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How does the Japanese passive form express inconvenience or suffering?
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Japanese language
Record of a haiku exchange on kaishi writing paper by Japanese poet Bashō and one of his pupils in the teacher's own handwriting, 17th century, from a hanging scroll (ink on paper).
In the Japanese language, the passive form is used to express an adversative meaning, specifically to convey that the subject has experienced inconvenience or suffering due to an action performed by someone else.1
This construction, often called the "adversative passive," applies to both transitive and intransitive verbs. Unlike standard passive voice, which focuses on the action being performed on a subject, this form highlights the negative impact on the person affected.21
Examples of this usage include:
- Intransitive: Boku-wa haha-ni shin-are-ta (literally, "I-[topic] mother-[dative] die-[passive-past]"), which translates to "I suffered from Mother’s dying".1
- Transitive: Boku-wa Hanako-ni piano-o hik-are-ta (literally, "I-[topic] Hanako-[dative] piano-[accusative] play-[passive-past]"), which translates to "I suffered from Hanako’s piano-playing".1
In these sentences, the particle -ni marks the person responsible for the action, while the subject (marked by -wa) is the individual who experiences the resulting inconvenience or distress.1