Lesson 17: Passive Voice, Reported Speech & Formal Writing — કર્મવાચ્ય, પરોક્ષ કથન અને ઔપચારિક લેખન

Formal Gujarati — the Gujarati of newspapers, offices and ceremonies — runs on three engines this lesson installs: the passive voice (કર્મવાચ્ય, karmavāchy), which lets the action step forward and the doer step back; reported speech (પરોક્ષ કથન, parōkṣ kathan), which carries one person's words into another's sentence; and the formal letter, where these two engines do daily work. The good news about reported speech: Gujarati, unlike English, usually does not shift tenses backwards. The words stay as they were spoken.

The passive voice

The doer, if mentioned at all, takes થી (thī, by) or દ્વારા (dvārā, by/through — the formal favourite): સરકાર દ્વારા રસ્તો બનાવાય છે (sarkār dvārā rastō banāvāy chē) — the road is built by the government.

The formal twin, કરવામાં આવે છે (karavāmāṁ āvē chē, literally "comes into doing"), is the passive of official prose: અરજી સ્વીકારવામાં આવશે (arajī svīkāravāmāṁ āvśē) — the application will be accepted. Reach for this frame in letters and essays; reach for the short -આય form in speech.

Ability passive. With થી on the person, -આય says what someone *can or cannot manage*: મારાથી આ બોક્સ ઊંચકાય છે (mārāthī ā bōks ūṁchakāy chē) — I can lift this box (it "gets lifted by me"); તેનાથી દોડાયું નહીં (tēnāthī dōḍāyuṁ nahīṁ) — he couldn't manage to run. It is the politest way to admit a limit.

Reported speech (પરોક્ષ કથન)

To report, Gujarati frames the original words with કે (kē, that) — and leaves the tense unchanged:

Three habits to copy: pronouns shift to fit the reporter (હું → તે when reporting another's "I"), time-words may stay (કાલે stays કાલે), and yes/no questions fold in કે … કે નહીં (whether … or not). Commands report as -વાનું કહ્યું (to do, said).

The formal letter (ઔપચારિક પત્ર)

A formal application (અરજી, arajī) has fixed furniture:

Model leave application (અરજી):

માનનીય આચાર્યશ્રી, (mānanīya āchāryaśrī,) — Respected Principal, વિષય: બે દિવસની રજા માટે અરજી. (viṣaya: bē divasnī rajā māṭē arajī.) — Subject: application for two days' leave. સાદર પ્રણામ. હું વર્ગ આઠનો વિદ્યાર્થી છું. (sādar praṇām. huṁ varg āṭhnō vidyārthī chhuṁ.) — Respectful greetings. I am a student of class eight. મારા ઘરે લગ્ન છે, એટલે મને બે દિવસની રજા આપવા અનુરોધ કરું છું. (mārā gharē lagna chē, ēṭlē manē bē divasnī rajā āpavā anurōdh karuṁ chhuṁ.) — There is a wedding at my home, so I request you to grant me two days' leave. આપનો વિશ્વાસુ, આરવ. (āpanō viśvāsu, Ārav.) — Yours faithfully, Aarav.

Pronunciation focus

• દ્વારા (dvārā, by/through) — the દ્વ cluster is "dv", one onset: "dvā-rā". Formal reading keeps it crisp; you will hear it in every news bulletin.
• -આય (āy) passives glide: લખાય (lakhāy) is "la-khāy" with the āy as one long diphthong, not "la-khā-ya".
• અનુરોધ (anurōdh, request) — retroflex ધ ending; the word's dignity is partly in its careful pronunciation. Formal letters are read aloud in the mind; pronounce them properly even on paper.

Common mistakes

• Passive where Gujarati prefers active. Wrong (in conversation): *મારાથી ખાવાય છે for "I eat". Right: હું ખાઉં છું — the -થી -આય frame is for ability and formality, not for ordinary actions.
• Backshifting tenses English-style. Wrong: *તેણે કહ્યું કે તે કાલે આવ્યો હતો (turning his "I will come tomorrow" into a false past). Right: તેણે કહ્યું કે તે કાલે આવશે — Gujarati keeps the original tense.
• કે નહીં forgotten in reported questions. Wrong: *શિક્ષકે પૂછ્યું કે તું તૈયાર છે. (a statement shape, not a question report). Right: …કે તું તૈયાર છે કે નહીં.
• તું-forms in a formal letter. Wrong: *તમારું નામ… followed by તું-style imperatives to the principal. Right: the letter register is આપ-level throughout: અનુરોધ કરું છું, આપનો વિશ્વાસુ.

Exam Experience

Reading task. Read this notice and answer in English.

સૂચના: શાળાનું નવું પુસ્તકાલય આવતી કાલે ખોલવામાં આવશે. (sūchanā: śāḷānuṁ navuṁ pustakālay āvatī kālē khōlavāmāṁ āvśē.) — Notice: the school's new library will be opened tomorrow. પુસ્તકો વિદ્યાર્થીઓને શુક્રવારથી આપવામાં આવશે. (pustakō vidyārthīōnē śukravārthī āpavāmāṁ āvśē.) — Books will be given to students from Friday. આચાર્યે કહ્યું કે બધા વિદ્યાર્થીઓએ પુસ્તકાલયનો લાભ લેવો જોઈએ. (āchāryē kahyuṁ kē badhā vidyārthīōē pustakālaynō lābh lēvō jōīē.) — The principal said that all students should take advantage of the library.

1) What will happen tomorrow? 2) When will students get books? 3) What did the principal say?

Answer key. 1) The new library will be opened — ખોલવામાં આવશે (khōlavāmāṁ āvśē, formal passive). 2) From Friday — શુક્રવારથી (śukravārthī). 3) That all students should use the library — કહ્યું કે … લેવો જોઈએ, tense kept as spoken.

Multiple choice. Choose the correct answer.

1) The passive of તે પત્ર લખે છે is… A) પત્ર લખે છે B) પત્ર લખાય છે C) પત્ર લખ્યું છે D) પત્રને લખે છે 2) In reported speech, "I will come tomorrow" (હું કાલે આવીશ) usually becomes… A) કે તે કાલે આવ્યો હતો B) કે તે કાલે આવશે C) કે તે ગઈ કાલે આવશે D) કે તે આવતો હતો 3) A formal letter closes with… A) તારો મિત્ર (tārō mitra) B) આવજો (āvjō) C) આપનો વિશ્વાસુ (āpanō viśvāsu) D) નમસ્તે (namastē)

Answer key with explanations. 1) B — stem + આય: લખાય છે. 2) B — pronouns adjust (હું → તે) but the tense stays; આવશે, not a backshifted past. 3) C — આપનો વિશ્વાસુ, "yours faithfully", is the formal close.

Writing task. Write a formal leave application of 5–6 lines: addressee, subject line, salutation, your request (with અનુરોધ), and the formal closing.

Model answer. માનનીય આચાર્યશ્રી, (mānanīya āchāryaśrī,) — Respected Principal, વિષય: એક દિવસની રજા માટે અરજી. (viṣaya: ēk divasnī rajā māṭē arajī.) — Subject: application for one day's leave. સાદર પ્રણામ. મને તાવ છે, એટલે હું આવતી કાલે શાળાએ આવી શકીશ નહીં. (sādar praṇām. manē tāv chē, ēṭlē huṁ āvatī kālē śāḷāē āvī śakīś nahīṁ.) — Respectful greetings. I have a fever, so I will not be able to come to school tomorrow. મને એક દિવસની રજા આપવા અનુરોધ કરું છું. (manē ēk divasnī rajā āpavā anurōdh karuṁ chhuṁ.) — I request you to grant me one day's leave. આપની વિશ્વાસુ, સીતા. (āpanī viśvāsu, Sītā.) — Yours faithfully, Sita.

Marking notes. One mark per line/part. The application must hold the આપ register end to end, the subject line must begin વિષય:, and the request must use અનુરોધ (or વિનંતી (vinantī) — accept either). Spelling of ઔપચારિક furniture (સાદર, વિશ્વાસુ) is assessed leniently first time, strictly on re-sits.

Going deeper: the language of notices

Official Gujarati has a vocabulary of its own. Harvest from any school gate or government wall:

A model notice, whole:

સૂચના: આવતી કાલે શાળા બંધ રહેશે. (sūchanā: āvatī kālē śāḷā bandh rahēśē.) — Notice: the school will remain closed tomorrow. પરીક્ષાનું ફોર્મ છેલ્લી તારીખ પહેલાં ભરવામાં આવે. (parīkṣānuṁ phōrm chhēllī tārīkh pahēlāṁ bharavāmāṁ āvē.) — The exam form should be filled before the last date. (passive again — forms are "filled" by no one in particular) પ્રવેશ માટે સહી અને સિક્કો જરૂરી છે. (pravēś māṭē sahī anē sikkō jarūrī chē.) — Signature and stamp are required for admission.

Read notices with a pencil: the passive frames (રહેશે aside, બંધ રહેશે is future) hide the actor on purpose — the office does not say *who* closes the school; the institution simply speaks. That vanishing-doer is the whole style of bureaucracy, in Gujarati as in English.

Final drill: one news item, three registers

The same fact at three altitudes — watch the passive machinery carry it upward:

• Spoken: શાળાએ નવું પુસ્તકાલય ખોલ્યું. (śāḷāē navuṁ pustakālay khōlyuṁ.) — The school opened a new library. (active, ergative, everyday)
• Reported: આચાર્યે કહ્યું કે નવું પુસ્તકાલય ખોલવામાં આવ્યું છે. (āchāryē kahyuṁ kē navuṁ pustakālay khōlavāmāṁ āvyuṁ chē.) — The principal said that a new library has been opened. (કે + formal passive)
• Notice-board: નવું પુસ્તકાલય વિદ્યાર્થીઓ માટે ખોલવામાં આવે છે. (navuṁ pustakālay vidyārthīō māṭē khōlavāmāṁ āvē chē.) — A new library is hereby opened for students. (full official frame — no human subject anywhere in sight)

Same library, three altitudes. The course's last grammar lesson is really this: register is altitude, and you now own the controls — active for the street, passive and reported speech for the page, and the formal letter for the moments when paper speaks for you.