For example if I wanted to say “He told me what I needed to know.” would I say

> 彼に知らなきゃことを教えられた？

Or would it be something different?

And do I always need to use it if I’m telling someone what happened to me?

She told me. 言われた。

He saw me yesterday. 昨日見られた。

Are those the most natural?

Edit: I’m looking for examples in informal speech, thanks!
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-08-06T13:37:44.407
69922
2019-08-08T02:06:37.543
2019-08-07T12:00:48.673
34735
33900
question
grammar verbs tense passive-voice
Do you always need the passive voice when saying what happened to you?
No, there is no rule that you always have to use the passive form.

However, I realized that a Japanese sentence often omits the subject, often
implying the subject is the speaker without other context, and that this style
makes the sentence in the passive form.

Your example,

> He told me what I needed to know.

can be translated to

> 彼は私に、私が知っておかなくてはならないことを教えた。(a)

This Japanese sentence is correct. In fact, if this was an exam of
translation, I would answer in this way because there would be no way to mark
it as a mistake or blame for missing information. On the other hand, it is not
colloquial (or naturally composed Japanese) because it is explicitly stating
the subjects (action taker) "彼は" and "私が".

This translation can be modified to

> 彼は私に、知っておかなくてはならないことを教えた。(a')

by omitting "私が". There is almost no worry about misunderstanding about 'who
needed to know it'. Japanese speakers assume the subject is "私が" by default.

The same sentence can be translated to

> 知っておかなければならないことは、彼から教えられた。(b)

or

> 彼から、知っておかなければならないことを教えられた。(b')

These Japanese sentences correspond more to

> I was told by him what I needed to know.

and omit the subject "I" at both of the two occurrences. [Version (b)
emphasizes 'by him' more than version (b').] The forms (b) and (b') sound more
natural than (a). [I am not sure if (b) and (b') are more natural than (a').]

Even more colloquial form will be

> 彼から必要なことを聞いた。(c)

This corresponds more to

> I heard necessary things from him.

The words are changed, and the sentence might be a little strange as English.
However, as a Japanese sentence, version (c) is concise but clear enough that
it is delivering the same information as (a), and it is suitable for
conversation.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-08-08T02:06:37.543
69950
2019-08-08T02:06:37.543
7266
69922
answer