe Verb Būti in the Present
Know the auxiliary būti that carries tense and person.
Level 1 - Past -oSimple Past in -o
Recognize past forms such as buvo in the past passive.
Level 2
Related Patterns
- Agent in the Genitive
The doer of a passive goes in the genitive.
Level 5 - Impersonal Passive: buvo nuspręsta
The impersonal passive has no subject and uses the neuter -ta.
Level 5 - Present Passive Participle -masPresent Passive Participle
For an action in progress, use the -mas participle: statomas.
Level 5 - Things That Happen by Themselves
These intransitive change-of-state verbs describe an event without naming its agent or cause.
Level 4 - Years With Definite Ordinals
Passive sentences often say when something was done.
Level 3
Words in This Pattern
Practice Passive Voice With būti in Bubblegum
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