‘marry’ in the passive in Japanese and English

Apparently in Japanese you can’t say, ‘Jack married Jill’ in the passive. Well, in English it’s strange too.

'Jill was married by/to Jack on Saturday.'

However, you can say,

'Jill got married to Jack on Saturday.'

‘got’ is a kind of passive in English.

'She got promoted by her company on Friday and got married on Saturday.'

‘get hitched’ means to get married, but:

Jack hitched up with Jill, a softspoken lady.

is used with a wider range of associations than just marriage.

‘adopt’ in English is more regular.

Jack adopted Jill's daughter on Monday.
'Jill's daughter was adopted by Jack on Monday.'

papna | The Rabbi married Jill.

‘Jill was married by the Rabbi’, but not ‘Jill was married to the Rabbi.’

papna | FWIW, the normal passive construction is “Jack and Jill got married Saturday”, which is based on the non-transitive and somewhat old-fashioned “Jack and Jill married Saturday.”

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