Passive voice

Peculiar feature of OE was the ebsence of special analytical passive forms of verbs. The passive meaning was represented syntactically by means of complex verbal predicate, which consisted of the verb bēōn (wesan) and weorþan +PII of transitive verbs.

The verbs bēōn (wesan) and weorþan partially lost their lexical meaning and acquired general grammatical meaning, however the collocations with weorthan rendered passive meaning more distinctly, therefore the forms with weorthan appeared more frequently in OE texts. (10-13% in the records of the VIII cen. and 35-40% forms were recordered at the end of OE period).

Þǣr wearþ Ordhēh cyninǯes þeǯn ofslæǯen – There was Ordheh, the king’s servant, murdered.

Þæt ǯeweorc ǯeworct wæs – This fortress was built.

The constructions with weorthan rendered passive meaning only, unlike the constructions with beon beside the passive meaning also expressed the meaning of state.

Þǣr wǣron bollan stēape boren – Here were high vessels brought.

The passive forms were mostly used if the subject is unknown or is preferred not to be spoken about.

The analytical passive forms of the verbs were formed in ME and is connected with the process of grammaticalization, which means the loss of lexical meaning by the auxiliary verbs wurthen and ben (wesen). Along with this process there was also lost the agreement of the nominative predicate with the subject. Therefore PII loses its case forms in ME and becomes an unchangeable form.

Due to these important changes there appears a special passive form in ME.

and that was sayd in forme and reverence – and this was said politely and respectably.

(Contact location of parts of analytical verbal form)

By the end of ME period there emerged different analytical tense forms of verbs for the group of Simple and Perfect.

He knew wel that Troye sholde destroyed be.

Among the two analytical auxiliary verbs there remained the forms of with ben by the end of the period. This is explaned by the loss of the verb wurthen in ME, firstly it was lost as a notional verb in Northern dialects and later on in all ME dialects.