B1 · The passive
The werden-passive
something is being done
The process, not the result — and the agent usually left out on purpose.
The passive is werden conjugated in second position and the participle at the end: Der Brief wird geschrieben. In the past it is wurde, and in the perfect it is ist ... worden — with worden rather than geworden, which is the one irregular detail here.
The point of a passive is that the subject of the active sentence disappears. German uses it heavily in instructions, notices, recipes and official writing for exactly that reason: Hier wird nicht geraucht states a rule without naming anybody. If the agent does need naming, it comes back with von plus the dative.
German can also form a passive from a verb with no object at all, which English cannot: Es wird getanzt, roughly "there is dancing going on". The es is an empty placeholder and disappears the moment anything else takes the first position.
Die Form
| present | Das Haus wird gebaut. |
| past | Das Haus wurde gebaut. |
| perfect | Das Haus ist gebaut worden. |
| with an agent | Der Brief wird von der Chefin unterschrieben. |
| with a modal | Das muss heute erledigt werden. |
Die Regeln im Einzelnen
The passive is werden plus the participle, with the participle at the end.
Die Rechnung wird morgen verschickt.The invoice will be sent tomorrow.
In the perfect the participle of werden is worden, not geworden.
Der Antrag ist schon bearbeitet worden.The application has already been processed.
The agent, if named, takes von plus the dative.
Das Formular wird vom Amt geprüft.The form is checked by the authority.
With a modal, werden goes to the end after the participle.
Das kann heute noch erledigt werden.That can still be dealt with today.
Genauer hingesehen
Why German notices are passive
German uses the passive far more than English does in notices, instructions and administrative writing — Hier wird nicht geraucht rather than "do not smoke". The effect is impersonal in a specific way: the rule is presented as a fact about the place rather than as an order from one person to another.
For a learner this cuts both ways. Reading German officialdom means reading a great many passives, and writing anything formal in German means using them. But in ordinary conversation the passive is no commoner than in English, and a spoken sentence full of them reads as stiff — which is the same judgement an English editor would make.
Ausnahmen und Sonderfälle (2)
-
the cause is a thing rather than a person
durch plus the accusative replaces von plus the dative.
Die Stadt wurde durch ein Erdbeben zerstört.The city was destroyed by an earthquake.
German separates the doer from the means, where English uses "by" for both.
-
the verb takes a dative object — helfen, danken, folgen
there is no subject for the passive, so the dative stays and es or nothing fills the front.
Mir wurde nicht geholfen.I was not helped.
Only an accusative object can become the subject of a passive, and these verbs have none.
Woran man es erkennt
- wird
- wurde
- worden
- von
- durch
- werden
Beispielsätze
Die Straße wird gerade repariert.The road is being repaired at the moment.
Das Paket wurde gestern zugestellt.The parcel was delivered yesterday.
Hier wird nicht geraucht.There is no smoking here.
Der Termin muss verschoben werden.The appointment has to be moved.
Das Museum ist im Krieg zerstört worden.The museum was destroyed in the war.
Noch 8 Beispielsätze
Die Bewerbungen werden bis Freitag gesichtet.The applications are being reviewed until Friday.
Das Gebäude wird gerade renoviert.The building is being renovated.
Ihm wurde eine Stelle angeboten.He was offered a job.
Die Ergebnisse werden nächste Woche veröffentlicht.The results will be published next week.
Es wird viel darüber gesprochen.A lot is being said about it.
Der Vertrag ist von beiden Seiten unterschrieben worden.The contract has been signed by both sides.
Das Formular muss ausgefüllt werden.The form has to be filled in.
Hier darf nicht geparkt werden.No parking here.
Besonderheiten (2)
-
worden, not geworden
In a passive perfect the participle of <z>werden</z> drops its <z>ge-</z>: <z>ist gebaut worden</z>. When <z>werden</z> is the main verb meaning "to become", it keeps it: <z>ist Lehrer geworden</z>. One letter apart, and it is the reliable signal of which of the two constructions you are reading.
Er ist Lehrer geworden, und die Schule ist renoviert worden.He became a teacher, and the school has been renovated.
-
The empty es disappears when something else moves in
<z>Es wird getanzt</z> becomes <z>Heute Abend wird getanzt</z> — the <z>es</z> was only holding the first position and goes as soon as anything real takes it. This is a general German habit rather than a passive one, and it explains a good many sentences that seem to have lost their subject.
Heute Abend wird getanzt.There is dancing this evening.
Die typisch deutsche Falle
Aufgepasst
English "is built" is ambiguous and German is not. Wird gebaut is a process — builders are there now. Ist gebaut is a state — the building stands finished. Because both German sentences are correct, nothing signals the mistake; the listener simply hears the other one, and on a building site that is a considerable difference.
werden for the process, sein for the result.
Jetzt selbst
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