Not all active sentences have corresponding forms in the passive. Only TRANSITIVE ACTIVE sentences can be transformed into passive sentences.
Agentive passive sentences are where the doer or the agent is explicitly expressed by the proposition ‘oleh’ (by) plus agent.
Active Sentence
- Anwar (S) sudah mendengar (P) berita itu (O) kemarin (Adv).
- Anwar (S) have heard (P) that news (O) yesterday (Adv).
Passive Sentence
- Berita itu (S) sudah didengar (P) oleh Anwar (A) kemarin (Adv).
- The news (S) was heard (P) by Anwar (A) yesterday (Adv).
Active Sentence
- Dia (S) meminjam (P) uang (O) dari Bank (Adv).
- He/She (S) borrows (P) the money (O) from the Bank (Adv).
Passive Sentence
- Uang (S) dipinjam (P) olehnya (A) dari Bank (Adv).
- The money (S) was borrowed (P) by him/her (A) dari Bank (Adv).
Note:
(S) Subject (P) Predicate (O) Object (A) Agent (Adv) Adverb
The characteristic of the Passive Sentence is the use of prefix di-, ter- and ke- and the suffix -an or -kan in verbs.
Transitive sentences can be transformed into passive sentences by:
- making the object of the active sentence become the subject of the passive sentence
- replacing the prefix me- with di-, ter- and ke- (see prefix chapter)
- making the subject of the active sentence become the agent.