Like in English, the passive voice in German is used when the focus is on the action and not on who did it. Let’s see an example.
passive voice
Mein Auto wurde mal wieder abgeschleppt.
My car was once again towed.
→ I don’t know who towed and it doesn’t really matter who did. What matters is that it happened.
Notice that the subjectNo definition set for subjectLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. of a passive verb undergoes the action!
In this post, we’ll go through all the most important things about the German passive voice: the different ways to form it, how to use it in different types of sentences, and when you might want to use it. Let’s have a look!
Statal passives vs. processual passives in German
In German, there are two different forms of the passive voice: the statal passive and the processual passive.
The statal passive describes the result of a completed action (a.k.a. a state):
statal passive
Die Reifen sind gewechselt.
The tires have been changed.
→ The action of changing the tires is complete.
The processual passive describes an ongoing action or a process:
processual passive
Die Reifen werden gewechselt.
The tires are being changed.
→ The action of changing the tires is ongoing.
They are both versions of the passive voice, which we can see when we compare the meanings above to the active voice equivalent below:
active voice
→ The subject does the action of changing the tires.
However, when we’re using the term “passive voice” in German, we’re usually talking about the processual passive, so this is the form we’ll cover in this post. If your curiosity has been piqued about the statal passive, though, check out our post on how to use the statal passive in German!
How to form the processual passive voice in German?
The processual passive voice is formed by combining the auxiliary verb werden and the past participle form of the main verb.
werden
past participle
(ge…-t / ge…-en / irregular)
Changing the tense of werden changes the tense of the passive verb. Although it exists in all the tensesNo definition set for tensesLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum., the good news is that the most common tenses of the passive voice are the present tense and the simple past. Use the following formulas:
| werden (present) + past participle |
| werden (simple past) + past participle |
| sein + past participle + worden |
| sein + past participle + worden |
Though you won’t use them as much as the simple tenses, here are two important things to remember about the future tenses in German:
All verbs use the auxiliary sein to form the perfect tense if they’re used in the passive voice. This is true even when the main verb doesn’t usually use this auxiliary.
Check out our post on the
perfect tense to review why this is different from the active voice.
The word worden is a special form of the verb werden that’s only used into form the passive voice in the present perfect, past perfect, and future II tenses.
Have a look at these examples:
seinpast participleworden
Das Öl ist in der Werkstatt gewechselt worden.
The oil has been changed in the auto shop.
→ present perfect
Die Scheiben waren bereits geputzt worden.
The windows had already been cleaned.
→ past perfect
Check out this table of the German passive voice to see all the forms of werden and sein that you’ll need to fully conjugate verbs in the passive voice.
German sentence structure: Active voice vs. passive voice
We’ve seen, now, how to form a passive verb in German. Let’s look more closely about how this affects the form of the complete sentence. The easiest way to understand this is to compare the sentence structure in the active voice to the passive voice. The basic differences are:
Classically, in the active voice:
Some sentences in the active voice may follow slightly different patterns, but this is the pattern for most active sentences that can be made passive.
In the passive voice:
| | |
| optional, follows von / durch(by) | |
Need a refresher on the difference between nominative, accusative, and dative? Review our post about the
German case system.
Only transitive verbsNo definition set for transitive verbsLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. can be used to form passive sentences. So, reflexive verbs, verbs that take sein(to be) as the auxiliary verb in the perfect tense, and surprisingly, the verbs haben(to have), kennen(to know, be acquainted), wissen(to know), and es gibt(there is/are) do not form the passive voice either.
Let’s look at some pairs of active and passive sentences and discuss the differences!
subjectactive verbdirect object Ich bezahle die Rechnung. The subject does the action. | subjectpassive verb Die Rechnung wird bezahlt. The subject undergoes the action. The agent is optional (missing). |
subjectactive verbdirect object Mein Bruder parkte den Van in einer engen Parklücke. My brother parked the van in a tight parking spot. The subject does the action. | subjectpassive verb Der Van wurde in einer engen Parklücke geparkt. The van was parked in a tight parking spot. The subject undergoes the action. The agent is optional (missing). |
Did you notice that in the second example Phrase changed to der Van? This is because the van goes from being the direct object of the active verb (accusative) to being the subject of the passive verb (nominative)!
When to use ‘von’ and ‘durch’ in the passive voice?
In the passive voice, you can use von or durch to add the agent back into a passive sentence, much like you would use “by” in English. How do you choose which to use? Follow these rules:
Use von to introduce a person or animal who does the action.
Use durch to introduce things, companies, or concepts who perform an action.
Also remember that von is a dative preposition while durch is an accusative preposition, so the case of the agent will depend on which preposition you use. Let’s see how this works.
subjectactive verbdirect object Die Mechanikerin reparierte gestern den Motor. The mechanic repaired the engine yesterday. The subject does the action. | subjectpassive verbprepositiondative case Der Motor wurde gestern von der Mechanikerin repariert. The engine was repaired by the mechanic yesterday. The subject undergoes the action. The agent is optional (follows a preposition). → we use the preposition von because a mechanic is human → the agent is in the dative case because it follows von |
subjectactive verbdirect object Die Versicherung bezahlt hoffentlich die Reparaturen. The insurance company hopefully pays for the repairs. The subject does the action. | subjectpassive verbprepositiondative case Die Reparaturen werden hoffentlich durch die Versicherung bezahlt. The repairs are hopefully paid by the insurance company. The subject undergoes the action. The agent is optional (follows a preposition). we use the preposition durch because a company is not a human or animal the agent is in the accusative case because it follows durch |
How to form the passive voice with modal verbs in German?
We can use German modal verbs in the passive voice as well, but the resulting sentence structure looks a little different. In this case the modal verb is the conjugated into a tense, while werden is pushed to the end of the sentence, remaining in its infinitive form. Let’s look at some examples!
modal verb (present tense)main verb (infinitive) Johann muss die Geburtstagsfeier vorbereiten. Johann has to prepare the birthday party. The main verb is infinitive. | modal verb (present tense)past participlewerden (infinitive) Die Geburtstagsfeier muss vorbereitet werden. The birthday party must be prepared. The auxiliary verb werden is in the infinitive, while the main verb is a past participle. |
modal verb (present tense)main verb (infinitive) Er konnte die Einladungen verschicken. He could mail the invitations. The main verb is infinitive. | modal verb (present tense)past participlewerden (infinitive) Die Einladungen konnten verschickt werden. The invitations could be mailed. The auxiliary verb werden is in the infinitive, while the main verb is a past participle. |
There is one case where you’ll actually use a different modal verb in the active vs. passive.
wollen(to want)in an active sentence
→
sollen(is supposed to, shall)in a passive sentence
For example:
Die Freunde wollten ein Feuerwerk organisieren. The friends wanted to organize fireworks. | Ein Feuerwerk sollte organisiert werden. Fireworks were supposed to be organized. |
When to form the passive with impersonal ‘es’?
In German, you’ll need to form the passive using the impersonal es if, in an active sentence, the verb does not assign accusative case to its object. In other words, we form the passive this way when the active version of the sentence has no true direct object, as in the example below:
active verbindirect object (dative)
→ The object is an indirect object, not a direct object.
Because there is no direct object in the sentence above, that direct object will not automatically be made into the subject of the passive. But we still need to fill the “position” in the sentence associated with the subject.
One way we can fill this position is to use impersonal es, which looks like this:
impersonal espassive verbindirect object (dative)
However, if the active version of the sentence has other elements such as an indirect object, an adverb, or a prepositional phrase, you can use them in the first position instead, which might look like this:
indirect object (dative)passive verb
→ Notice that mir is still dative, not nominative, so it is not the subject. It just sits in “subject position.”
This means that passive sentences in German do not necessarily need to have a subject. Let’s look at our two options through a couple other examples!
| active verbindirect object (dative) |
| impersonal espassive verbindirect object (dative) Es wird meiner Mutter gedankt. |
| indirect object (dative)passive verb Meiner Mutter wird gedankt. |
| active verbprepositional phrase Er antwortete auf meine Einladung. He answered (to) my invitation. |
| impersonal espassive verbprepositional phrase Es wird auf meine Einladung geantwortet. My invitation is answered. |
| prepositional phrasepassive verb Auf meine Einladung wird geantwortet. My invitation is answered. |
Do you want to impress someone with your German? Then you should know that it is considered better style to use a sentence element (an indirect object, an adverb, or prepositional phrase) instead of the impersonal es.
Good:Es wird in der Küche gekocht.
There is cooking (going on) in the kitchen.
Better:In der Küche wird gekocht.
There is cooking (going on) in the kitchen.
How to use impersonal ‘man’ when there’s not an agent?
In German, you can use the impersonal pronoun man(one, they, someone) as the subject of an active sentence if there is no specific agent. This creates an effect much like the passive, but it uses an active verb. For example:
man (impersonal)active verbdirect object
Man dekorierte den Kuchen.
Someone decorated the cake.
The meaning of this is similar to the passive, but the structure of the sentence is different:
subjectpassive verb
Der Kuchen wurde dekoriert.
Here are a few more examples:
| man (impersonal)active verbdirect object Man feiert den Geburtstag. They celebrate the birthday. |
| subjectpassive verb Der Geburtstag wird gefeiert. The birthday is celebrated. |
| man (impersonal)active verbdirect object Man räumt das dreckige Geschirr ab. They clean up the dirty dishes. |
| subjectpassive verb Das dreckige Geschirr wird abgeräumt. The dirty dishes are cleaned up. |
Summary
Let’s review the most important information of this article:
In the passive voice, the subject undergoes the action.
To form the passive voice use the auxiliary verb werden and a past participle. It exists in all tenses.
The usual German word order rules still apply.
To include the do-er (agent) in a passive sentence, use the dative preposition von(by), for animate agents, or the accusative preposition durch(by), for other agents.
Modal verbs follow the same rules in the passive voice: they carry the tense, the main verb is in the past participle + werden.
When the active voice sentence has no direct object, use the impersonal es or a sentence element (for example an indirect object, an adverb, or a prepositional phrase) in place of a subject in a passive voice sentence.
To achieve a similar meaning to the passive while using an active verb, just make the impersonal pronoun man as the subject.
If you want to practice the passive voice and apply what we discussed today, check out our German passive voice exercises. Or, if you’d rather learn more about German passives, check out our follow-up on the statal passive voice in German.
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