The Passive Voice in Urdu: A Syntactic Investigation and Transformational Analysis

Abstract

This paper explores passive structures in the Urdu language. It aims to understand their syntactic configuration and how to convert active sentences into passive ones. Limited research exists on Urdu's passivization compared to English. The research questions focus on the structure of passive sentences in Urdu and the necessary modifications for passivization. A qualitative research methodology is used, analyzing written texts and daily conversations of native Urdu speakers. The literature review compares Urdu's passive structures with English, including the standard "be" passive and less common "get passive" and "have passive." Findings show that Urdu passives use the auxiliary “Gaya” and the agent can be explicitly mentioned using "from-PP" rather than "by-PP." The paper also covers passivization in imperative sentences, using “ja:” and “cha:hi:e” morphemes. Moreover, voice neutrality is examined, showing that passive and active sentences in Urdu often convey the same event with similar agent-patient relationships. The study’s conclusive remarks on passive construction in Urdu have the potential to ignite future research in this domain. The paper contributes to the knowledge of passive constructions in Urdu which can significantly impact translation accuracy and interpretation between Urdu and English. This research also adds to the big picture of how languages work.