Passive Voice: Understanding and Formation

Welcome to Lesson 6 of the B1-B2 German course. In this lesson you will learn the passive voice (das Passiv), one of the most useful structures for reading German newspapers, academic texts, and official notices. By the end, you should be able to recognize passive sentences, form them in the main tenses, and decide when to use them.

The passive voice shifts the focus of a sentence from the person or thing doing an action to the action itself or to the thing receiving it. In an active sentence, the subject performs the action: "The chef cooks the soup." In a passive sentence, the receiver of the action becomes the subject: "The soup is cooked." German uses the passive constantly in instructions, news reports, and formal writing, where the doer of the action is either obvious, unknown, or unimportant.

The basic formula for the German passive is the auxiliary verb werden plus the past participle (Partizip II) of the main verb. The past participle always goes to the end of the clause. Compare these two sentences:

[[pronounce:Der Koch kocht die Suppe.:de]]

Active: The cook cooks the soup.

[[pronounce:Die Suppe wird gekocht.:de]]

Passive: The soup is being cooked (is cooked).

Notice that the object of the active sentence (die Suppe) moves to the front and becomes the subject, and the verb form changes to werden plus gekocht.

Werden is the auxiliary that carries the tense and person information, so it must be conjugated correctly. The following table shows the present tense of werden, which is what you combine with the past participle for the present passive:

The past participle remains unchanged in all persons. Only werden changes.

Vocabulary block one:

das Buch (das BOOKH) - book

schreiben (SHRY-ben) - to write

geschrieben (geh-SHRY-ben) - written

Here is a passive sentence using these words:

[[pronounce:Das Buch wird von einer Autorin geschrieben.:de]]

This translates to: The book is written by an author.

The tense of a passive sentence is determined entirely by the tense of werden. This gives you a systematic way to build every passive tense. Here is how the main tenses work with the verb öffnen (to open):

Note that the Perfekt and Plusquamperfekt passive use the form worden, the past participle of werden, and not geworden. This is a common source of errors for learners, so memorize the pattern.

In the Präteritum, which is preferred in written German such as news reports and novels, the auxiliary becomes wurde. Here are two examples:

[[pronounce:Die Tür wurde gestern geöffnet.:de]]

The door was opened yesterday.

[[pronounce:Der Brief wurde im Jahr 1990 geschrieben.:de]]

The letter was written in the year 1990.

In everyday spoken German, the Perfekt passive is used more often in conversation, while the Präteritum passive dominates in writing.

Vocabulary block two:

die Tür (dee TUER) - door

öffnen (ŒF-nen) - to open

geöffnet (geh-ŒF-net) - opened

The Präteritum of öffnen is wurde geöffnet, and the Perfekt is ist geöffnet worden. Practice saying both forms aloud so that they feel natural to you.

The agent, meaning the person or thing that performs the action, is introduced with von (by) when it is a person, and with durch (through, by means of) when it is a cause or an impersonal means. Compare these sentences:

[[pronounce:Das Gedicht wurde von einem Schüler vorgelesen.:de]]

The poem was read aloud by a student.

[[pronounce:Die Brücke wurde durch einen Sturm beschädigt.:de]]

The bridge was damaged by a storm.

In many passive sentences, the agent is simply left out, which is one of the main reasons German uses the passive: it allows speakers to describe what happened without naming who did it.

The passive is also combined with modal verbs, which is common in instructions and rules. The structure is modal verb plus the past participle plus werden, with werden at the very end of the clause:

[[pronounce:Die Hausaufgaben müssen bis Freitag abgegeben werden.:de]]

The homework must be handed in by Friday.

Here the modal müssen is conjugated, the main verb abgeben appears as abgegeben, and werden sits in infinitive form at the end. This three-part structure can look intimidating at first, but it follows the same logic as other modal constructions you have already studied.

German also has a stative passive (Zustandspassiv), which describes a resulting state rather than an action in progress. It is formed with sein plus the past participle, not werden. The difference is important:

[[pronounce:Das Fenster wird geschlossen.:de]]

The window is being closed. (action in progress)

[[pronounce:Das Fenster ist geschlossen.:de]]

The window is closed. (resulting state)

Learners often confuse these two, so ask yourself whether the sentence describes a process or a condition.

Native speakers use the passive in very specific contexts. Official notices, recipes, train announcements, and newspaper headlines rely heavily on it. For example, you will often see signs such as "Hier wird nicht geraucht" (Smoking is not allowed here, literally "Here is not smoked"). Similarly, a German news headline might read "Neues Gesetz beschlossen" (New law passed). Germans also use the passive to sound polite or impersonal when they wish to avoid blaming someone directly. Saying "Es wurde ein Fehler gemacht" (A mistake was made) sounds more diplomatic than "Du hast einen Fehler gemacht" (You made a mistake). Recognizing this tone will help you understand why German speakers choose the passive so often.

Here is a short dialogue in an office setting that shows the passive in natural use:

Kollegin: [[pronounce:Wurde der Bericht schon fertiggestellt?:de]]

Colleague: Was the report already completed?

Kollege: [[pronounce:Ja, er wurde gestern abgeschickt.:de]]

Colleague: Yes, it was sent yesterday.

Kollegin: [[pronounce:Gut. Die Präsentation muss heute noch vorbereitet werden.:de]]

Colleague: Good. The presentation still needs to be prepared today.

Here are a few more useful phrases you can memorize as patterns:

[[pronounce:Hier wird Deutsch gesprochen.:de]]

German is spoken here.

[[pronounce:Die Post wurde schon zugestellt.:de]]

The mail has already been delivered.

[[pronounce:Das Problem ist inzwischen gelöst worden.:de]]

The problem has meanwhile been solved.

[[pronounce:Es wird viel über das neue Projekt diskutiert.:de]]

A lot is being discussed about the new project.

A common point of confusion is the impersonal passive with intransitive verbs. German allows passives with verbs that have no direct object, using the impersonal es as a placeholder subject. For example, "Man arbeitet hier hart" becomes "Hier wird hart gearbeitet" (Hard work is done here). The es is often dropped when another element, such as hier, moves to the front. Remember that this construction is only possible in the passive, and it always keeps the verb in third-person singular.

To review, the German passive is built with werden plus the past participle, with the tense marked on werden and the past participle at the end. Use von for persons and durch for causes. Use sein plus the past participle when you want to describe a finished state. Practice converting active sentences into passive ones each day, starting with simple present-tense sentences, and gradually moving to past tenses and modal constructions. With consistent practice, the passive will become one of the most natural structures in your German.