Expressed Agent in the Passive

The пасив із вираженим діячем (Passive with an Expressed Agent) allows you to name the performer of an action while keeping the focus on the result.

1. Grammatical Structure:
The agent is expressed using the орудний діяча (Instrumental of Agent). It is used with passive participles ending in -ний (e.g., написаний) or -тий (e.g., відкритий). Importantly, these participles are almost always formed from verbs of the perfective aspect. Using an imperfective participle with an expressed agent is extremely rare and usually sounds unnatural in modern Ukrainian. In these sentences, the object of the action becomes the nominative subject.

2. The -но/-то Restriction:
It is a common syntactic error to add an agent to impersonal forms in -но/-то. These forms are strictly agentless and focus only on the result. If you must name the agent, you should use the active voice. Note that in agentless -но/-то sentences, the object remains in the accusative case (e.g., Написано статтю).

• Incorrect: Закон прийнято Верховною Радою.
• Correct: Верховна Рада прийняла закон.

3. Stylistic Nuance:
While this construction appears in older formal texts, modern Ukrainian linguistic standards often consider the passive voice with an expressed instrumental agent a stylistic error, a Russianism, or heavy bureaucratese (канцелярит). Native editors actively flag these constructions. Instead of using the passive, you should almost always use the active voice for clarity and directness.

4. Agent vs. Means:
Context and animacy distinguish the діяч (agent) from the means/tool. The agent is typically an animate noun or an institution, whereas the means is inanimate:

• Написаний автором (Agent, animate: by the author).
• Написаний ручкою (Means, inanimate: with a pen).