-il/-l/-(i)n

The Passive Voice

Level 3

Stem + -il/-l/-in/-n + tense ending = passive: Xat yozildi (The letter was written), Xona tozalandi (The room was cleaned).

How It Works

1. Choosing the shape

  • After a consonant other than l, add -il: yoz → yozildi, och → ochildi, qur → qurildi.
  • After a vowel, add -l: soʻra → soʻraldi, oʻqi → oʻqildi, yasa → yasaldi. The short verbs de and ye add -yil: deyildi (was said), yeyildi (was eaten).
  • After l, add -in: ol → olindi, qil → qilindi, bil → bilindi.
  • After la, add -n: tozala → tozalandi, ishla → ishlandi, boshla → boshlandi.

The last two rules keep two l sounds from standing side by side.

2. Other endings follow the passive
yozildi (was written), yoziladi (is written, will be written), yozilyapti (is being written), yozilgan (has been written). The negative -ma- also comes after it: yozilmadi (was not written). See Negative Verbs With -ma-.

3. Naming the doer
Usually the doer is left out. In formal writing you can name it with By (in Passives): Bu roman Abdulla Qodiriy tomonidan yozilgan. (This novel was written by Abdulla Qodiriy.)

4. Compound verbs
In Compound Verbs With qilmoq, only qilmoq becomes passive: tarjima qilmoq → tarjima qilindi (was translated).

5. Things that happen on their own
Uzbek often uses the passive where English just says something happened: Dars boshlandi. (The lesson began.) Doʻkon yopildi. (The shop closed.)

6. The same shapes make reflexive verbs
Doing Something to Yourself: -(i)n uses the same suffixes, so one form can have both meanings. To check, ask kim tomonidan? (by whom?). If that question fits, the verb is passive. If you can add oʻzi (by himself), it is reflexive. Kiyimlar yuvildi (The clothes were washed) is passive. Bola yuvindi (The child washed himself) is reflexive.

Examples (6)

  1. Xat kecha yuborildi.

    The letter was sent yesterday.

    Word by Word: letter yesterday was-sent

    Yubor ends in a consonant, so it takes -il: yuborildi.

  2. Bu uy 1990-yilda qurilgan.

    This house was built in 1990.

  3. Bu savol koʻp soʻraladi.

    This question is asked a lot.

    Soʻra ends in a vowel, so it takes -l: soʻraladi.

  4. Xona tozalandi.

    The room has been cleaned.

    Tozala ends in la, so it takes -n: tozalandi.

  5. Kitob oʻzbek tiliga tarjima qilindi.

    The book was translated into Uzbek.

    Qil ends in l, so it takes -in: qilindi.

  6. Dars soat toʻqqizda boshlanadi.

    The lesson starts at nine.

Common Mistakes

  • Using -l after a stem that ends in la.

    Xona tozalaldi.
    Xona tozalandi.

    After la the passive is -n, so two l sounds do not meet: tozalandi, ishlandi.

  • Using -il after a stem that ends in l.

    Pul bankdan olildi.
    Pul bankdan olindi.

    After l the passive is -in: olindi, qilindi.

  • Forgetting the passive suffix.

    Bu kitob koʻp yil oldin yozdi.
    Bu kitob koʻp yil oldin yozildi.

    The speaker means the book was written. Without the passive, yozdi says the book itself wrote something.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

-il/-l/-(i)nLevel 3The Passive Voice

Learn This First

Builds on Compound Verbs With qilmoq.

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Patterns that build on this one.