The ___ was eaten by the ___

[danvx6]

I know that
いぬ　が　ねこ　を　たべた。
means "The dog ate the cat", but how do I say "The cat was eaten by the dog"?

Would it be like this?

ねこ　は　いぬ　に　たべられた。


Some of the particles really confuse me with their uses, especially に/を for verbs and に/で for location. I know that に is use for indirect objects and を is for direct objects, but I was never good with objects even in English (my native language).

[richvh]

That looks right to me.

[spank]

Hey man, you're talking about the direct passive structure.
In Japanese, "X wa Y ni V-rareru" indicates that the subject X is directly affected by the action of the agent Y.

You were right with your intuition about that question!!

Neko wa inu ni tabe-rareta. The cat was eaten by the dog.

ex.

今朝、早く母に起こされました。
kesa, hayaku haha ni okosaremashita.
This morning, I was awakened by mom.

宿題を忘れて先生にしかられました。
shukudai wo wasurete sensei ni shikararemashita.
I forgot the homework, and I was scolded by the teacher.

go in peace

[Gan]

Ummm. shouldnt be in kanji??? just asking...... ねこは犬食べらた。
Im not sure if your suppose to use the kanji for cat or not.... so i just used the hiragana

[Gan]

Ummm. shouldnt be in kanji??? just asking...... ねこは犬食べらた。
Im not sure if your suppose to use the kanji for cat or not.... so i just used the hiragana

[danvx6]

Thanks for the examples!

[Sachi]

You don't have to use kanji all the time, especially if you don't know it or unsure about it. Perhaps danvx6 just wanted to be as clear as possible without the confusion of the kanji

This is useful information. So is the　"X wa Y ni V-rareru"　form basically used for cause and effect situations as well? Just making sure I have it.... *grabs notebook* Sumimasen, I feel bad for asking, but could you perhaps include one more example? ^^;

[spank]

theshadowtaker wrote:
Ummm. shouldnt be in kanji??? just asking...... ねこは犬食べらた。
Im not sure if your suppose to use the kanji for cat or not.... so i just used the hiragana

ya, only cool and tough japanese use kana instead of kanji..B)

[Infidel]

people generally learn the kanji for inu before neko. People that use some kanji and leave others out, when learning just show that they are making the effort to use what they know.

[spank]

Hey guys, i'm not sure if this is used for cause and effect, but.....
in english it is called the passive tense.

Here's an active example.
The thief stole my wallet.

Now passive.
My wallet was stolen by a thief.

Just remember passive suggests someone was affected by the action of someone else. " was done.., is done....was/is [verb]"

more example for your pleasure:

財布は泥棒に盗まれました
saifu ha dorobou ni nusumaremashita.
The wallet was stolen by a thief.

彼は皆に知られています。
kare ha mina ni shirarete imasu.
He is known by everyone.

先生に質問されました。
sensei ni shitsumon saremashita.
I was asked a question by the teacher.

[Daisuke]

theshadowtaker wrote:
Ummm. shouldnt be in kanji??? just asking...... ねこは犬食べらた。
Im not sure if your suppose to use the kanji for cat or not.... so i just used the hiragana

Sometimes it can be easier, when just making examples like that I guess..

And otherwise, it is not wrong to write in kana, but a Japanese person would use the kanji of course..

[AJBryant]

in english it is called the passive tense

Minor quibble -- it's not a tense. It's a mode, or mood.

It also has rather broad, emotive uses. For example:

父に死なれました。My dad died (on me).

Tony

[lomagu]

AJBryant wrote:
It also has rather broad, emotive uses.

That's true.. According to my text, if the speaker feels upset about the situation & it was out of their control, they often use the passive form (even though you wouldn't necessarily in English).

母に日記を読まれました。
My diary was read by my mother. (but I would say, My mother read my diary)

しつこいセールスマンにうちへ来られました。
lit. I was come to the house by an annoying salesman.
(An annoying salesman came to my house)