2.19 The passive — werden + past participle — Epoché
What you will be able to do Form the passive with werden and a past participle in the present, the past and the perfect: wird gebaut, wurde gebaut, ist gebaut worden . Name the doer with von and the cause or means with durch . Distinguish the action passive with werden from the state passive with sein : die Tür wird geschlossen and die Tür ist geschlossen . Recognise two German passives that English cannot copy: the dative that stays dative, mir wurde geholfen , and the passive with no subject, hier wird nicht geraucht . Sentences from this lesson, before the explanation. Read the German aloud; all of them come back below. German English Wir sind nicht eingeladen worden. [1] We haven't been invited. Sie sind betrogen worden. [2] You have been duped. Was hat Bell erfunden? [3] What did Bell invent? Das Bild an der Wand wurde von Picasso gemalt. [4] The picture on the wall was painted by Picasso. Fast jeder war eingeladen. [5] Almost everybody was invited. Hier sind meine Papiere. [6] Here are my papers. Ich wurde in China geboren. [7] I was born in China. Ich kann nicht befördert werden. [8] I can't get promoted. Prerequisites : 2.18 — you need werden from 3.2 Verbs and 3.12 Verbs , past participles from 3.5 Verbs and 3.14 Verbs , and von and durch from 4.5 Cases and 4.6 Cases . The passive turns a sentence round so that the thing affected becomes the subject: someone built the house becomes the house was built . German and English both have it and use it for the same reasons, above all in writing, when the doer is unknown, unimportant or obvious. The German passive, however, is built with werden , the verb of becoming, rather than with be . That one difference gives German a clearer system than English, with separate forms for an action and for the state that results. The forms The action passive is werden plus the past participle at the end. Only werden changes for tense. Tense Passive English present Die Straße wird repariert. The road is being repaired. simple past Es wurde gebaut. It was built. perfect Er ist befördert worden. He has been promoted. pluperfect Er war befördert worden. He had been promoted. with a modal Es muss gebaut werden. It must be built. Two forms need special attention. In the perfect and pluperfect, the participle of werden is worden , without ge- , and the auxiliary is sein . geworden is used only when werden means become . The state passive is sein plus the participle: Die Tür ist geschlossen , the door is closed . It describes the result, not the action. In real sentences Present and past. German English Die Straße wird repariert. [9] The road is under repair. Hier wird alles verkauft. [10] They sell everything here. Wann wurde es gebaut? [11] When was it built? Wann wurde er geboren? [12] When was he born? Was wurde gestohlen? [13] What was stolen? Fast jeder wurde eingeladen. [14] Almost everybody was invited. With the doer: von ; with the cause: durch . von names the person or agent who acts. durch names a means, a cause or an intermediary. German English Der Brief wurde von ihr geschrieben. [15] The letter was written by her. Was wurde von Bell erfunden? [16] What was invented by Bell? Die Stadt wurde durch Feuer zerstört. [17] The city was destroyed by fire. The perfect: ist … worden . German English Er ist befördert worden. [18] He was promoted. Sie sind gewarnt worden. [19] You've been warned. The state passive with sein . German English Die Tür ist geschlossen. [20] The door is closed. Es ist geöffnet. [21] It's open. Passives worth noticing. English cannot copy the first two; the last one it copies word for word. German English Mir wurde geholfen. [22] I was helped. Hier wird nicht geraucht. [23] There is no smoking here. Es wird gesagt, dass er krank ist. [24] It is said that he is sick. How English does it English uses be ; German uses become . English builds the passive with be , which makes the door is closed ambiguous: it may describe someone closing it, or the door standing shut. German separates the two. Die Tür wird geschlossen , with werden , is the action: someone is closing it. Die Tür ist geschlossen , with sein , is the state. English sometimes makes the same distinction with get : he got arrested is an action, he is arrested can be a state. German werden plays the role of that get , always. By is von or durch . English by covers both the person and the means: written by her , destroyed by fire . German uses von with the dative for the doer, durch with the accusative for a cause or means. A person or an institution that does the action takes von (one that only passes it on, a go-between, takes durch ); a natural force can take either, vom Sturm or durch den Sturm , and durch puts the weight on the cause or the means. The receiver stays in the dative. English can make the receiver the subject of a passive: I was helped , she was given a book . German cannot. Only an accusative object can become the subject of a passive. A dative object stays dative, and the verb stays in the singular with no subject at all: Mir wurde geholfen , literally to me was helped . This follows from 4.4 Cases : helfen takes a dative, and the passive does not change that. A passive with no subject. German can put an intransitive verb into the passive to describe an activity without naming anyone: Hier wird nicht geraucht , literally here is not smoked , meaning no smoking here . English has to say people , they or use a noun. You will meet the alternative with man in a later phase, together with other ways of avoiding the passive. The passive is a written form. As in English, the passive is much more frequent in newspapers, instructions and academic texts than in conversation. In speech German often prefers man , the general subject: they say is man sagt as well as es wird gesagt . New words Ten words that are frequent in the passive. Word (article, plural) Meaning Notes bauen de to build Gender / part of speech verb How English differs Related to English bower an