Passive for processes and reports

01 / Understand

Choose what the message is about

An active sentence can foreground the actor: Eine Mitarbeiterin prüft den Antrag. A passive sentence can foreground the application: Der Antrag wird geprüft. Both describe checking, but they organize the information differently. The passive is useful when the application or procedure is already the topic and the identity of the person doing the work is unknown, predictable, or unnecessary for the immediate message. It does not claim that the action happens without an actor.

You may still name the actor when that information matters: Der Antrag wird von einer Mitarbeiterin geprüft. The choice to omit the actor should serve the listener’s needs. If the reader needs to know who is responsible for a task, include the person or choose an active sentence. Passive grammar is a way to arrange a message, not a rule that formal writing must hide people. Begin by deciding which participant the sentence should continue talking about, then choose a structure that makes that focus clear.

02 / Understand

Build the present process passive

The ordinary present process passive combines a present form of werden with the past participle of the action verb. Die Rechnung wird bezahlt. has finite wird and final participle bezahlt. A plural subject needs werden: Die Rechnungen werden bezahlt. The participle does not change to agree with the subject in this construction. The auxiliary carries the agreement, while the participle identifies the action applied to the subject.

Review the participle as part of the action verb’s vocabulary. Regular examples include gemacht and geprüft, while many frequent verbs are irregular, such as geschrieben. Some prefixes and verb classes affect whether ge appears, as in bezahlt and repariert. Do not add ge to every verb indiscriminately. Also distinguish a participle from an infinitive: wird prüfen is a future construction, whereas wird geprüft is passive. The final form is essential to the meaning of the entire sentence.

03 / Understand

Change the direct object into a subject

For the common passive pattern taught here, the active accusative object becomes the passive nominative subject. Die Firma repariert den Drucker. becomes Der Drucker wird repariert. The masculine article makes the change visible: den becomes der. The printer is still the thing being repaired, but its grammatical role changes. This demonstrates why “subject” does not simply mean “the person doing the action.” In a passive sentence, the affected participant can be the subject.

Other complements keep their grammatical roles in this ordinary werden passive. From Die Firma schickt dem Kunden den Vertrag., build Der Vertrag wird dem Kunden geschickt. The contract becomes nominative, but the recipient remains dative. Do not promote every noun after the active verb into a new subject. German also has passive constructions without a nominative subject and another passive type with bekommen, but this lesson’s production focuses on a clear accusative object becoming the subject while other information is preserved.

04 / Understand

Add an agent with von when needed

To name a person or organization responsible for the action, a von phrase is common: Der Text wird von meiner Kollegin geschrieben. The preposition takes dative. A masculine agent can give von dem Lehrer, often contracted to vom Lehrer. The agent phrase is optional grammatically, but it may be necessary for the intended information. When transforming an active sentence for a task that asks you to preserve the actor, include that actor rather than silently dropping a requested detail.

You may also encounter durch plus accusative for a cause, means, or intermediary: Die Straße wurde durch den Sturm beschädigt. This is not a simple rule that only people take von and only things take durch. The choice reflects how the cause or participant is presented, and usage can overlap. For beginner production, use von with a named human agent and learn specific durch examples for causes. Check the preposition’s case independently of the passive subject’s case.

05 / Understand

Report a completed event in the past

For the simple past process passive, use wurde or the appropriate plural form with the participle: Die Brücke wurde repariert. and Die Fenster wurden gereinigt. The event is located in the past, while the passive still keeps the affected thing as the subject. A time expression can specify the event: Die Brücke wurde letztes Jahr repariert. Do not confuse wurde with würde. The umlaut changes the form and commonly points toward a conditional meaning rather than this ordinary past report.

The perfect process passive uses a form of sein, the action participle, and worden: Die Rechnung ist bezahlt worden. Notice worden without ge. The main verb meaning “become” instead uses geworden, as in Es ist kalt geworden. These forms belong to different constructions. Both simple past and perfect passive are used, with choices influenced by context and style. This lesson does not impose an absolute spoken versus written divide. Learn one clear example of each and identify the time frame before choosing between them.

06 / Understand

Distinguish an event from a state

Compare Die Tür wird geschlossen. with Die Tür ist geschlossen. The first presents the closing process; the second describes the door’s closed state. For this clear change of state example, the contrast is useful when explaining whether someone is currently closing a door or whether the door is already closed. The state construction uses sein with the participle. It is often called the state passive, while the werden construction is often called the process passive.

Do not turn the contrast into a rule that every sein plus participle must be passive or that every werden passive depicts an action happening at this exact second. Context can make a passive habitual: Die Tür wird jeden Abend geschlossen. Other verbs describe states in more subtle ways. The examples here deliberately use concrete changes such as closing and repairing so the contrast remains clear. Also distinguish a state from a perfect process report: ist geschlossen and ist geschlossen worden are not interchangeable forms of the same message.

07 / Understand

Use passive in requirements and connected reports

A modal can frame the passive action: Der Antrag muss geprüft werden. The finite modal carries the requirement, while the final group contains the action participle and infinitive werden. The application is not doing the checking. It is the thing that must be checked. This construction is useful in procedures, but a direct active instruction can be clearer when a particular person needs to act. Choose the passive because its topic fits the message, not merely because it sounds official.

In an ordinary dependent clause, the finite passive auxiliary goes to the end: Ich weiß, dass der Antrag geprüft wird. Negation also needs a clear target: Der Antrag wird heute nicht geprüft. says checking will not occur today in the given context, without necessarily saying it will never occur. To revise a passive report, identify the affected subject, check agreement and participle, confirm any agent or recipient, and then read the whole message for time and scope. This checks meaning as well as the visible verb pattern.

See it in a sentence

Notice the difference

Common mistakes

From understanding to using

Make your own example.

Try these without answer choices. Say your answer aloud or write it below, then compare your reasoning with the model.