German Passive Voice

Passive-Voice

German Passive Voice

We have put together this quick reference guide to help you understand the German passive voice. In the German and English language there are two voices – the active voice and the passive voice.

In a normal, active sentence, the subject is carrying out the action that is described by the verb. The object is the person or thing that the verb “happens” to.

In a typical German sentence the subject (S) of the sentence comes first followed by the verb (V) and the object (O) at the end.

For example:
James (S) küsste (V) mich (O) ⇨ James kissed me.

In German as in English, you can change an active sentence into a passive sentence. The object of the action becomes then the subject of the sentence.

For example:
Ich wurde von James geküsst. ⇨ I was kissed by James.

Quite often the verb doesn’t tell you who is carrying out the action.

For example:
I was hit in the face. ⇨ Ich wurde ins Gesicht geschlagen.
He was stung. ⇨ Er wurde gestochen.

 

How to form the German passive

In English, the passive is formed with the verb to be and the past participle. The word by usually indicates who performed the action.

For example:
The man was struck by lightning.
The roof was destroyed by a storm.

The German passive is formed with the verb werden and the past participle. The word von or durch indicates who or what performed the action.

For example:
Der Mann wurde von einem Blitz getroffen ⇨ The man was struck by lightning.
Das Dach wurde durch einen Sturm zerstört ⇨ The roof was destroyed by a storm.

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