Passive Voice in German Grammar

How to use the passive in German

The active voice focuses on the person or thing that causes an action (the agent).

Example:

Ein Auto hat einen Mann angefahren.A car ran over a man.

In contrast, the passive voice focuses on the action itself and its recipient; the agent of the action is often left out.

Example:

Ein Mann wurde angefahren.A man was run over.

We use the passive when the person or thing performing the action is unknown, obvious or unimportant.

Examples:

Ein Mann wurde angefahren.A man was run over. → unknown agent

Zwei Personen wurden verhaftet.Two people have been arrested. → obvious agent (the police)

Jetzt wird der Mann ins Krankenhaus gebracht.Now the man is being taken to the hospital. → unimportant agent

If we want to include the agent in a passive sentence, we use the preposition von + dative:

Examples:

Der Mann wurde von einem Auto angefahren.A man was run over by a car.

Der Mann wird von der Ärztin untersucht.The man is being examined by the doctor.

How to conjugate the passive in German

To form the passive we use the auxiliary verb werden and the past participle of the main verb: subject + form of werden + past participle.

German verbs that we can’t use in the passive

There are many verbs that we cannot use in the passive voice:

• intransitive verbs (verbs that do not take an accusative object)

Example:

Er schläft.He’s sleeping. (not: Er wird geschlafen.)

• reflexive verbs

Example:

Ich habe mich versteckt.I hid myself. (not: Ich bin mich selbst versteckt worden.)

• verbs that take sein as their auxiliary in the present perfect (e. g. gehen, fahren …)

Example:

Ich fuhr selber nach Berlin.I drove to Berlin myself.

Ich wurde selber nach Berlin gefahren.I was driven to Berlin by myself.

• But: fahren can be used in the passive when it takes haben + accusative object.

Example:

Mein Vater fuhr mich nach Berlin.My father drove me to Berlin.

→ Ich wurde von meinem Vater nach Berlin gefahren.I was driven to Berlin by my father.

here fahren takes an accusative object (mich) so can be used in the passive

How to change a sentence from active to passive

When transforming a sentence from active to passive, we can take a step-by-step approach:

• Step 1: identify the object of the sentence and bring it to the front

active:

Jemand verletzte den Mann.

passive:

Der Mann …

• Step 2: identify the tense and conjugate the verb werden accordingly

active:

Jemand verletzte den Mann. = Präteritum

passive:

Der Mann wurde …

• Step 3: decide if you want to include the agent using the preposition von + dative

active:

Jemand verletzte den Mann.

passive:

Der Mann wurde von jemandem …

= the agent is unknown so unnecessary in our case

• Step 4: find the past participle of the main verb

active:

Jemand verletzte den Mann. → verletzen – verletzt

passive:

Der Mann wurde verletzt.

or: Der Mann wurde von jemandem verletzt.

Check out the table below to see how to transform an active sentence into the passive voice for every German tense:

Exceptions

Dative objects in the passive

Only the accusative object can become the subject of a passive sentence.

If there is a dative object that needs to be moved to the first position in the active sentence, it stays in the dative.

active:

Man legte dem Verletzten einen Verband an.Someone applied a bandage to the injured man.

passive:

Dem Verletzten wurde ein Verband angelegt.A bandage was applied to the injured man.

The impersonal passive

We can use intransitive verbs in the impersonal passive. This is where we take the pronoun es or an adverbial modifier (jetzt, gestern …) followed by the passive.

Examples:

Wir tanzten (gestern) viel.We danced a lot (yesterday). → Es/Gestern wurde viel getanzt.(Yesterday) There was a lot of dancing.

Jetzt wird geschlafen!Time to go to sleep!

What is the Zustandspassiv?

The Zustandspassiv, known as the statal passive, describes the state, result or situation after an action has been completed.

Example:

Er ist verletzt.He is hurt.

Die Aufgabe ist erledigt.The task has been completed.

How to form the statal passive in German

To form the statal passive we need a form of sein and the past participle of the main verb: subject + form of sein + past participle.