In short

Ukrainian expresses the passive with three tools, and the most characteristic one is not the participle. Alongside the participial passive (стаття́ напи́сана “the article is written”), Ukrainian favours a reflexive passive in -ся (буди́нок буду́ється “the house is being built”) and, above all, an impersonal predicative in -но/-то (робо́ту зро́блено “the work has been done”). The -но/-то form is the native, everyday choice for a completed, agentless result, and unlike English it keeps its object in the accusative — there is no grammatical subject at all.

The rule

1. The -но/-то predicative (the star of this lesson). Take a passive participle, drop its adjectival ending, and add -о: a -ний participle gives -но (зро́блений → зро́блено), a -тий participle gives -то (відкри́тий → відкри́то). The result is an invariable, subjectless verb form. You meet it here as one of three ways to build a passive; for the one-member sentence type it makes, see Impersonal constructions (-но/-то; one-member sentences). Three points define the form:

• The former direct object stays in the accusative, exactly as in the active clause: активне «Я зроби́в робо́ту» → пасивне «Робо́ту зро́блено». There is no nominative subject.
• It is agentless. Standard Ukrainian does not attach a doer to -но/-то; if you must name who did it, switch to an active sentence («Я зроби́в робо́ту»).
• Tense is carried by the auxiliary бу́ти: nothing for the present, було́ for the past, бу́де for the future. The -но/-то word itself never changes.

2. The reflexive passive in -ся. Add -ся to a transitive verb, used in the 3rd person and mostly with imperfective verbs, to describe an ongoing process. Here there is a nominative subject (the thing acted upon), and an agent, if named, goes in the instrumental: «Пита́ння розгляда́ється комі́сією». This construction belongs mainly to official and scientific style.

3. The participial passive. A passive participle (see lesson 43) plus a form of бу́ти works like an adjective: it agrees in gender and number with the subject, and its agent is instrumental: «Стаття́ напи́сана відо́мим науко́вцем».

Forms & patterns

Building the -но/-то predicative from the passive participle:

Tense of the -но/-то construction (the form stays fixed; only the auxiliary moves):

Reflexive passive in -ся (imperfective, 3rd person only):

Participial passive — agreement with the subject:

Examples

Common mistakes

• Робо́та зро́блено -> Робо́ту зро́блено — the -но/-то predicative governs an accusative object, never a nominative subject.
• Робо́ту зро́блено мно́ю -> Я зроби́в робо́ту — the -но/-то passive is agentless; to name the doer, use an active clause.
• Робо́ту є зро́блено -> Робо́ту зро́блено — the present takes no copula; add було́/бу́де only for the past/future («Робо́ту було́ зро́блено»).
• збудо́вато / напи́сато -> збудо́вано / напи́сано — only -тий stems take -то (відкри́то, взя́то); -ний stems take -но.
• Кни́га чита́ється мно́ю -> Я чита́ю кни́гу — a -ся passive whose instrumental agent is a 1st- or 2nd-person pronoun is unidiomatic; prefer the active.

Tips

• Reach for -но/-то first: it is the most natively Ukrainian passive for a finished, agentless result, and it sounds better than a -ся passive there.
• The surest self-check is the accusative object — if the noun is in the accusative and there is no nominative subject, your -но/-то clause is well formed.
• Mark tense only through бу́ти: bare form = present, було́ = past, бу́де = future. The -но/-то word is frozen.
• Restrict the -ся passive to the 3rd person and usually the imperfective aspect, and keep the instrumental agent (комі́сією) for that construction and for participles — not for -но/-то.
• Remember that -ся is ambiguous: «ми́ється» can mean “is being washed” (passive) or “washes oneself” (reflexive); an inanimate subject and a named agent signal the passive reading.
• In speech, Ukrainian often sidesteps the passive altogether with an indefinite active 3rd-person plural: «Буди́нок збудува́ли» / «Так ка́жуть».