-- korean vocabulary, verb endings, forum, study links, grammar explanations, dictionary

grammar reference home / Passive and Causative verbs

passive and causative

# Posted: 6 Jan 2007 17:32 KST - Edited by: _joseph_
... Re-Sideview ...

There are two types of verbs which look very similar: passive and causative.
They are important to learn because, for one, they are very common. Which do we use, the passive or the causative?. There is no real rule, because it depends not on grammar but on your meaning.... in other words, in the sense you want to convey.

Remember: the passive verbs do not take an object, whereas the causative verbs do take an object.

The difference between the passive and the causative is obvious in the following English sentences

I was eaten passive
I made him eat causative

There is also just normal verbs: eating, drinking, walking .....

I eat neither passive, nor causative, just doing the thing

the normal verbs like I eat, I am drinking, I am walking ...... are not making somebody do something nor are they receiving action, so the normal verb can be used in these cases.

As you can see, the passive in English is to be + past participle and the causative really doesn"t exist , or it"s make + object + verb

But the difference between the passive to be eaten 먹히다 and the causative to make eat 먹이다 is very small indeed. As you will see, that"s why you need a list of the passive and causative and passive verbs to memorize..~~
In fact, different verbs are spelled causative and passive in the same way.
Just look at the following which are passive:

꺽이다
놓이다
섞이다
보이다
쓰이다
파이다

and the following which are causative:

죽이다
먹이다
속이다
높이다
보이다
줄이다
붙이다

You can see that as they both follow the pattern VST + 이다, there is no easy way to remember which is which .... It is just necessary to know what you want to say; is what I am saying passive or causative.
There are more listings of the verbs examples in the following sections.

The next sections will deliver in more detail the following table:
1. passive
a. normal construction
b. 어/아지다 construction
2. causative

curious anonymous post # Posted: 10 May 2007 02:16 KST ... Re-Sideview ... can you translate this pattern please Vst+게 되다 What is the difference between the two patterns Vst+다면 and Vst +면

_joseph_
Moderator
Posts: 119,684
native english

# Posted: 10 May 2007 08:00 KST
... Re-Sideview ...

하다 means to do and 되다 means to become or to just happen like that. 하다 and 되다 are related because
1. they are both active voice for to do
2. 하다 takes a direct object (it is transitive 타동사)
3. 되다 does not take a direct object (it is intransitive 자동사)

게 하다 is a formation used to make a causative formation.
게 되다 is a formation used to make a ??? formation.

For example, 오늘 가게 됐(되+었)어요 means It\‘s happened that I can go today like on freeing of an appointment. Or you can say that the weather 춥게 됐(되+었)어요 it just got cold.....

as for your second question ....

다면 is the unrealizable if and 면 is just if , when. For these, see the korean @ paperwindow posting.

curious anonymous post # Posted: 10 May 2007 15:14 KST ... Re-Sideview ... 조세프 씨 감사합니다 bantu

::: next topic