Passive Suffixes 이 히 리 기: Meaning, Rules and Examples

What you'll learn

• Recognise the four passive suffixes and the verb pairs they build.
• Turn an active sentence into a passive sentence in four steps.
• Tell when a passive verb really means an intransitive "it happens" verb.
• Choose between suffix passives, -아/어지다 and -되다.
• Fix the five most common mistakes.

Before you start: you should know the polite ending -아요/어요 and the subject and object particles 이/가 and 을/를. If Korean word order is new, read the lesson on Korean SOV sentence pattern first. Audio plays only when you press a button.

What Do the Passive Suffixes 이 히 리 기 Mean?

A passive sentence is one where the subject receives the action. In English, "The thief was caught" is passive and "The police caught the thief" is active. Korean builds many passives by adding a suffix to a transitive verb, which is a verb that takes an object with 을/를. The suffix changes the verb so that it no longer needs an object.

Four suffixes do this job: 이, 히, 리 and 기. They are suffixes, not particles, so they attach to the verb stem and change it into a new dictionary verb. The new verb is conjugated like any other regular verb: 잡히다 gives 잡혀요 (present) and 잡혔어요 (past).

A First Example

• 도둑이 경찰에게 잡혔어요. (dodugi gyeongchareege japyeosseoyo.) [도두기 경차레게 자펴써요] = "The thief was caught by the police."
• 산이 보여요. (sani boyeoyo.) [사니 보여요] = "The mountain can be seen."

Look at the first sentence part by part. 도둑이 is the thief with the subject particle 이, so the thief is the one who receives the action. 경찰에게 is the police with 에게, which marks the doer. 잡혔어요 is the passive verb 잡히다 in the polite past. In the second sentence, 산이 is the subject and 보여요 is 보이다 in the polite present. No doer is named, because the sentence is about what can be seen. The next section shows how the pairs are built.

How Do the Passive Suffixes 이 히 리 기 Work?

The passive suffixes 이 히 리 기 work by replacing the active verb with a related passive verb. There is no single rule that predicts which suffix a verb takes, so the safest method is to learn each pair as a unit. The table lists twelve common pairs in the dictionary form and the polite present.

The table shows the pairs, but it also hides a few patterns. The next parts give tendencies that help you guess, and then show the sentences.

Tendencies That Help You Guess

These are habits, not rules, and each has exceptions.

• Stems ending in ㄱ, ㄷ or ㅂ often take 히: 먹히다, 닫히다, 잡히다.
• Stems ending in ㄹ often take 리: 열리다, 팔리다. The verb 듣다 also becomes 들리다, because its ㄷ changes to ㄹ.
• Stems ending in a vowel, or in a few consonants, often take 이: 보이다, 쓰이다, 놓이다.
• Stems ending in ㄴ, ㅁ or ㅅ-type sounds often take 기: 안기다, 쫓기다, 끊기다.

Two cases show why you should check a dictionary. 듣다 ends in ㄷ but takes 리 (들리다), and 읽다 ends in the double consonant ㄺ but takes 히 (읽히다), following its ㄱ rather than its ㄹ. Sound changes also hide the spelling: 닫히다 is said [다치다], because ㄷ before 히 becomes [ㅊ] (Standard Pronunciation Rules, Article 17). When you meet a new verb, look up the pair and learn both verbs together.

The Sentences in Action

Each passive verb below is shown in a short sentence. Notice that the thing acted on is always the subject.

• 문이 열렸어요. (muni yeollyeosseoyo.) [무니 열려써요] = "The door opened." or "The door was opened."
• 창문이 닫혔어요. (changmuni dachyeosseoyo.) [창무니 다처써요] = "The window closed." or "The window was closed."
• 음악이 들려요. (eumagi deullyeoyo.) [으마기 들려요] = "Music can be heard."
• 이 가방은 잘 팔려요. (i gabangeun jal pallyeoyo.) [이 가방은 잘 팔려요] = "This bag sells well."

In 이 가방은 잘 팔려요, the particle 은 marks the bag as the topic. The meaning "sells well" shows how a passive can describe a general fact about the thing, with no doer in mind. The next section builds one full sentence step by step.

Worked Example: from Active to Passive

The passive suffixes 이 히 리 기 turn an active sentence into a passive one in four steps. Follow the sentence "The police caught the thief."

1. Start with the active sentence. 경찰이 도둑을 잡았어요. (gyeongchari dodugeul jabasseoyo.) [경차리 도두글 자바써요] = "The police caught the thief." The doer is 경찰, and the object is 도둑 with 을/를.
2. Move the object to subject position. The thief receives the action, so 도둑을 becomes 도둑이.
3. Mark the doer with 에게. 경찰이 becomes 경찰에게. You can also use 한테 in casual speech.
4. Swap in the passive verb. 잡다 becomes 잡히다, and the polite past is 잡혔어요.

Result: 도둑이 경찰에게 잡혔어요.

You know it worked when the sentence has no 을/를 object and the verb is a passive verb. The doer is optional. 도둑이 잡혔어요 ("The thief was caught") is a complete sentence. The same steps work for 안다: 엄마가 아기를 안았어요 becomes 아기가 엄마에게 안겼어요 (agiga eommaege angyeosseoyo) [아기가 엄마에게 안겨써요], "The baby was held by its mom."

The suffix passives are only one way to form a passive, so the next section compares them with the others.

How Are the Suffix Passives Different from -아/어지다 and -되다?

The suffix passives work for a fixed set of verbs, -아/어지다 works for most others, and -되다 works for noun + 하다 verbs. English uses "be + past participle" for all three, which is why they are easy to mix up.

Two guidelines decide most cases. First, if the verb has a suffix pair in the dictionary, use it: 잡히다, 열리다, 보이다. Second, if the verb has no pair, try -아/어지다 for plain verbs (만들다 gives 만들어지다) and -되다 for noun + 하다 verbs (해결하다 gives 해결되다). The lessons on -아/어지다 become passive and -되다 passive 하다 verbs cover those two patterns in detail.

• 이 의자는 나무로 만들어졌어요. (i uijaneun namuro mandeureojyeosseoyo.) [이 의자는 나무로 만드러저써요] = "This chair was made of wood."

The next section looks at the limits of the suffix passives.

When Do You Use a Suffix Passive, and When Not?

Suffix passives fit sentences where the thing acted on is the topic and the doer is unknown or unimportant. They do not fit every verb, and Korean often prefers an active sentence.

• Passive and intransitive overlap. Many suffix passives are also the ordinary "it happens" verb. 문이 열려요 usually means "The door opens" or "The door is open", not "Someone is opening the door". The same is true of 닫히다 and 팔리다. Pairs of this kind are collected on the page about Korean transitive and intransitive verb pairs.
• Verbs of perception. 보이다 and 들리다 are the normal way to say "can be seen" and "can be heard": 산이 보여요 and 음악이 들려요. Compare 보다 and 듣다, where a person actively looks or listens.
• Naming the doer. You can add a doer with 에게 or 한테, but Korean speakers often prefer the active sentence when the doer is known. The page on passive agent: 에게, 에 or 에 의해 explains the particle choices.
• No object, no passive. Intransitive verbs such as 가다 (go) and 자다 (sleep) have no suffix passive, because they take no object.

This lesson covers the common suffix pairs. It does not list every pair in the dictionary, and it does not cover the causative suffixes, which look the same but mean "make someone do". Those are in causative suffixes 이 히 리 기 우 구 추, and the two are compared on causative vs passive in Korean.

• 이 단어는 자주 쓰여요. (i daneoneun jaju sseuyeoyo.) [이 다너는 자주 쓰여요] = "This word is often used."

The mistakes below show where learners go wrong most often.

What Mistakes Do Learners Make with the Passive Suffixes?

Learners most often guess the suffix, keep the object particle or passivize a verb that has no passive. Five mistakes appear again and again.

1. Guessing the suffix. 잡이다, 닫리다 and 안히다 are wrong because those verbs do not exist. The correct forms are 잡히다, 닫히다 and 안기다. Learn the pair, not the rule.
2. Keeping 을/를 on the thing acted on. 문을 열렸어요 is wrong. A passive verb takes no object, so the thing becomes the subject: 문이 열렸어요.
3. Marking the doer with 이/가. 도둑이 경찰이 잡혔어요 is wrong because it has two subjects. Mark the doer with 에게 or 한테: 도둑이 경찰에게 잡혔어요.
4. Passivizing every verb. Many verbs have no suffix passive. 만들리다 is not a word; use 만들어지다. Noun + 하다 verbs use 되다, as in 해결되다.
5. Stacking passives. 잡히어지다 and 닫혀지다 pile -아/어지다 onto a verb that is already passive. Grammar books call this a double passive (이중 피동). Careful writing uses 잡히다 and 닫히다.

A quick check helps: Is there an object with 을/를? Is the verb a real dictionary passive? Is there only one passive on the verb? If the answers are no, yes and yes, the sentence is sound.

The practice set tests these points.

Practice and Answers

Try the four items before you read the answers.

1. Choose the form. Complete: 창문이 ___. (닫혔어요 / 닫았어요)
2. Fix the error. A learner says 도둑이 경찰이 잡혔어요. Correct it.
3. Translate. "The phone line was cut off." Use 전화 and 끊기다.
4. Write your own. Write one passive sentence about something in your room, using 이, 히, 리 or 기.

Answer key

1. 닫혔어요. The window is the subject, so the passive 닫히다 is needed: 창문이 닫혔어요.
2. 도둑이 경찰에게 잡혔어요. The doer takes 에게, not 이/가.
3. 전화가 끊겼어요. (jeonhwaga kkeunkyeosseoyo.) [전화가 끈켜써요]
4. Answers vary. Check that the thing acted on has 이/가, that there is no 을/를 object and that the verb is a real passive. An example: 책이 책상 위에 놓여 있어요 ("The book is lying on the desk").

If you can complete items 1 to 3 without the key, you can use the suffix passives in conversation. The next section points to related lessons.

What Should You Learn Next after the Passive Suffixes 이 히 리 기?

After the passive suffixes, learn how to name the doer and how the other passive patterns work. This lesson teaches the fixed pairs. It does not teach how to choose between 에게, 에 and 에 의해, and it does not teach the causative suffixes.

1. Read passive agent: 에게, 에 or 에 의해 to choose the right particle for the doer.
2. Read -아/어지다 become passive for verbs with no suffix pair.
3. Read -되다 passive 하다 verbs for 해결되다 and similar verbs.
4. Browse Korean transitive and intransitive verb pairs to see which passives double as plain "it happens" verbs.
5. Compare causative suffixes 이 히 리 기 우 구 추 and causative vs passive in Korean.
6. Return to the full set of Korean passive verbs.

With these steps, the pattern becomes automatic: learn the pair, move the object to the subject, add 에게 for the doer if you need it, and use the passive verb.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the passive suffixes 이, 히, 리 and 기 in Korean?

They are four short endings that attach to a verb stem and turn it into a passive verb, as in 보다 to 보이다, 잡다 to 잡히다, 열다 to 열리다 and 안다 to 안기다. The thing that receives the action becomes the subject and takes 이/가.

How do I know which suffix a verb takes?

There is no reliable rule, so learn each pair as a unit. Some tendencies help: stems ending in ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ often take 히 (먹히다, 닫히다, 잡히다), stems ending in ㄹ often take 리 (열리다, 팔리다), and 이 or 기 follow many other stems. Exceptions exist, so check a dictionary.

Can every Korean verb have a suffix passive?

No. Many verbs have no suffix passive. Transitive verbs such as 만들다 use -아/어지다 (만들어지다), and noun + 하다 verbs use 되다 (해결되다). Intransitive verbs such as 가다 and 자다 have no passive at all, because there is nothing to receive the action.

Is 문이 열려요 a passive or an intransitive sentence?

Both readings are possible, but in everyday speech it usually means "the door opens" or "the door is open", with no doer in mind. If you want to stress who opened it, add the doer with 에게 or switch to the active sentence: 친구가 문을 열었어요.

Do suffix passives take 에게 for the doer?

They can: 도둑이 경찰에게 잡혔어요 means "The thief was caught by the police." Korean often leaves the doer out, though, because an active sentence is usually more natural when you know who did it.

Save This to Pinterest