33.1. Control passive
Models
| 1) | ȻENÁṈETEṈ SEN. | ‘I was helped’ or |
| ‘He/she/it/they helps/help me’ or | ||
| ‘Someone helps me.’ | ||
| 2) | ȻENÁṈETEṈ ȽTE. | ‘We were helped’ or |
| ‘He/she/it/they helps/help us’ or | ||
| ‘Someone helps us.’ | ||
| 3) | ȻENÁṈETEṈ SW̱. | ‘You were helped’ or |
| ‘He/she/it/they helps/help you.’ or | ||
| ‘Someone helps you.’ | ||
| 4) | ȻENÁṈETEṈ SW̱ HÁLE. | ‘You folks were helped’ or |
| ‘He/she/it/they helps/help you folks’ or | ||
| ‘Someone helps you folks.’ | ||
| 5) | ȻENÁṈETEṈ. | ‘He/she/it/they was/were helped’ or |
| ‘He/she/it/they helps/help him/her/it/them.’ | ||
| ‘Someone helps him/her/it/them.’ |
‣ 1 The control passive is formed with ‑TEṈ at the end of the verb.
‣ 2 Notice that in each example it is the subject that is undergoing the action, and that each model has three possible English translations.
‣ 3 The control passive implies that there is an actor who is in control even though the actor is not mentioned in the sentence.
‣ 4 It is possible to add an explicit actor to any of these models. If an actor is added, it has to be in a prepositional phrase. For example, an actor, NE TÁN ‘my mother’ added to model 1 would be:
ȻENÁṈETEṈ SEN ¸E ŦE NE TÁN. ‘I was helped by my mother’ or
‘My mother helped me.’
‣ 5 Look at the models in §32.1 and §32.2. Those are all active sentences. Notice that there is nothing listed there for ‘He/she/it/they help you’ or ‘He/she/it/they manage to help you.’ That is, there is no active sentence where a third person (he/she/it/they) is acting on a second person (you).
‣ 6 It is not possible in SENĆOŦEN to express the idea of a third person acting on a second person in an active sentence. Here is the Third on Second Rule:
To express a third person participant (he/she/it/they) acting on a second person participant (you),
the passive is required.
‣ 7 Model 5 shows a situation in which the passive is optional, as in English. The passive is optional only if both subject and object are ‘he/she/it/they.’ Compare:
ȻENÁṈETES. ‘He/she/it/they helped him/her/it/them.’ (§32.1 model 15)
ȻENÁṈETEṈ. ‘He/she/it/they was/were helped.’ (§33.1 model 5)
‣ 8 You can add a subject to model 5. Since the passive form is an intransitive verb, the noun phrase following the verb is the subject. For example,
ȻENÁṈETEṈ ŦE NE TÁN. ‘My mother was helped (by someone).’
‣ 9 Notice how big a difference in meaning the ¸E preposition would make in that sentence in point 8:
ȻENÁṈETEṈ ¸E ŦE NE TÁN. ‘Someone was helped by my mother.’
 | ȻENÁṈETEṈ SEN ¸E ŦE NE TÁN. | ‘My mother helped me.’ |
 | U¸ YOŦ E SW̱ U¸ ȻENÁṈETEṈ? | ‘Does she always help you?’ |
| U¸ HÍ SEN OL¸ U¸ ĆȺ ¸E ȻS ṈEN¸ÁȽ. | ‘I work alone many times.’ |
| NIȽ Ȼ NE SXENÁTEṈ. | ‘That’s what I’ve been told.’ |
| 33.1A. Translate each into English. 1. XĆTIṈ ȽTE. 2. QENETEṈ E SW̱? 3. QENETEṈ SEN LÁ¸E ¸E TŦE SOȽ. 4. ȻENETEṈ ȽTE SE¸. | 33.1B. Translate each into SENĆOŦEN. 1. He knows you. 2. It was taken. 3. It was dried. 4. Someone lifted me. |