Passive Voice (Passiv)

The passive is a stylistic marker. Academic papers, news articles, and official documents are full of passive constructions: the passive removes the agent and puts the action or its result in focus. Master it and the formal register of EPD texts becomes much clearer. Satztransformation (40 trainer problems) makes passive its central topic.

In Satztransformation tasks you receive an active sentence and the start of a passive one. Your task: complete the sentence in the correct form and tense.

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Process Passive (Vorgangspassiv): werden + Partizip II

The process passive describes an action or ongoing process. The auxiliary verb werden is conjugated; the main verb appears as Partizip II at the end of the clause. The tense of the passive sentence always matches the tense of the active sentence, so check this first in every transformation:

In the perfect tenses, use worden (not geworden):

• Das Buch ist gelesen worden. ✓
• Das Buch ist gelesen geworden. ✗

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Time Markers: Choosing the Right Tense

Time markers in the original sentence confirm which tense to use in the passive. Use this table as a quick check:

If the original sentence is in simple past, the passive is also in simple past:

Die Regierung beschloss neue Maßnahmen. → Neue Maßnahmen wurden beschlossen.

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State Passive (Zustandspassiv): sein + Partizip II

The state passive describes not the action itself, but the result of a completed action: the state an object is currently in. The difference from the process passive is about meaning, not just form. Das Fenster wird geöffnet means someone is opening it right now. Das Fenster ist geöffnet means it is now in an open state; who opened it or when is irrelevant.

Key distinction: the state passive has no worden at the end. If worden follows the Partizip II, it is process passive perfect, not state passive.

• Der Laden wird um 9 Uhr geöffnet (someone is opening it right now, process)
• Der Laden ist seit 9 Uhr geöffnet (it has been open since 9, state)
• Das Fenster ist geöffnet. (state, Zustandspassiv)
• Das Fenster ist geöffnet worden. (a past action occurred, Vorgangspassiv Perfekt)

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Passive with Modal Verbs

With a modal verb, Partizip II and werden move to the end of the clause together. The modal verb stays in position 2. The result is a three-part structure at the end; practise it until it becomes automatic.

The passive infinitive form is Partizip II + werden: gelesen werden, geschrieben werden, eingereicht werden. This is the form that appears at the end of the clause after the modal verb; learn to recognise and produce it as a single unit:

modal verb (conj.) + ... + Partizip II + werden

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Active → Passive Transformation

Three steps (this sequence applies to every transformation task involving passive):

1. The accusative object → subject of the passive sentence (auxiliary agrees with it)
2. The subject → agent (von + dative) or is dropped (especially „man")
3. The verb is put into passive in the same tense

Agent: von or durch?

• von + dative → person (who performed the action): Der Brief wurde vom Direktor unterschrieben.
• durch + accusative → means or cause: Das Haus wurde durch ein Erdbeben zerstört.

Further examples to illustrate the distinction:

• Die Studie wurde von den Forschern veröffentlicht. (persons → von)
• Die Studie wurde durch neue Daten bestätigt. (means → durch)
• Der Patient wurde vom Arzt operiert. (person → von)
• Der Patient wurde durch eine neue Therapie geheilt. (means/method → durch)

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Impersonal Passive (unpersönliches Passiv)

When the verb has no accusative object, a personal passive (where the accusative object becomes the subject) is impossible. German uses the impersonal passive instead: there is no real subject, and the placeholder es fills position 1 only if nothing else does. This construction is exam-relevant because it tests whether you know that intransitive verbs can still form passive sentences.

• Es wird hier viel gearbeitet. (no real subject; es is a placeholder)
• Hier wird viel gearbeitet. (same meaning; es disappears when another element takes position 1)
• Es wurde lange diskutiert. (diskutieren has no accusative object)
• Im Büro wird nicht geraucht. (es is absent because Im Büro occupies position 1)

The impersonal passive is formed with werden in the appropriate tense, just like the personal passive, but the verb in Partizip II has no subject to agree with. The verb is always 3rd person singular.

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Passive Alternatives (Passiversatzformen)

The passive can be replaced by more compact constructions. They appear not only in grammar tasks; in written texts they help vary sentence structure and avoid repetition.

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Common Mistakes

❌ worden vs. geworden: Always worden in passive perfect, never geworden (see Vorgangspassiv section above).

❌ Confusing state passive with process passive perfect: Both use ist/war + Partizip II. The only difference is that process passive perfect adds worden at the end. Without worden the sentence describes a state, not an action — a completely different meaning.
Das Fenster ist geöffnet (state: it is now open) vs. Das Fenster ist geöffnet worden (a past action occurred)

❌ Word order with modal verbs: Partizip II + werden always at the very end:
✓ Alle Dokumente müssen bis Freitag eingereicht werden.
✗ Alle Dokumente müssen bis Freitag werden eingereicht.

❌ Passive of intransitive verbs: Verbs without an accusative object (schlafen, laufen, sterben) cannot form personal passive. Only impersonal is possible: Es wird hier viel gearbeitet.

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Quick Reference