The Passive Voice in German

Grammar tips and examples

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The passive voice is used much less in German than in English. But it is used, and
German-learners should know something about the use of verbs in the active and passive
voice. The passive voice is most often encountered in writing (as in this very sentence), in
the newspaper and in literature. Observe the following color-coded examples in German
and English:

ACTIVE/AKTIV
Ich schreibe den Brief.
I'm writing the letter.

PASSIVE/PASSIV
Der Brief wird von mir geschrieben.
The letter is being written by me.

Note in the examples above...

1. To form the passive, German uses werden (to become) + the past participle, while
English uses "to be."
2. The word "letter" (Brief) in the ACTIVE sentence is an object being acted upon
(active) by the subject "I" (ich). In the PASSIVE sentence the former object (Brief)
becomes the subject, while the former subject (I, ich) is now the agent (by me/von
mir).
3. Only transitive verbs (those that take a direct object) can be made passive. The
direct object (accusative case) in the active voice becomes the subject (nominative
case) in the passive voice.

Active and passive voice forms are not tenses. The active or passive voice can be in the
present, past, future or any other tense. To conjugate verbs in the passive voice, you must
know the forms of werden (see below). A passive voice sentence may or may not include
the "agent" (by whom something was done). If the agent (by me, by Anna) is a person, it is
expressed in German with a von-phrase: von Anna (by Anna). If the agent is not a person,
then a durch-phrase is used: durch den Wind (by the wind). Here are some more color-
coded examples, with and without the agent expressed:

ACTIVE/AKTIV
Der Sturm hat das Haus zerstört.
The wind storm destroyed the building.
 PASSIVE/PASSIV (no agent expressed)
Das Haus ist zerstört worden.
The building was destroyed.

PASSIVE/PASSIV (agent expressed)

Das Haus ist durch den Sturm zerstört worden.
The building was destroyed by the wind storm.

"FALSE" PASSIVE (predicate adjective)

Das Haus ist zerstört.
The building is destroyed.
Das Haus war zerstört.
The building was destroyed.

Note in the examples above...

1. Except for the last "false" passive example, all the ACTIVE and PASSIVE
sentences are in the same tense (present perfect/Perfekt).
2. The ACTIVE verb form "hat zerstört" changes to "ist zerstört worden" in the
PASSIVE.
3. Although the normal past participle of "werden" is "(ist) geworden," when the past
participle is used with another verb, it becomes "ist (zerstört) worden."
4. If the ACTIVE sentence contains a past participle (i.e., "zerstört"), it will also
appear, unchanged, in the PASSIVE sentence with "worden."
5. The agent (der Sturm) is not a person, so the PASSIVE voice sentence uses durch
to express "by" – rather than von. (Note: In everyday German, this rule is often
ignored by native-speakers who may also use von for impersonal agents.)
6. The preposition von is always dative, while durch is always accusative. (See
Lektion 14 of German for Beginners).
7. The "false passive" example is NOT in the passive voice. The past participle
"zerstört" is only being used as a predicate adjective, describing the condition of
the building ("destroyed").

Vocabulary Note: Although it has little to do with the passive voice, a few vocabulary
comments related to the examples above are in order. Besides "house," das Haus can also
refer to a "building" or structure. Second, although it has several meanings, German
Sturm usually means a "gale" or a strong wind storm, as in "Sturm und Regen" (wind and
rain). Because the two words are similar to English (cognates), it is easy to misunderstand
their true meanings in German.

Aus der Zeitung: Some slightly edited passive examples from a German newspaper: "Ein
neues Einkaufszentrum soll in diesem Sommer eröffnet werden." (A new shopping center
should be opening this summer.) "Er ist zum 'Mr. Germany 2001' gewählt worden." (He
was chosen 'Mr. Germany 2001.') "Es wurden zunächst keine genauen Zahlen genannt."
(For the time being no exact figures were named/given.) "Am Dienstag wurde im Berliner
Schloss Bellevue gefeiert: Bundespräsident Johannes Rau wurde 70 Jahre alt." (On
Tuesday in Berlin's Bellevue Palace there was celebrating [it was celebrated]: Federal
President Johannes Rau turned 70.)

On the next pages you'll find more information, including the conjugation of "werden,"
more grammar tips and passive voice examples in various tenses, plus some practical
exercises.
The Passive Voice in German
Grammar tips and examples (2)
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PASSIVE II » 1 | 2 | 3

The passive voice in German is formed by combining the verb "werden" with the past
participle of the verb you are making passive. To conjugate the verb forms in the passive
voice, you use "werden" in its various tenses. Below are English-German examples of the
passive in six different tenses, in the following order: present, simple past (Imperfekt),
present perfect (Perfekt), past perfect, future and future perfect tenses.

The Passive Voice

in Various Tenses
Englisch Deutsch

The letter is (being) written by me. Der Brief wird von mir geschrieben.

The letter was written by me. Der Brief wurde von mir geschrieben.

Der Brief ist von mir geschrieben

The letter has been written by me.
worden.

Der Brief war von mir geschrieben

The letter had been written by me.
worden.

Der Brief wird von mir geschrieben

The letter will be written by me.
werden.

The letter will have been written by Der Brief wird von mir geschrieben
me. worden sein.

WERDEN: Present Tense

Passive Exercises

The passive voice is used more frequently in written German than in spoken German.
German also uses several active-voice substitutes for the passive voice. One of the most
common is the use of man: Hier spricht man Deutsch. = German (is) spoken here. - Man
sagt... = It is said... When a man-expression is put into the passive, the agent is not
expressed, because man (one, they) is no one in particular. Below are more examples of
passive substitutes in German.

Passive Voice Substitutes

Examples/Beispiele
AKTIV PASSIV

Hier raucht man nicht. Hier wird nicht geraucht.

One doesn't smoke here. There's no smoking here.

Man reißt die Straßen auf. Die Straßen werden aufgerissen.

They're tearing up the streets. The streets are being torn up.

Man kann es beweisen. Es kann bewiesen werden.

One can prove it. It can be proved.

Gar nichts wurde mir erklärt.

Man erklärte mir gar nichts.
Es wurde mir gar nichts erklärt.
Mir erklärte man gar nichts.
Mir wurde gar nichts erklärt.
No one explained a thing to me.
Nothing at all was explained to me.
 Notice:
(1) The emphasis may be changed by placing different words first. (2) An
indirect object (dative) pronoun (mir in the last example) remains dative in
either the active or passive voice. (3) In impersonal passive statements, es is
often omitted, as in the last set of examples.
Passive Exercises

The Passive Voice in German

Übungen - Exercises
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EXERCISES » 1 | 2 | 3

If you have paid close attention to the previous pages on the passive voice in German, you
are now ready to try the following exercises. In order to do these exercises successfully,
you must know something about past participles and how to conjugate the verb "werden."
If you need to review that verb or others, please see our detailed Verb List and our pages
on the conjugation of "werden" in the Present, Past, Future and Subjunctive.

ÜBUNG 1 - ACTIV/PASSIV

Change the active sentence to passive. CAUTION! Don't change tenses or omit elements!

1. Er schreibt eine E-Mail. _________________________

2. Sie hat einen Kuchen gebacken. _________________________
3. Man kann es beweisen. _________________________
4. Mein Vater hat das Radio repariert. _________________________
5. Der Wind schlug die Tür zu. _________________________

Answer Key 1

ÜBUNG 2 - PASSIV/ACTIV

Change the passive sentence to active. CAUTION! Don't change tenses or omit elements!

1. Das Buch ist von Georg gekauft worden. _________________________

2. Ihm wurde nichts gegeben. _________________________
3. Der Wein war von uns getrunken worden. _________________________
4. Die Stadt ist durch den Krieg zerstört worden. _________________________
5. Keine Zahlen wurden zunächst ernannt. _________________________

Answer Key 2

ÜBUNG 3 - ENGLISCH/DEUTSCH
Translate the English sentence into German. CAUTION! Don't change tenses or omit
elements!

1. The bread had been baked by her sister. _________________________

2. We were told nothing. _________________________
3. The streets are being torn up. _________________________
4. The book had been written by her. _________________________
5. It can be proved. _________________________