Are Passive Sentences Transitive or Intransitive?

Passive sentences are uniquely formed from verbs that are inherently transitive, meaning they require a direct object in their active form. However, once a verb is transformed into the passive voice, the verb within that passive sentence no longer takes a direct object. This structural change means that while their origin is always transitive, the resulting passive construction itself behaves much like an intransitive verb in terms of its object requirement.

Understanding Transitive and Intransitive Verbs

To fully grasp the nature of passive sentences, it's essential to first understand the distinction between transitive and intransitive verbs.

• Transitive Verbs: These verbs express an action that is performed on a direct object. The action "transfers" from the subject to the object.

  • Characteristics:
    • They always require a direct object to complete their meaning.
    • They answer the question "what?" or "whom?" after the verb.
  • Examples: buy, break, make, read, eat.
    • She bought a book. (book is the direct object)
    • He broke the vase. (vase is the direct object)
    • They made a decision. (decision is the direct object)
  • Learn more: Explore the concept of Transitive Verbs for further details.

• Intransitive Verbs: These verbs express an action or state of being that does not have a direct object. The action stays with the subject.

  • Characteristics:
    • They do not require or take a direct object.
    • They make complete sense on their own or with modifiers (like adverbs or prepositional phrases).
  • Examples: sleep, run, arrive, smile, exist.
    • The baby slept soundly.
    • He runs every morning.
    • They arrived late.
  • Learn more: Understand more about Intransitive Verbs.

The Link Between Transitive Verbs and Passive Voice

A crucial rule of English grammar is that only transitive verbs can be made passive. This is because the process of forming a passive sentence involves moving the direct object of the active sentence to the subject position of the passive sentence. If there's no direct object, there's nothing to "promote" to the subject.

For instance, verbs like sleep or run cannot be made passive because they are intransitive; they simply don't take a direct object. You cannot say, "A soundly was slept by the baby" or "Every morning is run by him."

How Passive Sentences Behave

When a transitive verb is converted to the passive voice, the sentence structure fundamentally changes:

1. The direct object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence.
2. The original subject (the agent performing the action) becomes optional and, if included, is often placed in a "by" phrase.
3. The verb itself changes to a form of "to be" plus the past participle of the main verb (e.g., "was broken," "is bought," "will be made").

In this passive construction, the verb does not take a direct object. The noun that was once the direct object is now the subject, and the verb's action is received by this new subject. This is why, in practice, the verb within a passive sentence functions without an object, similar to an intransitive verb.

Examples of Active (Transitive) to Passive Transformation

The table below illustrates how a transitive verb in the active voice transforms into a passive construction, demonstrating the absence of a direct object in the passive form.

As seen in the examples, the verb in the passive sentence (e.g., "was broken," "are bought") does not have a direct object following it. The original direct object ("the window," "new clothes") has become the subject.

Key Takeaways

• Origin: Passive sentences can only be formed from verbs that are transitive in their active form.
• Structure: In a passive sentence, the verb itself does not take a direct object. The original direct object moves to the subject position.
• Behavior: Due to the absence of a direct object, the verb within a passive construction behaves in a manner similar to an intransitive verb in terms of its argument structure.