Passive Participles

01

Formation: -n and -t

Most passive participles end in -n (appearing as -an or -en) added to the verb stem; a smaller group ends in -t.

• napisati (to write) → napisan (written)
• kuhati (to cook) → kuhan (cooked)
• izgubiti (to lose) → izgubljen (lost)
• otvoriti (to open) → otvoren (opened)
• and with -t: uzeti (to take) → uzet (taken)

• Prodavnica je zatvorena.

  The shop is closed.

02

It Agrees Like an Adjective

Because it behaves as an adjective, the participle agrees with its noun in gender, number and case, taking adjective endings.

• masculine rođen, feminine rođena, neuter rođeno, plural rođeni

• Rođen sam u Sarajevu.

  I was born in Sarajevo. (masculine)

• Rođena sam u Mostaru.

  I was born in Mostar. (feminine)

• rođen- born, then -a because the speaker is a woman - the same -a any adjective would take
• the sentence never says "I"; sam and that -a between them say who is speaking

• Vrata su napravljena od drva.

  The doors are made of wood.

03

Building the Passive Voice

Put the participle with a form of biti (to be) and you have the passive - the focus moves from who does the action to the thing it happens to.

• Pismo je napisano.

  The letter is written.

• Sve karte su rasprodane.

  All the tickets are sold out.

• Knjiga je prevedena na bosanski.

  The book is translated into Bosnian.

04

State Versus Event

Most of the time this construction describes a state that now holds - the shop is closed, the room is booked - rather than reporting the moment it happened. That is because Bosnian almost never names the doer here: with nobody to do it, there is no event to watch, only a result to look at.

• Soba je rezervisana.

  The room is reserved.

• Stan je prodan.

  The flat is sold.

When you do want to report the event with its doer, Bosnian prefers an ordinary active sentence with the person as the subject, rather than a passive with "by".

05

The 'se' Passive Is More Common

In everyday Bosnian a reflexive se construction often replaces this passive, especially when no doer is named: ovdje se govori bosanski ("Bosnian is spoken here").

• Hljeb se prodaje ovdje.

  Bread is sold here.

• Kako se to piše?

  How is that written?

06

Aspect: Process or Result

The participle keeps the aspect of the verb it comes from. An imperfective base describes an ongoing or repeated action; a perfective base describes the finished result - the difference between "being built" and "built".

• Kuća je građena godinama.

  The house was being built for years.

• Kuća je sagrađena.

  The house is built.