Passive Voice: -ыл/-ыт

Imagine you walk into a new restaurant and see a sign: "Open from 9:00." The restaurant doesn't open itself — the staff open it — but we don't need to mention them in the sentence.

Or you see a notice: "Apartment for sale." Who is selling it? Doesn't matter. The point is the apartment is for sale.

For situations like these, where the action matters more than who performed it, Kyrgyz uses Туюк мамиле (the passive voice).

🧠 The Logic

The passive voice removes the agent from the sentence and puts the object in focus. Use it when:

When to use:

• It's unknown who performed the action: Эшик ачылды — The door was opened (by whom — doesn't matter)
• The result matters, not the doer: Кат жазылды — The letter has been written
• General facts and announcements: Дүкөн саат 9да ачылат — The shop opens at 9

When NOT to use:

• When the agent matters → use a regular active voice verb
• When the subject acts on themselves → use the reflexive voice (-ын/-ин)

🧮 The Formula

To turn a regular verb into a passive one, we embed the letter «л» into the stem.

Rule 1: After vowels — add -л

Rule 2: After consonants — add -ыл-ил-ул-үл

The vowel is chosen according to vowel harmony:

жазылды
жаз
root
ыл
passive
ды
past tense
→ was written

Rule 3: If there's already an «л» before the ending — use -н

When adding -л would create an awkward double «л», we use -ын-ин-ун-үн or -н (after a vowel) instead:

Stem ends in «л»:

Stem ends in a vowel, but «л» comes just before it:

💡 Examples

How the passive transforms a sentence

The key trick: we remove the agent and promote the object to subject:

Everyday passive verbs

Signs and announcements

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See also:

• Introduction to verbs — the foundation for understanding voices
• Reflexive voice (-ын/-ин) — don't confuse with the passive!
• Cooperative voice (-ыш) — doing something together
• Causative voice (-дыр/-т) — making someone else do it
• Sound assimilation — voicing п→б
• Vowel harmony — choosing the right vowel in the suffix