B2 · The passive
Avoiding the passive
man, sich lassen, and the sein-passive
Three constructions German reaches for instead — and one of them is what a spoken sentence usually uses.
German has a passive and often does not use it. The commonest alternative is man: Man kann das online machen rather than das kann online gemacht werden. It says the same thing, is shorter, and is what a person says out loud.
Sich lassen plus an infinitive expresses possibility: Das lässt sich reparieren — that can be repaired. It is very common in technical and everyday German and has no direct English equivalent, which makes it worth learning as a pattern rather than as a translation.
And sein plus a participle is the state passive, which is not an alternative to the process passive but a different statement: Der Laden ist geschlossen describes how things are, der Laden wird geschlossen describes something happening. Both are needed and they are not interchangeable.
Die Form
| man | Man kann das online machen. |
| sich lassen | Das lässt sich reparieren. |
| state passive | Der Laden ist geschlossen. |
| sein zu | Das ist noch zu klären. |
| reflexive | Das Buch verkauft sich gut. |
Die Regeln im Einzelnen
man plus an active verb is the everyday alternative to a passive.
Man muss vorher anrufen.You have to call in advance.
sich lassen plus an infinitive says that something can be done.
Das Fenster lässt sich nicht öffnen.The window cannot be opened.
sein plus a participle is a state, not a process.
Die Tür ist abgeschlossen.The door is locked.
sein plus zu plus an infinitive says something must or can be done.
Der Antrag ist bis Freitag einzureichen.The application must be submitted by Friday.
Genauer hingesehen
Why man has no good English translation
English offers "one", which is formal to the point of sounding affected, and "you", which sounds as if the listener is being addressed. German man is neither — it is completely neutral, as common in a text message as in a statute, and it carries no register at all.
The consequence is that a lot of ordinary German has no natural word-for-word English, and translators reach for the passive instead. Coming the other way, an English speaker writing German reaches for the passive when a German would have written man — which is why learners' German so often reads as more official than they intended.
Ausnahmen und Sonderfälle (2)
-
the sentence needs to name the agent
man is impossible and the werden-passive with von is required.
Der Vertrag wurde von der Anwältin geprüft.The contract was checked by the lawyer.
Man exists precisely to leave the agent out, so it cannot coexist with one.
-
a verb is reflexive in this construction
it can carry a passive sense on its own: das Buch verkauft sich gut.
Die Tür öffnet sich automatisch.The door opens automatically.
A small group of verbs uses the reflexive to express what happens to the subject, without any agent.
Woran man es erkennt
- man
- lässt sich
- ist zu
- ist geschlossen
- sich verkaufen
Beispielsätze
Man sollte das vorher besprechen.That should be discussed beforehand.
Der Fehler lässt sich leicht beheben.The fault can easily be fixed.
Das Geschäft ist sonntags geschlossen.The shop is closed on Sundays.
Diese Frage ist noch zu klären.This question still has to be resolved.
So etwas macht man nicht.One does not do that sort of thing.
Noch 8 Beispielsätze
Man kann hier gut essen.The food here is good.
Das lässt sich nicht ändern.That cannot be changed.
Die Formulare sind vollständig ausgefüllt.The forms are completely filled in.
Hier ist nichts mehr zu machen.There is nothing more to be done here.
Man weiß nie.You never know.
Der Termin lässt sich verschieben.The appointment can be moved.
Das Problem ist gelöst.The problem is solved.
So etwas sagt man nicht.You do not say things like that.
Besonderheiten (2)
-
man declines
<z>Man</z> has an accusative <z>einen</z> and a dative <z>einem</z>, borrowed from <z>ein</z>: <z>Das ärgert einen</z>, <z>Das hilft einem nicht weiter</z>. It has no genitive and no plural, and it always takes a third-person singular verb, however many people it stands for.
So etwas ärgert einen.That sort of thing is annoying.
-
sein plus zu is the compact official form
<z>Der Antrag ist einzureichen</z> means it must be submitted, and it is the register of forms, statutes and instructions. It compresses a modal and a passive into three words, which is why officialdom likes it and why it reads as officialdom when used anywhere else.
Die Unterlagen sind bis Montag vorzulegen.The documents are to be submitted by Monday.
Die typisch deutsche Falle
Aufgepasst
The wrong sentence is correct German and says that every Sunday somebody comes and closes the shop — a repeated action rather than a standing state. This is the same wird-against-ist distinction as in the previous topic, and it shows up most often exactly here, in opening hours and notices.
man for speech, sich lassen for possibility, sein for a state.
Jetzt selbst
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