Passive Alternatives: on, se faire + infinitif
Passive Alternatives: on, se faire + infinitif
Hindi has its own everyday substitute for a formal agentless passive: drop the subject and use a plain third-person-plural verb — यहाँ फ़्रेंच बोलते हैं ('they speak French here' / 'French is spoken here') — functioning exactly like French's generic on. And for something unwelcome happening TO someone, Hindi reaches for हो जाना ('to happen/become') — उसका बैग चोरी हो गया ('his bag got stolen') — carrying the same 'affected party' flavor as French's se faire + infinitif.
Grammar Comparison
व्याकरण तुलना
on: the everyday substitute for the passive — Hindi drops the subject the same way
Le français est parlé ici. (formal passive) vs. On parle français ici. (everyday, active)
यहाँ फ़्रेंच बोली जाती है। बनाम यहाँ फ़्रेंच बोलते हैं।
Spoken French strongly prefers on + active verb over the true passive whenever the doer isn't specified. Hindi shows the same everyday preference: यहाँ फ़्रेंच बोलते हैं uses a plain third-person-plural verb with no subject stated at all, functioning as a generic 'people/they speak French here', much more natural in casual speech than the fuller passive यहाँ फ़्रेंच बोली जाती है. Reserve the true passive (बोली जाती है, like être + past participle) for writing and formal registers in both languages, and reach for the subject-dropped generic form in everyday conversation.
se faire + infinitif: something happens TO the subject — Hindi's होना construction carries the same flavor
Il s'est fait voler son sac. (His bag got stolen)
उसका बैग चोरी हो गया।
se faire + infinitive describes an event the subject undergoes rather than performs, usually something unwelcome or out of their control (se faire voler 'to get robbed', se faire renvoyer 'to get fired'). Hindi reaches for a comparable construction using हो जाना ('to happen/become'): उसका बैग चोरी हो गया, literally 'his bag's theft happened', carries the same sense that the person was personally, unhappily affected — sharper than a flat agentless statement. The grammar underneath is built differently in each language — French keeps a bare infinitive after se faire (voler), Hindi turns the event itself into a noun (चोरी, 'theft') paired with हो गया — but the underlying instinct, that some misfortunes need their own special 'it happened to me' construction rather than a plain passive, is one you already have from Hindi.
Vocabulary
शब्दावली
- Hindi
- लोग/हम (अनौपचारिक)log/ham (anaupcārik)
- English
- one / people / we (informal)
- Hindi
- कहा जाता है कि...kahā jātā hai ki...
- English
- They say that... / It is said that...
- Hindi
- चोरी होनाcorī honā
- English
- to get robbed
- Hindi
- नौकरी से निकाला जानाnaukrī se nikālā jānā
- English
- to get fired
- Hindi
- मदद लेनाmadad lenā
- English
- to get help / have someone help you
- Hindi
- यहाँ अंग्रेज़ी बोलते हैं।yahāñ añgrezī bolte haiñ
- English
- English is spoken here.