The Passive Voice (Vorgangspassiv & Zustandspassiv)

In an active sentence, the spotlight sits on who performs the action (Der Mechaniker repariert das Auto = The mechanic repairs the car). In the passive voice (Passiv), you flip that spotlight onto what is happening or what was affected—especially when the doer is unknown, obvious, or unimportant.

German clearly separates two kinds of passive: the process passive (Vorgangspassiv), built with werden, and the state passive (Zustandspassiv), built with sein.

1. Process Passive (Vorgangspassiv)

The Vorgangspassiv describes an ongoing action or process being performed on something. Its formula is simple across every tense:

conjugated werden + … + Partizip II (at the end)

Watch how only the tense of werden shifts while the Partizip II stays locked in place:

The Golden Rule: worden vs. geworden

In the Perfekt and Plusquamperfekt passive, always write worden—never *geworden!

• Passive (auxiliary): Das Auto ist repariert worden. (The car has been repaired.)
• Main verb werden (“to become”): Sie ist Ärztin geworden. (She became a doctor. — die Ärztin)

2. Expressing the Agent: von vs. durch

Often a passive sentence drops the agent completely. When you do want to name who or what caused the action, choose the preposition carefully:

• von + Dativ: Used for persons, institutions, or direct instigators: Der Roman wurde von Franz Kafka geschrieben. (The novel was written by Franz Kafka. — der Roman) Der Antrag wird vom Amt geprüft. (The application is reviewed by the office. — der Antrag, das Amt)
• durch + Akkusativ: Used for means, instruments, intermediaries, or impersonal causes (though von can also appear for natural forces): Das Haus wurde durch das Feuer zerstört. (The house was destroyed by the fire. — das Haus, das Feuer) Die Nachricht wurde durch einen Boten überbracht. (The message was delivered via a messenger. — die Nachricht, der Bote)

3. State Passive (Zustandspassiv)

The Zustandspassiv looks past the action itself and describes the finished state or result left behind once the action is over:

conjugated sein + … + Partizip II (at the end)

Compare the two passive forms side by side—the contrast is crystal clear:

• Zustandspassiv (Resulting State): Die Tür ist geschlossen. (The door is closed [already shut].)
• Vorgangspassiv (Ongoing Process): Die Tür wird geschlossen. (The door is being closed [someone is shutting it right now].)

Other natural Zustandspassiv pairs include: Das Fenster ist geöffnet (The window is open — das Fenster), Der Tisch ist gedeckt (The table is set — der Tisch), Die Rechnung ist schon bezahlt (The bill is already paid — die Rechnung). Usually, Zustandspassiv appears in Präsens (ist) and Präteritum (war: Die Geschäfte waren geschlossen).

Converting Active to Passive (Watch Out for Dative Verbs!)

When turning an active sentence into a passive one:

1. An accusative object becomes the nominative subject: Active: Der Lehrer korrigiert den Test. (Acc.) → Passive: Der Test wird korrigiert. (Nom.)
2. Dative verbs stay Dative! If the active verb takes only a Dative object (like helfen, danken, antworten, folgen), German cannot promote it to Nominative. Instead, the noun/pronoun stays in Dative and the verb stays 3rd person singular (wird): Active: Man hilft mir. → Passive: Mir wird geholfen. (or Es wird mir geholfen.) Subjectless passive: Hier wird nicht geraucht. (No smoking here / People don’t smoke here.)

(Practice conjugating passive forms in the Verb Conjugator, inspect passive brackets in the Sentence Analyzer, and read the triple role of werden for the bigger picture.)

Common Mistakes: Wrong vs. Right

Once you master classic passive sentences, step up to B2 passive substitutes (Passiversatzformen) to sound sleeker in academic and formal prose.