Passive

Godan: change the final u sound to a and add れる; a final う becomes わ. Ichidan: drop る and add られる, the same as the potential.

Passive verbs are ichidan verbs: 書かれた, 書かれない, 書かれます. The one doing it takes に. The passive also says something happened to you that you didn't want.

Done to you

• 先生に褒められた。
  Sensei ni homerareta.
  I was praised by the teacher.
• 電車で足を踏まれました。
  Densha de ashi o fumaremashita.
  Someone stepped on my foot on the train.
  Literally: I was stepped on the foot

Something unwelcome

Japanese uses the passive even with verbs that have no object, to say that an event affected you badly. English has no direct match.

• 雨に降られた。
  Ame ni furareta.
  I got rained on.
• 夜中に子供に泣かれて、寝られなかった。
  Yonaka ni kodomo ni nakarete, nerarenakatta.
  My child cried in the night, and I couldn't sleep.

General statements

The passive is common in news and writing to describe what is done without saying who does it. For who made or created something, use によって instead of に.

• この本は世界中で読まれています。
  Kono hon wa sekaijū de yomarete imasu.
  This book is read all over the world.
• この寺は八百年前に建てられました。
  Kono tera wa happyakunen mae ni tateraremashita.
  This temple was built eight hundred years ago.

The passive form also serves as a light respectful form: 先生が帰られました "the teacher went home" (see Polite language).