Fayoum University

Faculty of Arts
Department of English language and literature

Voice System in English and Arabic

Submitted by

Mohammed Refaat Ahmed

2013
Running Head: VOICE SYSTEM IN ENGLISH AND ARABIC

Abstract

Contrastive linguistics compares specific linguistic characteristics of two or more

languages to explore their similarities and differences. One object is to explain problems

made by language learners in foreign language learning through the analysis of errors

made by learners. Contrastive analysis emphasizes differences between languages to help

students and teachers identify the type of mistakes students - e.g. Arab students - make

while learning a foreign language. In this research, I am going to make a contrastive

study between Arabic and English voice system or as generally called passive structure in

Arabic and English. I will try to discuss the passive structures in both languages in terms

of definition, types of verbs used, reasons of using passive structures, form of the verb,

and some unique characteristics of the passive structure that exist in one language only of

both languages. Points of discussion will be in a contrastive sequence, as I make a

contrastive analysis between English and Arabic for one point in the topic then move to

next point.
VOICE SYSTEM IN ENGLISH AND ARABIC

Voice System in English and Arabic

1- Definition:

Betty S. & Stacy A. defined English passive as a sentence in which “the object of

an active verb becomes the subject of the passive verb”. This is a brief definition that

illustrates the whole process of sentence transformation in order to produce a passive

voice. The active sentence “Mary helped the boy” is transformed into passive as “the boy

was helped by Mary”. “The boy” in the active sentence becomes the subject of the

passive verb in the passive sentence. Also, the subject “Mary” of the active verb follows

“by” in the passive sentence. Here, “Mary” is called the agent. Thus, the three slots of the

subject, verb and a object are filled in both the active sentence and the passive sentence in

English , which is different from the active versus passive structure in Arabic, as we will

see in the following paragraphs. The definition of the Wikipedia is not different form that

of Betty S. & Stacy concerning the passive structure. Wikipedia defines passive as :

“a grammatical construction (specifically, a "voice"). The noun or

noun phrase that would be the object of an active sentence (such as

Our troops defeated the enemy) appears as the subject of a sentence

with passive voice.”

Therefore the latter definition of passive in English supports the former in the idea

that the object of the active sentence becomes the subject in the passive tense. The

definition of Wikipedia adds the part specifically, a "voice" which means that the passive

voice is used mostly in spoken language rather than written texts. This is not the same
VOICE SYSTEM IN ENGLISH AND ARABIC

idea in Arabic, as the passive is usually used in written texts and not often used in

conversations/spoken language.

Betty S. & Stacy A. added that “only transitive verbs (verbs that can be followed

by an object) are used in the passive”. Intransitive verbs (such as happen, sleep, come,

seem, die) cannot be used in the passive in English sentences. This is obvious in the

previous example “Mary helped the boy” where the intransitive verb “help” can be easily

used in a passive sentence. On the other hand , we cannot transform sentences like

“something happened yesterday” or “ Ali came early” into passive in the same way.

However, we can use other structures to express the meaning of passive. For example,

the first sentence will be “It was said that something happened”. The second sentence as

cannot be used in the passive even by using other structures that give the meaning.

The passive in Arabic is defined by AL-Aansary G. as the deletion of the subject

and then all its rules apply to the object, and if there is no object, the rules of the subject

apply to the phrase or the base form of the verb. In Arabic, what makes a difference

between an active and a passive sentence is the direction of the action of the verb with

regard to the subject. That is, the subject is the receiver of the action of the passive verb.
VOICE SYSTEM IN ENGLISH AND ARABIC

2- Slot numbers:

Active: ‫الدرس‬ ‫الولد‬ ‫كتب‬

kataba l- waladu addars

wrote def. boy def. lesson

“the boy wrote the lesson”

To know about the number of slots resulting in the passive form , let’s study this

example:

In the above active Arabic sentence, the verb kataba (=wrote) is transitive, the

subject is l- waladu (= the boy) m and the object is addars (=the lesson). Thus, the three

slots are filled in the active sentence. To use the passive voice for this sentence , we will

say:

Passive: ‫الدرس‬ ‫ُكِتَب‬

kutiba addars

was written def. lesson

“the lesson was written”

The passive sentence in Arabic resulted in only two slots after the deletion of the

agent slot which was the subject of the active sentence. The remaining two slots are the

verb kutiba (=was written) and the object addars (=the lesson) and it is not possible to

keep the agent l- waladu (=the boy). Thus, Arabic differs here in the number of slots

remaining after the transformation process from active to passive voice. This is why

Khalil (1993:169) concluded that:

VOICE SYSTEM IN ENGLISH AND ARABIC

“Arab grammarians have always described the passive in Classical

Arabic (CA) as an agentless construction. English, unlike CA, has both

agentless and agentive passive constructions.”

The argument of external agent in Arabic and that Arabic is not completely

agentless was raised by Saad (1982: 169) who suggested that the external agent already

exists in the Arabic passive voice in “the agentive by-phrases: ‫ بواسطة‬biwaasitat ‘by

means of’ , ‫ من ِقَبل‬min qibal ‘on the part of”, or 9 ‫علي ََيدّي‬ala yadi ‘at the hands of’. To

apply Saad’s suggestion to the previous Arabic example, the passive sentence will be:

Passive: ‫الولد‬ ‫بواسطة‬ ‫الدرس‬ ‫ُكِتَب‬

l- waladu biwaasits kutiba addars

t
def. boy by was written def. lesson

“the lesson was written by the boy”

The argument of using an external agent exists but it cannot be generalized to the

Arabic passive structures in the Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) or to the Classical

Arabic (CA). In this way, we can suppose that the “external agent” notion in the Arabic

passive voice is an overgeneralization or a kind of interference between Arabic and

English, especially use by translators who apply English forms and styles on their Arabic

translations from English. This can be justified, on the part of translators, as a trial

towards honesty in translation, but this violates Arabic styles and sentence constructions.
VOICE SYSTEM IN ENGLISH AND ARABIC

3- Verb Form:

In English, the passive form of verbs is made in all English tenses . the process is

to begin the passive sentence with the object of the active sentence , then we put “be”

according to the tense of the main verb, and at last we put the past participle of the main

verb followed by the subject of the active sentence. The following table (Betty & Stacy,

pp. 214) gives examples of most passive forms in English:

Tense Forms of the Passive

Active Passive
(a) simple present Mary helps the boy. The boy is helped by Mary.
(b) present progressive Mary is helping the boy. The boy is being helped by Mary.
(c) present perfect* Mary has helped the boy. The boy has been helped by Mary.
(d) simple past Mary helped the boy. The boy was helped by Mary.
(e) past progressive Mary was helping the boy. The boy was being helped by Mary.
(f) past perfect* Mary had helped the boy. The boy had been helped by Mary.
(9) simple future Mary will help the boy. The boy will be helped by Mary.
(h) be going to Mary is going to help the boy. The boy is going to be helped by Mary.
(i) future perfect* Mary will have helped the boy. The boy will have been helped by Mary.

According to Arabic, the passive verb has only two forms ; the present and the

past. In general terms, the past tense, which consists of the radicals (f-9-l), is known to

take the surface passive form (fu-9i-la), by inserting the case marker called “dammah” to

the first radical , “the kasrah” to the second radical, and the “fathah” after the last radical.

The following are examples of transforming past Arabic verbs into passive :

Radicals Active form Passive form

n-k-l nakala (= moved ) nukila

d-r-b Daraba (=hit – past) duriba

We can notice the differences here between English and Arabic passive forms by

comparing the examples given for both languages. One of the most important differences

– actually unique in Arabic- is the internal change in the verb using the “diacritics”: fatha,

dammah and kasrah. Thus the change here is related mainly to the pronunciation of the
VOICE SYSTEM IN ENGLISH AND ARABIC

verb, unlike English. English on the other hand changes the form of the verb through

adding the copula in all forms of passive.

The present tense in Arabic carries out a similar process to form the passive . that

is , if we have the verb “yaf9al” in the active form, we insert the “damma” after the first

radical and “fatha” after the third radical. Thus the resulting passive form is “yuf9alu”.

The following are more examples for transforming a present verb into passive.

Radicals Active form Passive form

y-n-k-l yankelu (= move ) yunkala

y-d-r-b yadrebu (=hit – present) yudraba

As the past dorm in Arabic, the changes is internal and related to the word

pronunciation. There is no use of copulas also, unlike the English passive form that uses

copulas in all tenses.

VOICE SYSTEM IN ENGLISH AND ARABIC

4- Uses of Passive:

In English passive is used for many reasons, which may be similar or different from

reasons for using the passive form in Arabic. Mark Foley and Diana Hall (2008:104)

mentioned that style, clarity, as well as meaning are all reasons for using passive forms in

English. These reasons are various and a acceptable. The use of passive in English can be

summed up (according to Language and Learning Online) as:

1- If the 'actor' is not known.

e.g. Oil was discovered off the coast of Australia.

2- If the 'actor' is not important.

e.g. The report has been published.

3- If it is considered desirable to conceal the identity of the 'actor'.

e.g. The results are invalid as the correct testing procedure was not followed.

4- If an impersonal tone is needed for academic writing.

e.g. In this report, the stress fields in a C-shape plate will be analysed.

5- If an impersonal tone is also used for process descriptions.

e.g. First, the raw materials are loaded into a container ...

The uses of passive voice in Arabic has some of the previous English uses of

passive but it differs in some uses. Neama F.(1973 - pp 47) suggests that we use the

passive form and delete the subject if we know the actor, do not know the actor ,

afraid of the actor , or if we do not want to harm the actor of the verb. Arabic , thus

has a kind of uniqueness in the last to uses.

VOICE SYSTEM IN ENGLISH AND ARABIC

5- Conclusion:

This paper is a tiny trial in the field of contrastive linguistics tackling a

grammatical point; passive voice in English and Arabic. It discussed the definition of

passive in English and Arabic; the verb passive form in English, and Arabic and how

they are completely different; the number of slots in the sentence, and the change in

number in the two languages discussed; and finally, the reasons for which passive

forms are used in both English and Arabic.

VOICE SYSTEM IN ENGLISH AND ARABIC

References

Mark Foley & Diane Hall. (2003). Advanced Learners’ Grammar. Harlow, England:

Longman.

Betty S. & Stacy A. Understanding and Using English Grammar. Fourth edition.

Enoland: Longman.

Khalil, A. (1993) Arabic translation of English Passive Sentences: Problems and

Acceptability Judgments. Papers and Studies in Contrastive Linguistics 27.

Saad, G. 1982. Transitivity, Causation and Passivization: A Semantic Study of the Verb

in Classical Arabic. London: Kegan Paul International.

Khafaji, R. Arabic Translation Alternatives for the Passive in English. Jordan, Mafraq:

Al-Bayt University.

Arabic References

. ‫ نهضة مصر للطباعة و النشر والتوزيع‬: ‫ القاهرة‬."‫) "ملخص قواعد اللغة العربية‬1973( .‫ فؤاد‬, ‫نعمة‬

."‫ "قطر الندى و بل الصدى‬.)‫ هـ‬761–708 ( ‫ جمال الدين‬, ‫األنصاري‬

Online References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_passive_voice

http://www.monash.edu.au/lls/llonline/grammar/engineering/passive/1.1.xml