pasifnya

Pasifnya refers to the passive voice in Indonesian language, a grammatical construction that shifts the focus from the agent to the patient or recipient of an action. In a pasifnya sentence, the subject is the thing that receives the action, while the doer may be mentioned with the preposition oleh or omitted altogether.

Formation and forms

The most common way to form pasifnya is with the prefix di- attached to a transitive verb. For example, aktif: seseorang menulis surat (someone writes a letter) becomes pasif: surat itu ditulis oleh seseorang. When the agent is not specified, the sentence can simply be surat itu ditulis. The object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence, and the actor, if included, appears in a phrase introduced by oleh.

A second, broader pattern uses the prefix ter- to convey a completed action or a natural/resulting state, often with nuance of accident. Examples: buku itu terbuka (the book opened; it opened by itself), rumah itu terbakar (the house burned down). Ter- forms emphasize the event’s outcome rather than the agent.

Usage and notes

Pasifnya is common in formal or written Indonesian and is used to foreground the patient, emphasize impact, or generalize statements when the agent is unknown or irrelevant. In everyday speech, active voice with topicalization (placing the patient at the sentence front) is also frequent, and true passive di- forms may sound more formal.

Relation to other voices

Indonesian pasifnya relies on affixation rather than a change in the verb stem, making passive patterns relatively regular across verbs. The agent’s explicit marking with oleh remains optional, contributing to flexible sentence focus and style.