Present Passive Participle -mas

Present Passive Participle

Level 5

-mas (masculine) and -ma (feminine) describe something that is being done or is usually done: Namas yra statomas. (The house is being built.)

How It Works

1. How to make it. Start from the third-person present and add -mas, -ma:

  • stato → statomas (being built), rašo → rašomas (being written)
  • myli → mylimas (loved), girdi → girdimas (heard)
  • perka → perkamas (being bought), leidžia → leidžiamas (published, issued)

It declines like an adjective in -as, -a and agrees with its noun: statomas namas, tiesiama gatvė, statomi namai.

2. Passive with būti. The action is still going on, or it happens regularly:

  • Namas yra statomas. (The house is being built.) The present-tense yra is often left out: Mūsų gatvėje statomas naujas namas.
  • Tiltas buvo taisomas visą vasarą. (The bridge was being repaired all summer.)

3. -mas or -tas? -mas shows the process; the past passive participle in -tas shows the result: Namas statomas (it is being built) but Namas pastatytas (it has been built). See also the passive with būti.

4. Who does it. The doer goes into the genitive, with no preposition: Jis visų mylimas (Everyone loves him).

5. As an adjective. Many of these participles are everyday describing words: mylimas žmogus (a loved person), žinomas rašytojas (a well-known writer), mėgstamas patiekalas (a dish you love), gerai matomas (clearly visible). Some also mean able to be done, as in valgomas grybas (an edible mushroom): see -mas meaning able to be.

6. The neuter -ma. With no subject, the neuter form makes impersonal sentences like Sakoma, kad… (It is said that…): see the impersonal passive.

Examples (6)

  1. Mūsų gatvėje statomas naujas namas.

    A new house is being built on our street.

    Stato → statomas. The present-tense yra is left out here.

  2. Tiltas buvo taisomas visą vasarą.

    The bridge was being repaired all summer.

    Buvo + -mas: the work was going on in the past.

  3. Šis laikraštis leidžiamas kas savaitę.

    This newspaper is published every week.

    A regular, repeated action.

  4. Jis visų mylimas.

    Everyone loves him.

    Literally, he is loved by all. Visų is the doer in the genitive.

  5. Tai mano mėgstamas patiekalas.

    This is a dish I love.

    Mėgsta → mėgstamas works like an adjective.

  6. Iš čia gerai matomas visas miestas.

    The whole city can be seen well from here.

    Matomas means visible.

Common Mistakes

  • Using -tas when the action is still going on.

    Mūsų gatvėje dabar pastatytas naujas namas.
    Mūsų gatvėje dabar statomas naujas namas.

    The speaker means the house is being built right now. Pastatytas would mean it is already finished.

  • Not making the participle agree with its noun.

    Ši knyga dažnai skaitomas.
    Ši knyga dažnai skaitoma.

    Knyga is feminine, so the participle takes -ma.

How It Connects

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Present Passive Participle -masLevel 5Present Passive Participle

Learn This First

The present passive participle is formed from the present third-person form and describes an affected noun.

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Patterns that build on this one.