Avanîya lebatî · Active voice
Follow the doer and the person or thing affected.
By the end of this lessonRecognize active clauses and keep present agreement separate from past ergative agreement.
The idea
In an active clause, the doer performs the action. In Ez wê dibînim, ez is the doer and wê is the person seen. Present dibînim agrees with ez. In the active past Wê ez dîtim, wê is the doer and ez is the person seen; dîtim agrees with ez, the object. An oblique doer in the past does not make a sentence passive.
See it in a sentence
Compare Ez wê dibînim (I see her) with Ew tê dîtin (She is seen). The passive makes the person affected its subject and can omit the doer. The exercises use dîtin (see) and xwendin (read), both verbs that can take an object.
Build it step by step
- Identify the action, its doer and its object before checking the endings.
- In the present, the verb agrees with the doer. Personal-pronoun objects take oblique forms.
- In the transitive past, the doer is oblique and agreement follows the object. This remains active voice.
| Sentence | Doer | Person affected |
|---|---|---|
| Ez wê dibînim. | ez | wê |
| Ew min dibîne. | ew | min |
| Wê ez dîtim. | wê | ez |
| Min ew dît. | min | ew |
Take a sentence apart
she: oblique doer in the active past
me: direct object form in this past clause
saw: agrees with object ez
English keeps “she” as the subject of “She saw me”. Kurmanji changes pronoun forms and agreement in the transitive past without changing the voice.
A common trap
Incorrect: Wê ez dît.
Correct: Wê ez dîtim.
The object ez requires -im in this active past clause.
Grammar reference: Thackston, §§ 18.2 and 26 · Active roles and the passive contrast