In most sentences, the subject performs an action. For example, "The chef cooks the food." The chef is the subject, and they are doing the cooking. This is called the active voice.

Sometimes, however, you want to focus on the receiver of the action. You might not know who performed the action, or it might not be important. This is where the passive voice comes in. In English, we'd say, "The food is cooked." The focus shifts from the chef to the food.

Swedish has two main ways to do this, each with its own flavor and use.

The first and most direct way to form the passive is by adding an -s to the end of the verb. It’s clean, simple, and very common in written Swedish.

Take the active sentence:

Here, 'man' (one/they) is the subject doing the selling. To make it passive, we take the verb säljer (sells) and add an -s.

Notice how the doer, man, disappears. The focus is now entirely on the books and the action of selling. The s-passive is often used in instructions, headlines, and formal documents because it's concise and impersonal. It describes a general state or a habitual action.

The second method is the bli-passive. It's formed using the auxiliary verb bli (to become/get) followed by the past participle of the main verb. This form is very common in spoken Swedish and informal writing.

Let's look at an active sentence:

To make this passive with bli, we make the ball the subject, add the correct form of bli, and use the past participle of kasta (to throw), which is kastad.

The bli-passive often emphasizes a specific event or a change in state. If you want to mention who performed the action, you can add them using the preposition av (by).

So, when do you use which form? It mostly comes down to formality and focus. The s-passive describes a process or general truth, while the bli-passive often describes a single, completed event.

Consider the difference:

• Dörren öppnas klockan åtta. (The door is opened at eight o'clock.) This sounds like a rule or a daily routine, something you'd see on a sign.
• Dörren blev öppnad. (The door was opened.) This describes a single event that just happened. Someone opened the door.

Understanding both forms is key to sounding natural in Swedish, whether you're reading a newspaper or chatting with a friend.

Time to check what you've learned.

Great work. Now you can recognize and understand the two main ways Swedes shift focus in their sentences.