The passive voice in Japanese is formed by adding れる・られる to the main verb.
れる comes after 五段 or サ変 verbs. られる comes after 上一段, 下一段 or カ変 verbs, and they both come after 未然形 of the preceding verbs.
- 私は娘を「ともこ」と呼ぶ -> I call my daughter “Tomoko”
- 私の娘は友達に「ともちゃん」と呼ばれている -> My daughter is called “Tomochan” by her friends
- 彼女は彼を無視した -> She ignored him
- 彼は彼女に無視された -> He was ignored by her
- 彼女は人の悪口を言わない -> She never speaks ill of others
- 彼女は人に悪口を言われても気にしない -> She doesn’t mind being spoken ill of by others
- 虎は彼を食べた -> A tiger ate him
- 彼は虎に食べられた -> He was eaten by a tiger
- 彼は費用を弁償した -> He compensated for the damage
- 彼は費用を弁償させられた -> He was made to compensate for the damage
- 彼は雰囲気に飲まれてしまった -> He was swallowed, overwhelmed, by the surroundings
- チームは相手にコテンパンにやられてしまった -> The team got thrashed by the opponent