The Passive Voice.
72. Before going on to the consideration of the third class of Verbs—viz. the Causal—we will initiate the student into the Conjugation of the Passive Voice, which is applicable to Transitive Verbs generally—whether of the second or third class—though, of course, not to Neuter Verbs. As the chief auxiliary used in the Active Voice of all the three classes is the Substantive Verb hona ' to be or become,' so in the Passive Voice the principal auxiliary is jand ' to go,1 ' to pass' (on or off). Thus, while, in the Present Tense of the Active Voice, we have wuh marta hai, for ' he strikes ' (lit. ' he is—or becomes—striking')—in the same Tense of the Passive Voice, we have wuh marajata hai (lit. ' he goes— or passes—stricken'), for ' he is struck.'
73. In the Active Voice of Transitive Verbs we have seen that in all the Tenses in which the Past Participle is used, the Agentive form (with ne) is substituted for the uninflected Nominative form of the Subject. But this, though somewhat resembling a Passive construction, is really—as already remarked—not so. By taking the same Verb—marnd—to illustrate the Passive Conjugation, the student will more readily observe the distinction between the Voices.
