Swedish: An Essential Grammar, 2nd edition

part
another)
hjälpas åt IIb
help (one another)
slåss IV
fight
höras IIa
be in touch (with 
talas vid I
talk over
one another)
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The use of
the infinitive
and different
verbal
constructions
135

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Passive
Whereas active verbs often have a subject and an object, passive verbs
have a subject and an agent:
Passive transformation:
Active
Eva körde bilen.
Eva drove the car.
S 
⎯⎯⎯→
O
Passive
Bilen kördes av Eva.
The car was driven by Eva.
S 
←⎯⎯⎯⎯
AGENT
Many passive verbs have no agent, however:
Bilen kördes vårdslöst.
The car was driven carelessly.
The reason is that the agent in many cases is unknown, unimportant or
obvious from the context, and it is the action expressed by the verb or
the object of that action (subject of the passive) which is the dominating
idea:
Lunch serveras kl. 11.
Lunch is served at 11 o’clock.
Han dödades i en bilolycka.
He was killed in a car accident.
Mötet hålls i salen.
The meeting is being held in the
hall.
Passives with an agent are more common in impersonal written Swedish:
Skiftnyckeln uppfanns av en svensk.
The adjustable spanner was invented by a Swede.
There are three ways of expressing the passive: