English — Passive with get
In informal English, get + past participle forms a passive that highlights a change or an incident affecting the subject: get married, got hurt, get paid. It is a livelier alternative to the be-passive.
How it works
Use a form of get plus the past participle. get carries the tense (get / gets / got / getting), while the participle stays fixed: They got married last year. She got hurt in the accident. I get paid on Fridays. It stresses the event or change, often something sudden, unplanned, or affecting the subject.
Examples
| get-passive | be-passive equivalent | Meaning / use |
|---|---|---|
| They got married in June. | They were married in June. | A change of state: entering marriage. |
| She got hurt playing football. | She was hurt playing football. | An incident affecting the subject. |
| I get paid on Fridays. | I am paid on Fridays. | A regular event the subject undergoes. |
| Our car got stolen last night. | Our car was stolen last night. | A sudden, unwanted incident. |
| He's getting promoted next month. | He is being promoted next month. | An upcoming change in progress or planned. |
| The window got broken during the storm. | The window was broken during the storm. | A resulting change, agent often unknown. |
Good to know
The get-passive is informal — avoid it in formal or academic writing, where the be-passive is expected. It works best with dynamic, change-of-state verbs (got hurt, got stolen), not with stative ones: say The house is owned by a bank, not The house gets owned by a bank. Also keep get-passive apart from causative get (I got my hair cut = I arranged for it), which has a different structure.