Editing Nynorsk (section)

====Passive construction====

Just like the other Scandinavian languages and Bokmål, there is [[Passive voice|passive construction]] of verbs. In general, the passive is created by taking the verb stem and adding the suffix ''-ast''. For instance the verb ''hente'' (English: fetch) has the passive form ''hentast''. This suffix was inherited from [[Old Norse]] and is the same suffix that exists in modern-day [[Icelandic language|Icelandic]]. In fact, all the verb forms ''berast'', ''reddast'', ''opnast'', ''seljast'' in the table below are Icelandic verb forms too.

In contrast to Bokmål, the passive forms of verbs are only used after [[auxiliary verb]]s in Nynorsk, and never without them. Without an auxiliary verb there would rather be a passive construction by the use of the verbs ''vere''/''bli''/''verte'' (to be/to become) and then the [[#Participles|past participle verb]] form. For instance, the following sentence is not a valid sentence in Nynorsk:<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.ntnu.no/trykk/publikasjoner/nynorsk/files/assets/downloads/publication.pdf|title=NTNU Nynorsk for studentar|last=Fridtun|first=Kristin|date=2011|website=www.ntnu.no|access-date=15 July 2018}}</ref> ''Pakka hentast i dag'' (the package will be fetched today), there would rather be a construction like ''Pakka vert henta i dag''. This is due to the reduction of sentences that are ambiguous in meaning and due to the historic legacy of [[Old Norse]]. Bokmål and certain languages like Swedish and Danish have evolved another passive construction where the passive is not reflexive. In the general case, this can lead to confusion as to ''han slåast'' means that "he is fighting"» or that "he is being hit", a reflexive or a non reflexive meaning. Nynorsk has two different forms that separate this meaning for the verb ''slå'' (''slåast'' and ''slåst''), but in the general case it does not. Nynorsk solves this general ambiguity by mainly allowing a reflexive meaning, which is also the construction that has the most historical legacy behind it. This was also the only allowed construction in Old Norse.

There are reflexive verbs in Nynorsk just like the other Scandinavian languages, and these are not the same as passives.<ref name=":0" /> Examples are ''synast'' (think, looks like), ''kjennast'' (feels), etc. The reflexive verbs have their own conjugation for all tenses, which passives do not. A [[dictionary]] will usually show an inflection table if the verb is reflexive, and if it is passive the only allowed form is the word alone with an ''-ast'' suffix.
{| class="wikitable"
|+Examples of passives
!Norwegian
!English
|-
|''Eska skal '''berast'''''
|The box shall be carried
|-
|''Barna må '''reddast'''''
|The children must be saved 
|-
|''Døra vil '''opnast'''''
|The door will be opened 
|-
|''Sykkelen burde '''seljast'''''
|The bike should be sold
|}