Quick answer
Instead of “the shop was closed”, Russian prefers магази́н закры́ли — “they closed the shop”, with no subject named at all.
The three strategies
| Strategy | Example | Register |
|---|---|---|
| third-person plural | Магази́н закры́ли. | everyday, by far the commonest |
| reflexive -ся | Дом стро́ится. | ongoing processes |
| short participle | Магази́н закры́т. | states and signs |
Note the difference between the last two: закры́т describes the current state (it is closed), while закры́ли reports the action (someone closed it).
The “they” passive
This is the form to learn first, because it is what Russians actually say. The verb goes into the они́ form with no pronoun — and the sentence cannot be misread, because a missing они́ always signals exactly this.
The -ся passive and the participle forms
Reflexive passives suit processes and general statements: кни́га чита́ется легко́ (the book reads easily), дом стро́ится (the house is being built), как э́то де́лается? (how is that done?). Short passive participles suit results and signs: откры́то, закры́то, за́нято, про́дано, гото́во.
The бы́ло passive
A full “was built” passive exists — дом был постро́ен в 1890 году́ — and belongs to written and historical Russian. In speech, дом постро́или does the same job in fewer syllables.
Typical mistakes
Магази́н был закры́тый.
Магази́н был закры́т.
A predicate takes the short participle.
Я был сказа́н, что…
Мне сказа́ли, что…
Russian uses the impersonal “they”.
Check yourself
How would a Russian normally say “I was told”?