Passive voice in present and past (is/are done / was/were done)

Passive voice in present and past (wird gemacht, wurde gemacht) in German

What does the passive voice mean in German?

The passive voice shifts the focus from the person (the agent) who performs an action to the action itself or the thing affected by it. In German the most common passive—the Vorgangspassiv—uses the auxiliary verb werden + the past participle (Partizip II) of the main verb.

- German present passive (Präsens, e.g. "wird gemacht") describes an ongoing action or a general process: "Das Auto wird repariert." (The car is being repaired / is repaired.)
- German simple past passive (Präteritum, e.g. "wurde gemacht") describes that the action happened in the past: "Das Auto wurde repariert." (The car was repaired.)

Examples (German first, then English translation):
- "Die Tür wird geöffnet." (The door is being opened / is opened.)
- "Die Tür wurde geöffnet." (The door was opened.)

When do I use the passive?

Main reasons
- To focus on the action or the object affected, not who performed it: "Das Fenster wird geputzt." (The window is being cleaned.)
- When the agent is unknown or irrelevant: "Mein Fahrrad wurde gestohlen." (My bike was stolen.)
- In formal or impersonal statements, reports, instructions and headlines: "Es wird empfohlen, ..." (It is recommended ...), "In der Stadt wurde ein Unfall gemeldet." (A crash was reported in the city.)
- To avoid naming the agent: "Die Antwort wurde schon gegeben." (The answer has already been given.)

Compare with English
English has a passive too: "The window is cleaned." German passive often matches English but German does not distinguish continuous vs simple forms the same way. "Die Fenster werden geputzt" can mean both "The windows are cleaned" (habitually) and "The windows are being cleaned" (right now) — context decides.

How do I form the passive in present (wird gemacht) and past (wurde gemacht)?

Basic rule (Vorgangspassiv)
- Formula (present): [Subject] + werden (conjugated in Präsens) + Partizip II (+ von + agent)
Example: "Der Mechaniker repariert das Auto." (active) -> "Das Auto wird (von dem Mechaniker) repariert." (passive)
- Formula (simple past / Präteritum): [Subject] + wurden/wurde (conjugated in Präteritum) + Partizip II (+ von + agent)
Example: "Der Mechaniker reparierte das Auto." -> "Das Auto wurde repariert."

Conjugation of werden (important forms)
- Präsens: ich werde, du wirst, er/sie/es wird, wir werden, ihr werdet, sie/Sie werden
- Präteritum: ich wurde, du wurdest, er/sie/es wurde, wir wurden, ihr wurdet, sie/Sie wurden

Step-by-step: active → passive
1. Find the object (Akkusativ) in the active sentence. That becomes the subject (Nominativ) of the passive.
2. Use werden in the correct tense and person to agree with the new subject.
3. Put the Partizip II of the main verb after the subject.
4. If needed, add the agent with "von + Dative" (von dem Mann → vom Mann).

Example transformation:
- Active: "Die Firma baut das Haus." (The company builds the house.)
- Passive (present): "Das Haus wird (von der Firma) gebaut." (The house is being built.)
- Passive (past): "Das Haus wurde (von der Firma) gebaut." (The house was built.)

Separable and irregular verbs
- Separable verbs put the prefix on the participle: "aufmachen" → "aufgemacht".
Example: "Die Tür wird aufgemacht." / "Die Tür wurde aufgemacht." (The door is opened / was opened.)
- Strong/irregular verbs use their irregular Partizip II: "lesen" → "gelesen": "Das Buch wird gelesen." / "Das Buch wurde gelesen." (The book is being read / was read.)

Examples: many natural sentences (present and past)

Present (wird ...):
- "Der Brief wird geschrieben." (The letter is being written.)
- "Die Suppe wird von der Mutter gekocht." (The soup is being cooked by the mother.)
- "Hier wird Deutsch gesprochen." (German is spoken here.)
- "Das Geschenk wird heute verpackt." (The present is being wrapped today.)

Past (wurde ...):
- "Der Brief wurde geschrieben." (The letter was written.)
- "Die Suppe wurde gestern von meiner Mutter gekocht." (The soup was cooked yesterday by my mother.)
- "Das Konzert wurde abgesagt." (The concert was cancelled.)

Agent phrases: "von" and "durch"

- Use "von + Dative" to introduce the agent (the person who performs the action):
"Das Auto wurde von dem Mechaniker repariert." → "Das Auto wurde vom Mechaniker repariert." (The car was repaired by the mechanic.)
- Use "durch" when you want to emphasize means/instrument or in passive statements where English often uses "by":
"Die Krankheit wurde durch Viren verursacht." (The disease was caused by viruses.)

Impersonal (es-) passive and passive without agent

No agent or general statements
- Often the agent is left out because it is unknown or unimportant: "Mein Fahrrad wurde gestohlen." (My bike was stolen.)

Es-passive (impersonal passive)
- When there's no clear subject, German uses "es" as a dummy subject: "Es wird getanzt." (People are dancing / There is dancing.)
- Useful for general statements like "Es wird gearbeitet." (Work is being done.)

Perfect passive and the difference with Zustandspassiv (state passive)

Perfect of Vorgangspassiv
- Formed with "sein" + Partizip II + worden: "Das Auto ist repariert worden." (The car has been repaired / was repaired.)
- Compare with Präteritum passive: "Das Auto wurde repariert." (The car was repaired.) Both are past, but the Perfect (ist ... worden) emphasises the completed action and is used frequently in spoken German.

Zustandspassiv (state passive) with sein
- Uses "sein" + Partizip II to describe the resulting state, not the action: "Die Tür ist geschlossen." (The door is closed — it is in the state of being closed.)
- If you want to say someone performed the action in the past, use Vorgangspassiv: "Die Tür ist geschlossen worden." (The door has been closed.)

Examples contrasting both:
- "Die Tür wird geschlossen." (Someone is closing the door — action in progress.)
- "Die Tür ist geschlossen." (The door is closed — state/result.)
- "Die Tür ist geschlossen worden." (The door has been closed — completed action.)

Passive with modal verbs (present and past) — brief guide

- Present with modal: modal (conjugated) + Partizip II + werden (infinitive at end):
"Die Fenster müssen geöffnet werden." (The windows must be opened.)
- Past (Präteritum with modal): modal in Präteritum + Partizip II + werden:
"Die Fenster mussten geöffnet werden." (The windows had to / were required to be opened.)
- Perfekt with modal becomes awkward because of double infinitives: "Die Fenster haben geöffnet werden müssen." (This is grammatically correct but heavy; speakers often use an active construction instead.)

Which verbs can be made passive?

- Only transitive verbs (verbs that take a direct object in the active sentence) can form the normal personal passive because you need an object to become the subject.
Active: "Der Lehrer lobt den Schüler." → Passive: "Der Schüler wird (vom Lehrer) gelobt."
- Reflexive verbs and many intransitive verbs usually cannot form the personal passive. Example: "schlafen" cannot be passivized as a personal passive (you would not say *"Es wird geschlafen" in normal contexts — though impersonal constructions like "Hier wird geschlafen" can occur in special contexts).
- If no direct object exists, you can sometimes use the impersonal passive with "es": "Es wird getanzt." but this is limited.

Word order, negation and subordinate clauses

- In main clauses the finite verb (werden) stands in second position: "Das Auto wird repariert."
- In subordinate clauses the finite verb moves to the end: "..., weil das Auto repariert wird."
- Negation: place "nicht" before the part of the sentence you want to negate. Common order: "Das Auto wird heute nicht repariert." (The car is not being repaired today.)
- Questions: invert subject and finite verb: "Wurde das Paket geliefert?" (Was the package delivered?)

Common mistakes to avoid

- Confusing Zustandspassiv and Vorgangspassiv: "Die Tür ist geschlossen" (state) ≠ "Die Tür ist geschlossen worden" (has been closed — action).
- Forgetting "worden" in Perfekt passive: wrong: "Die Tür ist geöffnet." (this says it is open) — correct action form: "Die Tür ist geöffnet worden." (someone opened it).
- Wrong agent case or preposition: use "von + Dative" for agents, not the dative alone: wrong: "Die Suppe wurde der Mutter gekocht." → right: "Die Suppe wurde von der Mutter gekocht." or "Die Suppe wurde von meiner Mutter gekocht."
- Trying to passive an intransitive verb without an impersonal construction: active "Er schläft." → you cannot make a normal passive "*Er wird geschlafen."
- Confusing present passive with future passive: "wird + Partizip II" is present passive ("Das Haus wird gebaut" = it is being built / is built), while "wird + Partizip II + werden" (future passive) is used for the future: "Das Haus wird gebaut werden." (The house will be built.)

Quick reference: useful patterns and sample sentences

- Present passive (Präsens): werden (Präsens) + Partizip II
"Das Buch wird gelesen." (The book is being read / is read.)

- Simple past passive (Präteritum): werden (Präteritum = wurde/wurden) + Partizip II
"Das Buch wurde gelesen." (The book was read.)

- Perfect passive (Perfekt, Vorgangspassiv): sein (Präsens) + Partizip II + worden
"Das Buch ist gelesen worden." (The book has been read.)

- Zustandspassiv (state): sein + Partizip II
"Das Fenster ist geschlossen." (The window is closed — it is in that state.)

- Passive with modal (present): modal (conjugated) + Partizip II + werden (infinitive)
"Die E-Mail muss geschrieben werden." (The email must be written.)

Glossary (short definitions)

Vorgangspassiv — The action/process passive using "werden" + Partizip II (focus on the action).

Zustandspassiv — The state/result passive using "sein" + Partizip II (focus on the resulting state).

Partizip II — The past participle of a verb (e.g. "gemacht", "gelesen", "aufgemacht").

Werden (as auxiliary) — Used to form the Vorgangspassiv (wird, wurde, ist ... worden).

Es-passive — Impersonal passive using "es" as dummy subject: "Es wird getanzt." (There is dancing / People are dancing.)

Summary

- Present passive: "wird + Partizip II" ("Das Auto wird repariert.") — action in present.
- Past passive: "wurde + Partizip II" ("Das Auto wurde repariert.") — action in the past.
- Use "von + Dative" to name the agent, or omit the agent when it is unknown or unimportant.
- Distinguish action passive (Vorgangspassiv, with werden) from state passive (Zustandspassiv, with sein).

With these rules and many example sentences, you should be able to recognize and form the German passive in present and past. When in doubt, find the object in the active sentence, make it the subject, and use the correct form of "werden" with the past participle.