Structural Dynamics of Passive Voice in Arabic and English: A Comparative Study

This research offers a detailed structure dynamics of (a). the elements and patterns of passive voice in English and Arabic (b). the similarities and differences between English and Arabic passive voice. This research belongs to a comparative qualitative research. In collecting the data, the researcher uses simak method. In analyzing the data, the researcher uses agih method to identify and classify the passive voice in English and Arabic, finds out the similarities and differences between English and Arabic passive voice, then draws conclusion. The findings reveal that there are both similarities and differences between the structures of passive voice in English and Arabic. The similarities include: (1) omitting the agent, (2) using the agent, (3) employing prepositions, (4) verb inflection, (5) using transitive verbs, and (6) tense variations. The differences are: passive voice in English is formed with an auxiliary verb (generally "be") followed by a past participle, while in Arabic, it is formed by altering the vowels in active verbs to create passive verbs, and the object takes the place of the subject (naib al-f?’il) and receives the nominative case (I’rab rafa’). In Arabic, the verb changes to active when the agent is included, whereas in English, the passive form is retained. Arabic verbs are influenced by gender distinctions, which are absent in English. In Arabic, there are morphological case variations (I’rab) such as nominative (Rafa’), accusative (Nasab), and genitive (Jar), whereas in English, verb inflection is marked with suffixes like "-s" or "-es." Keywords: Passive voice, Comparative study, English, Arabic