German grammar has two different types of passive voice: the process and the status passive voice. This lecture is about the process passive, its construction, construction, word order and meaning itself. More information about the status passive can be found in lecture 4.12.2 Status Passive.
The Process Passive
Examples:
- „Die Frau wurde angefahren.“
- „Ein Verband wurde der Frau angelegt.“
- „Die Frau wird ins Krankenhaus gebracht.“
The most important information in these sentences are: someone was run into, a bandage was put on her, the woman was driven to the hospital.
Who ran into her, who put the bandage on, and who drove her to the hospital are either not important or unknown.
You can ask for a passive sentence always with the questions: „What is happening?“ (Present), „What happend?“ (Past), „What will happen?“ (Future)
Construction: Process Passive
Construction in General:
The process passive is constructed from two parts:
werden + Past Participle
Example:
- „Der Kuchen wird (vom Bäcker) gebacken.“
„Werden“ is conjugated and the past participle goes at the end of the sentence.
Construction with Modal Verbs
The process passive with modal verbs is constructed from three parts:
Example:
- „Der Kuchen muss gebacken werden.“
The modal verb is conjugated and „werden“ goes after the past particple at the end of the sentence.
The Passive Voice in All Tenses:
| Tense | |
|---|---|
| Simple Present: | |
| Simple Past: | |
| Perfect: | |
| Past Perfect: | |
| Future 1: | |
| Future 2: (rare) |
The construction is according to the regular rules of each tense based on: werden + past participle. The past participle stays unchanged in all tenses. Only „werden“ shows the tense.
From Active to Passive
How to transform an active sentence into a (process) passive sentence:
- The accusative object becomes the subject.
- The subject is removed or replaced by „von“ + the noun in the dative case.
- The verb is put in the past participle form and the conjugated helping verb „werden“ is used.
Examples: All Tenses
Passive – Simple Present
Active:
- „Der Mann öffnet das Fenster.“
- „Die Frau liest das Buch.“
Passive: (werden + past participle)
- „Das Fenster wird (vom Mann) geöffnet.“
- „Das Buch wird (von der Frau) gelesen.“
Passive – Simple Past:
Active:
- „Der Mann öffnete das Fenster.“
- „Die Frau las das Buch.“
Passive: (wurden + past participle)
- „Das Fenster wurde (vom Mann) geöffnet.“
- „Das Buch wurde (von der Frau) gelesen.“
Passive – Perfect:
Active:
- „Der Mann hat das Fenster geöffnet.“
- „Die Frau hat das Buch gelesen.“
Passive: (sein + past participle + worden)
- „Das Fenster ist (vom Mann) geöffnet worden.“
- „Das Buch ist (von der Frau) gelesen worden.“
Passive – Past Pefect:
Active:
- „Der Mann hatte das Fenster geöffnet.“
- „Die Frau hatte das Buch gelesen.“
Passive:
- „Das Fenster war (vom Mann) geöffnet worden.“
- „Das Buch war (von der Frau) gelesen worden.“
Passive – Future 1
Active:
- „Der Mann wird das Fenster öffnen.“
- „Die Frau wird das Buch lesen.“
Passive: (werden + past participle + werden)
- „Das Fenster wird (vom Mann) geöffnet werden.“
- „Das Buch wird (von der Frau) gelesen werden.“
Passive – Future 2
Active:
- „Der Mann wird das Fenster geöffnet haben.“
- „Die Frau wird das Buch gelesen haben.“
Passive: (werden + past participle + worden + sein)
- „Das Fenster wird (vom Mann) geöffnet worden sein.“
- „Das Buch wird (von der Frau) gelesen worden sein.“
Word Order
Regular Main Clause:
| Position 2 | End | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Er | wird | ins Krankenhaus | gebracht. |
| Position 1 | End | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Wird | er | ins Krankenhaus | gebracht? |
Verbs Without Passive Voice
Some verbs can use the passive voice: That are verbs that use the verb „sein“ in the perfect tense, true reflexive verbs and verbs that don‘t describe an action (they only describe a condition)
Examples:
All verbs that use the verb „sein“ in the perfect tense
- „Ich bin (zum Zahnarzt) gegangen.“
Passive is not possible because I can only walk by myself.
⇒ Nobody can do it for me ⇒ No passive possible
True reflexive verbs
- „Ich konzentriere mich.“
Passive isn‘t possible, because the subject is being used by the action. The subject is important.
⇒ Nobody can do it for me ⇒ No passive possible
Verbs that don‘t describe an action (they only describe a condition)
- i.e. „besitzen“, „haben“, „wissen“, „kennen“…
In passive, the action is important. For these verbs there is no action and normally only a condition/status stated ⇒ no passive possible
Further Information
- If we talk about passive in general, we mean the process passive. But there is another passive: The Status Passive.
- To form the process passive you need the verb „werden“ and the past participle
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