Question on Negative Verbs

[LatinRamen]

Hey everyone,

I'm just starting out with learning Japanese and while doing some self-study I came across the phrase, 開け放たれた窓. After trying to decipher this the best I can guess is that "開け放た" is the conjugated form of the verb "開け放つ." By my understanding, this conjugation would make the verb negative, and, since the character "窓" refers to a window, I would assume this refers to a closed window. However, when I put the whole phrase into translation software it yields the result "open window," which also makes sense based on the context in which I found the phrase. Thus, I was hoping someone could explain whether this phrase refers to an open or closed window and why. Thanks in advance!

 

[mdchachi]

Hey everyone,

I'm just starting out with learning Japanese and while doing some self-study I came across the phrase, 開け放たれた窓. After trying to decipher this the best I can guess is that "開け放た" is the conjugated form of the verb "開け放つ." By my understanding, this conjugation would make the verb negative, and, since the character "窓" refers to a window, I would assume this refers to a closed window. However, when I put the whole phrase into translation software it yields the result "open window," which also makes sense based on the context in which I found the phrase. Thus, I was hoping someone could explain whether this phrase refers to an open or closed window and why. Thanks in advance!

You're right about the base form of the verb. However it's not negative, it's a conjugation that you haven't learned yet that makes the verb passive (and past) tense.
A more direct translation would be "window that was left open." See this article for more details about this form.

Passive Forms

Passive forms are also known as “passive voice” in English. It is translated as “being done”. This form cannot be combined with verbal adjectives. The passive form can be created by adding either れる (reru) or られる (rareru) to the mizenkei...

jref.com

 

[LatinRamen]

Thanks a lot, that makes a lot more sense now!