passiver

Passiver is a German term that is not widely used as a stand-alone lexical entry. In practice, it may refer to two related ideas depending on context: a person who is passive, or, less commonly, a nonstandard label for the passive grammatical voice. The established term in German for the grammatical voice is Passiv.

In linguistics, the Passiv (passive voice) describes sentences where the semantic patient becomes the syntactic subject. German typically forms the passive with a form of werden plus a past participle, for example: Der Brief wird geschrieben. The agent, if mentioned, is introduced with von … The label Passiver is not standard in grammar reference works; some nonstandard or older texts may use it informally to denote the passive construction or to describe a passive participant, but such usage can cause confusion and is generally avoided in modern writing.

In accounting and finance, Passiva denotes the liabilities side of the balance sheet, contrasted with Aktiva, the assets side. The term Passiver is not a formal accounting term. When teaching or discussing balance sheets, it is common to refer to Passiva (or passive elements) to describe obligations, debts, and equity, rather than using Passiver.

Etymology and usage: Passiver derives from the German adjective passiv with the agent-noun suffix -er, but its productive use in contemporary standard German is limited. In most formal contexts, it is best avoided in favor of Passiv for grammar and Passiva for finance.

See also: Passiv, Passiva, Aktiv.