Passiv (Passive Voice)

Active sentences focus on the doer (Täter) — who performs the action. Passive sentences focus on the action itself (Handlung) — what happens — and push the doer into the background or drop it entirely. Both describe the same real-world event; only the grammatical focus changes.

• Active: Ich esse einen Apfel. — "I am eating an apple." (focus: I, the doer)
• Passive: Ein Apfel wird (von mir) gegessen. — "An apple is being eaten (by me)." (focus: the eating itself)

Just like English "eaten," "called" vs. "eat," "call," the German passive is built from a Partizip II (past participle) plus the auxiliary werden.

Aktiv → Passiv Transformation Rule

Before converting any sentence, identify its parts with who? (nominative subject) and what/whom? (accusative object) questions. Then apply these rules:

1. The accusative object of the active sentence becomes the nominative subject of the passive sentence. Its article changes accordingly (e.g. accusative einen → nominative ein).
2. The dative object always stays dative. A dative object is never promoted to subject — it keeps its case and its article in the passive sentence.
3. werden is the passive auxiliary. It is conjugated in second position to agree with the new (nominative) subject, while the Partizip II of the main verb moves to the end of the clause — the same slot the participle occupies in Perfekt.
4. Naming the doer is optional. If included, use von + Dativ (von is a dative preposition). At B1 level, the safe default is to omit the doer unless the sentence is meaningless without it or an exercise specifically asks for it.
5. No accusative object available → use the dummy subject "es." If the active sentence has only a dative object (e.g. with a dative-only verb like helfen), there is nothing to promote to subject. Introduce the placeholder subject es, conjugate werden to agree with es, and keep the dative object as dative. Equivalently — and often more natural-sounding — the sentence can simply open with the dative object instead of es; both versions are correct.
6. Indefinite pronoun doers (man, jemand, niemand) are always omitted, never expressed with von. "By one" / "by nobody" adds no real information. Watch out with niemand: dropping it carelessly can strip the negative meaning out of the sentence, so make sure the negation survives the conversion (e.g. by adding nicht, or by keeping the sentence's overall negative sense clear another way).

Worked Examples

Active	Passive	Notes
Ich suche einen Mann. ("I am searching for a man.")	Ein Mann wird (von mir) gesucht.	accusative einen Mann → subject ein Mann
Ich helfe dir. ("I am helping you.") — dative-only verb	Es wird dir (von mir) geholfen. / Dir wird (von mir) geholfen.	no accusative object → dummy es, or drop es and lead with dative dir
Man kauft einen Apfel.	Ein Apfel wird gekauft.	indefinite man dropped entirely
Niemand macht die Hausaufgaben.	Die Hausaufgaben werden nicht gemacht.	plural subject → werden; negation preserved with nicht since niemand is dropped
Der Mann half der Frau. — dative-only verb	Es wurde der Frau (von dem Mann) geholfen. / Der Frau wurde (von dem Mann) geholfen.	der Frau stays dative either way
Er sah einen Kuli.	Ein Kuli wurde (von ihm) gesehen.	Präteritum passive; er → ihm after von

Passiv Across Tenses

The passive auxiliary changes tense exactly the way werden/sein change tense elsewhere; the Partizip II of the main verb stays the same throughout. Skeletons:

Tense	Structure	Example	Gloss
Präsens	subject + werden (present) + … + Partizip II	Das Feuer wird gemeldet.	"The fire is reported."
Präteritum	subject + wurde(n) + … + Partizip II	Das Feuer wurde gemeldet.	"The fire was reported."
Perfekt	subject + sein (present) + … + Partizip II + worden	Das Feuer ist gemeldet worden.	"The fire has been reported."
Plusquamperfekt	subject + sein (Präteritum: war/waren) + … + Partizip II + worden	Das Feuer war gemeldet worden.	"The fire had been reported."

Key structural points:

• The helping verb in Perfekt and Plusquamperfekt passive is always a form of sein (never haben), regardless of what the main verb's own normal Perfekt auxiliary would be.
• In Perfekt, sein is conjugated in the present (ist/sind); in Plusquamperfekt it is conjugated in the Präteritum (war/waren). The rest of the clause — Partizip II + worden — is identical in both; only the tense of sein changes.

The same event across all four tenses

Using Ich esse einen Apfel as the active base sentence:

• Präsens: Ein Apfel wird von mir gegessen. — "An apple is eaten by me."
• Präteritum: Ein Apfel wurde von mir gegessen. — "An apple was eaten by me."
• Perfekt: Ein Apfel ist von mir gegessen worden. — "An apple has been eaten by me."
• Plusquamperfekt: Ein Apfel war von mir gegessen worden. — "An apple had been eaten by me."

worden vs. geworden

This is one of the most common B1/B2 mistakes — both words are participle forms of werden, but they are used in completely different constructions and are not interchangeable.

Form	Used when...	Example
worden	werden is the passive auxiliary in Perfekt/Plusquamperfekt	Der Apfel ist von mir gegessen worden. — "The apple has been eaten by me."
geworden	werden means "to become" in Perfekt/Plusquamperfekt	Ich bin letztes Jahr 45 Jahre alt geworden. — "I became 45 last year."

Rule of thumb: if the sentence already has another main verb's Partizip II right before it (e.g. gegessen, gemeldet, gemacht), the construction is passive → use worden. If werden itself is the only "main verb" being put into Perfekt and the meaning is "to become," use geworden. Never write geworden inside a passive Perfekt/Plusquamperfekt sentence — this is flagged as the single most frequent student error on this topic.

• Passive (correct): Das Projekt ist abgeschlossen worden. — "The project has been completed."
• "Become" (correct): Das Wetter ist schlechter geworden. — "The weather has become worse."
• Wrong: Das Projekt ist abgeschlossen geworden.

Modal Verb + Passiv

Combining a modal verb (müssen, können, sollen, dürfen, wollen, mögen) with the passive is extremely common in real German — arguably more common in everyday speaking/writing than plain Präsens or Perfekt passive — so it deserves priority practice.

Structure: subject + modal verb (conjugated, 2nd position) + … + Partizip II (2nd-to-last) + werden (infinitive, very last position).

All the core Aktiv→Passiv rules still apply on top of this: accusative object → subject; dative object stays dative; doer is optional (von + Dativ); use the dummy es (or lead with the dative object) if there is no accusative object.

Active	Passive
Die Frau kann ein Schloss kaufen.	Ein Schloss kann gekauft werden. — "A castle can be bought."
Ich muss das Badezimmer putzen.	Das Badezimmer muss geputzt werden. — "The bathroom needs to be cleaned."
Er soll den Teppich waschen.	Der Teppich soll gewaschen werden. — "The carpet should be washed."
Man darf im Kino nicht rauchen.	Im Kino darf nicht geraucht werden. / Es darf im Kino nicht geraucht werden. — "Smoking is not allowed in the cinema."

Common mistakes to avoid:

• Don't swap the modal verb out for a different one, and don't mistake the main verb's infinitive for a new subject. In Man darf im Kino nicht rauchen → passive, rauchen becomes the Partizip II geraucht at the end; the modal stays dürfen, conjugated as darf (there is no noun to promote to subject here, since the active sentence has no accusative object).
• The modal verb's conjugation always agrees with the grammatical subject of the new passive sentence (the noun promoted from the accusative object) — not with any other noun nearby: Die E-Mails müssen geschickt werden. ("The emails need to be sent" — plural subject → müssen) vs. Der Antrag muss genehmigt werden. ("The application needs to be approved" — singular subject → muss).
• At B2 level, the modal verb can also appear in the Präteritum within a modal-passive sentence (e.g. durfte instead of darf); the rest of the structure is unchanged.

More worked examples:

• Das Dokument muss unterschrieben werden. — "The document needs to be signed."
• Das Formular muss ausgedruckt werden. — "The form needs to be printed."
• In der Stadtvertretung muss eine Entscheidung getroffen werden. — "A decision must be made in the city council."
• Das Projekt kann alle zwei Jahre durchgeführt werden. — "The project can be carried out every two years." (good illustration from a passive-heavy reading text on the Mini-München children's-city project)
• Steuern werden abgezogen. / with modal: Steuern müssen abgezogen werden. — "Taxes are/ must be deducted."

werden / wurde / würde / geworden — Disambiguation

Four very similar-looking forms of werden have distinct jobs. Telling them apart is essential for both reading comprehension and writing accuracy.

Form	Function	Example	Gloss
werden	Präsens of "to become"; OR future-tense auxiliary ("will"); OR Präsens passive auxiliary	Ich werde am Montag 45 Jahre alt.	"I am turning 45 on Monday."
wurde(n)	Präteritum of "to become"; OR Präteritum passive auxiliary	Ich wurde letztes Jahr 45 Jahre alt.	"I became 45 last year."
würde(n)	Konjunktiv II — corresponds to English "would"; used for wishes/hypotheticals; always pairs with a main verb in the infinitive at the end (like möchte)	Wenn ich ein Auto kaufen würde, würde ich nach Deutschland fahren.	"If I were to buy a car, I would drive to Germany."
geworden	Partizip II of werden ("to become") in Perfekt/Plusquamperfekt	Ich bin letztes Jahr 45 Jahre alt geworden.	"I became/have become 45 last year."

Quick disambiguation checklist:

• Is there an infinitive at the end of the clause and does the sentence express a wish or hypothetical? → würde(n).
• Is werden/wurde standing next to another verb's Partizip II (not its own)? → it's the passive auxiliary (Präsens: werden: Präteritum: wurde/wurden).
  • In Perfekt/Plusquamperfekt passive, the corresponding participle is worden, not geworden (see the dedicated section above).
• Is werden alone, with no other participle nearby, and the meaning is "to become/turn [age/ state]"? → plain "to become" sense (werden / wurde / geworden, depending on tense).
• Is werden paired with an infinitive and a future meaning ("will do X")? → future-tense auxiliary.

Summary contrast sentence: Der Apfel ist von mir gegessen worden. ("The apple has been eaten by me" — passive Perfekt, so worden) — a form like …geworden would be wrong here, since this is not a "become" sentence.

Source Videos

• video-39-notes.md — first introduction to Aktiv vs. Passiv: the active/doer-vs-passive/ action distinction, subject/object identification, the core transformation rules (accusative → subject, dative stays dative, werden + Partizip II, dummy subject "es", indefinite-pronoun doer omission), werden's Präsens/Präteritum conjugation as passive auxiliary, and the first mention of worden vs. geworden.
• video-40-notes.md — homework review of Präsens passive; Präteritum Passiv and Perfekt Passiv skeletons contrasted (including the sein + Partizip II + worden structure and the worden-vs- geworden warning in detail); Modal Verb + Passiv structure and worked examples; the dedicated werden/wurde/würde/geworden disambiguation section; passive-heavy reading examples from "Die Tafel" and "Patenschaften" texts.
• video-41-notes.md — Präteritum passive drill sentences; modal-verb passive drill (müssen + Partizip II + werden) with subject-agreement emphasis; passive-voice-rich worked examples from the "Mini-München" reading text (e.g. Finanziert wird das Programm von der Stadt München, Das Projekt kann alle zwei Jahre durchgeführt werden).