The passive (das Passiv)

What the passive does: The passive (das Passiv) puts the action, not the doer, in the spotlight. In the active voice someone does something — the council collects the paper. In the passive the thing it's done to becomes the subject — the paper is collected. In German you build it with werden + Partizip II (past participle): „Das Papier wird abgeholt.“**

das Passiv

the passive voice — the action matters more than the doer

das Aktiv

the active voice — the subject does the action

werden

the helper verb of the passive (NOT „sein“) — wird / wurde / ist … worden

das Partizip II

the past participle — gemacht, abgeholt, gebaut, eröffnet

von + Dativ

by (the agent / person) — „von der Gemeinde“

durch + Akkusativ

by / through (the means or cause) — „durch eine Maschine“

The one rule to remember: The German passive is werden + Partizip II, with the participle at the end. Active: „Man baut ein Haus.“ → Passive: „Ein Haus wird gebaut.“ The object (ein Haus) becomes the subject, werden is conjugated, and the Partizip II (gebaut) goes last.

Passive across the tenses: The passive exists in every tense — you just change the form of werden and keep the Partizip II at the end. In the Perfekt the participle of werden shortens to „worden“ (not „geworden“). Learn the three you need most: Präsens, Präteritum and Perfekt.

Naming the doer: von vs durch: Often the passive leaves the doer out. When you do name it, choose between two prepositions: von + Dativ for a person or agent, and durch + Akkusativ for the means or cause.

Watch the Perfekt: „worden“: In the Perfekt passive the participle of werden is „worden“, never „geworden“: „Das Haus ist gebaut worden.“ (The house has been built.). „geworden“ is only the active Perfekt of werden (Er ist Arzt geworden — he became a doctor).

Active vs passive — who's in focus?: Choose the passive when the doer is unknown, obvious or unimportant, and you want the action or result in focus. Choose the active when the doer matters. The same idea can go either way — notice how the spotlight moves.

Passive is great for processes & rules: The passive is ideal for describing how things are done — recipes, instructions, processes, rules and the news: „Zuerst werden die Zwiebeln geschnitten.“ (First the onions are chopped.) The doer (you, one, the cook) is obvious, so you leave it out and focus on the steps.

A process, sentence by sentence: Here's a short paragraph about recycling in a town, built one sentence at a time. Each line is in the passive (werden + Partizip II) because the focus is on what is done, not who does it. Notice the tenses (Präsens, Präteritum, Perfekt) and the von/durch agents. Tap Übersetzung anzeigen for the English or 🔊 to hear it.

Steal this for process descriptions: These passive frames are gold for describing how something is done: „… wird … gemacht / abgeholt / organisiert“, „… wurde … eröffnet“, „… ist … erreicht worden“. Add von for the person or durch for the means, and you instantly sound more advanced in any process or report task.

The slips to watch for: Three traps cost most marks. First: using „sein“ instead of „werden“ for the action passive. Second: writing „geworden“ instead of „worden“ in the Perfekt. Third: confusing von (the person) with durch (the means). Compare the right version with the typical mistake.

Three quick checks: Before you submit a passive sentence: (1) Is the helper werden (not sein)? (2) In the Perfekt, did you write worden (not geworden)? (3) Is the doer a person (→ von) or a means/cause (→ durch)? Get these three right and your passive is exam-ready.