How does the passive form work here?


This is from a visual novel.

A dude is talking to his underlings:

> さって本日よりきさまらに新たな命令が下されるわけだが

It translates to

> "Well now I’m calling you to give new orders"

I was under the impression that the passive form works like this:

> A が/は B に passive form

Which means: A is affected by B’s action (directly or indirectly depending
whether it's a transitive or intransitive verb)

However I don’t see how that works here. From what I can tell the sentence is
constructed like this:

> A が/は B に passive form

So the speaker should be the one being adversely affected by the verb (orders)
however in this case he is the one doing the action (verb).

A should be affected by B's action. However A is the one doing the action
towards B.

Can someone help?




> きさまら **に** 新たな命令 **が** 下される  
>  (= 新たな命令がきさまらに下される)

The に here doesn't mark the agent (subject), but the target (indirect object)
of 下す. きさまらに here means "to you", not "by you".

> 「上層部が **貴様らに** 新たな命令 **を** 下す」 -- active voice  
>  (They) give new orders **to you**.  
>  ↓  
>  「新たな命令 **が** (上層部によって/から*) **貴様らに** 下される」 -- passive voice  
>  New orders are given **to you** (by them).

*によって or から is preferred, avoiding repeating に, since 「上層部 **に** 貴様ら **に** 」 would sound confusing.

下す (give) takes two objects, a direct object (marked by を) and an indirect
object (marked by に), so the sentence can be converted to another passive
voice form:

> 「貴様ら **が** (上層部に/から/によって)新たな命令 **を** 下される」  
>  You are given new orders (by them).

* * *

Another example:

> 「私が **あなたに** １万円を渡す」 I give **you** 10,000 yen.  
>  ↓  
>  「１万円が(私によって/から) **あなたに** 渡される」 10,000 yen is given **to you** (by me).  
>  「あなたが(私に/によって/から)１万円を渡される」 You are given 10,000 yen (by me).

... So, 「山田さん **に** 渡された１万円」 would be quite ambiguous: "10,000 yen that was
given **to** Yamada, or **by** Yamada." (In the case of "by~~", you can
usually avoid confusion by using から instead.)

* * *

So, logically speaking, 「～に下される」「～に与えられる」「～に渡される」「～に教えられる」「～に託される」「～に依頼される」
etc. can mean either "be given/taught/entrusted **to** ~~" or "be
given/taught/entrusted **by** ~~", and you should see the context to tell
which meaning a に is being used for.




> きさまら **に** 新たな命令 **が** 下される  
>  (= 新たな命令がきさまらに下される)

The に here doesn't mark the agent (subject), but the target (indirect object)
of 下す. きさまらに here means "to you", not "by you".

> 「上層部が **貴様らに** 新たな命令 **を** 下す」 -- active voice  
>  (They) give new orders **to you**.  
>  ↓  
>  「新たな命令 **が** (上層部によって/から*) **貴様らに** 下される」 -- passive voice  
>  New orders are given **to you** (by them).

*によって or から is preferred, avoiding repeating に, since 「上層部 **に** 貴様ら **に** 」 would sound confusing.

下す (give) takes two objects, a direct object (marked by を) and an indirect
object (marked by に), so the sentence can be converted to another passive
voice form:

> 「貴様ら **が** (上層部に/から/によって)新たな命令 **を** 下される」  
>  You are given new orders (by them).

* * *

Another example:

> 「私が **あなたに** １万円を渡す」 I give **you** 10,000 yen.  
>  ↓  
>  「１万円が(私によって/から) **あなたに** 渡される」 10,000 yen is given **to you** (by me).  
>  「あなたが(私に/によって/から)１万円を渡される」 You are given 10,000 yen (by me).

... So, 「山田さん **に** 渡された１万円」 would be quite ambiguous: "10,000 yen that was
given **to** Yamada, or **by** Yamada." (In the case of "by~~", you can
usually avoid confusion by using から instead.)

* * *

So, logically speaking, 「～に下される」「～に与えられる」「～に渡される」「～に教えられる」「～に託される」「～に依頼される」
etc. can mean either "be given/taught/entrusted **to** ~~" or "be
given/taught/entrusted **by** ~~", and you should see the context to tell
which meaning a に is being used for.

