English-trained writers reach for the passive constantly — "it is said," "the book is sold well," "that can be imagined" — because the agent is unknown or irrelevant. Dutch can do all of these with a worden-passive, but very often it would rather not. Instead it keeps the sentence active and removes the agent by other means: a generic pronoun (men, je, ze), a reflexive mediopassive (Het boek verkoopt goed, Dat laat zich raden), or a causative with laten. Knowing these alternatives is the difference between Dutch that is merely correct and Dutch that sounds native, especially in writing where over-passivising reads as translated-from-English.
Why Dutch leans active
A passive backgrounds the agent. But Dutch has several ways to background an agent without changing the verb's voice — and these often feel lighter and more natural. Where English academic style defaults to "it has been shown that...," Dutch will frequently write men heeft aangetoond dat... or je ziet dat.... The passive is not wrong; it is just one option among several, and often not the most idiomatic one.
The four main alternatives, in order of frequency:
- Generic je — informal, conversational "you/one."
- Generic men — formal, written "one/people."
- Generic ze — colloquial "they."
- Reflexive mediopassive — the verb describes how something behaves: verkoopt goed, laat zich raden.
Generic je, men, and ze
The simplest substitute for an agentless passive is a generic personal pronoun. All three exist in English too ("you never know," "one mustn't," "they say"), but Dutch uses them more readily and across more registers.
- je (informal): everyday speech and writing. "you" addressed to no one in particular.
- men (formal/written): the textbook generic "one"; rare in speech, common in print.
- ze (colloquial): "they," for things "people in general" do.
Dit gerecht maak je zo.
You make this dish like this. / This dish is made like this. Generic 'je' replaces a passive in a recipe — far more natural than 'wordt zo gemaakt'.
Men zegt dat de winter streng wordt.
They say the winter will be harsh. Formal 'men' instead of 'Er wordt gezegd dat...'.
Ze hebben de weg weer opengebroken.
They've dug up the road again. Colloquial 'ze' — vague 'the authorities/workers', no real referent.
The same content can usually be expressed both ways. The pair below shows the active and passive versions side by side; in most living Dutch the active one wins.
Hoe spreek je dit woord uit?
How do you pronounce this word? Generic 'je' — the idiomatic choice.
Hoe wordt dit woord uitgesproken?
How is this word pronounced? The passive — correct, but stiffer and more formal.
The reflexive mediopassive
This is the construction English speakers most often miss, because English has no clean equivalent. In a mediopassive, the verb is grammatically active and reflexive, but its meaning is passive or middle: the subject is not really doing anything — the sentence describes how the subject behaves or how easily something can be done to it.
Type 1: verkoopt goed, leest makkelijk
Here an ordinary transitive verb is used intransitively, with the object as subject, to describe an inherent property: how well it sells, how easily it reads, how it drives. English does this with a handful of verbs ("the book sells well," "the door won't open"), but Dutch extends it much further.
Het boek verkoopt goed.
The book sells well. The book isn't selling anything — the verb describes how it performs on the market.
Deze tekst leest makkelijk.
This text reads easily / is an easy read. Not 'the text reads something' — it's about how it is to read.
De nieuwe auto rijdt heerlijk.
The new car drives beautifully. A property of the car, expressed with an active verb.
Type 2: laat zich + infinitive
The frame laten + zich + infinitive means "can be ...-ed" — it expresses possibility passively while staying formally active and reflexive. Dat laat zich raden = "that can be guessed / that's easy to guess." This is elegant, slightly formal, and very common in good written Dutch.
Dat laat zich raden.
That can be guessed. / You can imagine. A fixed mediopassive — 'it lets itself be guessed'.
De afloop laat zich begrijpen.
The outcome can be understood / is understandable. 'laat zich' + infinitive = 'can be ...-ed'.
Dat laat zich denken.
That's conceivable / one can imagine that. A set phrase you'll meet constantly in writing.
Type 3: spontaneous-event reflexives
A few verbs take zich to present a change as happening on its own, no agent in sight: De deur opent zich ("the door opens"), Het probleem lost zich vanzelf op ("the problem solves itself"). English handles these with a plain intransitive ("the door opens"), so the reflexive feels like an extra, but in Dutch it signals that the event has no external cause.
De deur opende zich langzaam.
The door slowly opened. The reflexive presents it as happening of its own accord, with no one opening it — a literary, slightly dramatic touch.
Het probleem loste zich vanzelf op.
The problem solved itself / sorted itself out. No agent — the reflexive marks a spontaneous resolution.
Laten + infinitive for causatives
Where English uses "have/get something done" or a passive of result, Dutch reaches for laten + infinitive. Ik laat mijn haar knippen = "I'm getting my hair cut." The agent (the hairdresser) goes unmentioned, but the sentence stays active. This is the standard way to say that you arrange for something to be done to you or your things.
Ik laat mijn auto repareren.
I'm having my car repaired / getting it fixed. 'laten' + infinitive — the mechanic is left unnamed, no passive needed.
We hebben de muren laten schilderen.
We had the walls painted. Perfect of the causative — note the double infinitive 'laten schilderen'.
When the passive is still the right choice
None of this means the passive is bad. It remains the natural choice when you genuinely want to foreground the patient and the action over any agent — in news reporting, formal procedure, and scientific result statements. De verdachte werd gisteren gearresteerd ("the suspect was arrested yesterday") is exactly right; recasting it with men or je would be odd. The skill is choosing — see The Worden-Passive for when the passive earns its place.
De brug werd in 1932 gebouwd.
The bridge was built in 1932. A genuine, idiomatic passive — the bridge is the topic and the builders are irrelevant. Don't 'fix' this one.
Common Mistakes
These errors come from importing English's heavy reliance on the passive, or from not knowing the mediopassive exists.
❌ Dit gerecht wordt zo gemaakt. (in a casual recipe)
Not wrong, but stiff — Dutch recipes use generic 'je'. The natural version is active.
✅ Dit gerecht maak je zo.
You make this dish like this.
❌ Het boek wordt goed verkocht.
Awkward for the 'sells well' meaning — this literally means someone is selling it well. To say it's a good seller, use the mediopassive.
✅ Het boek verkoopt goed.
The book sells well.
❌ Dat kan geraden worden.
Clumsy and over-passive. The idiomatic Dutch is the fixed mediopassive 'laat zich'.
✅ Dat laat zich raden.
That can be guessed / you can imagine.
❌ Mijn haar wordt geknipt morgen. (meaning: I'm getting a haircut)
Wrong frame — a result-passive doesn't express 'I'm arranging this'. Use the causative 'laten'.
✅ Ik laat morgen mijn haar knippen.
I'm getting my hair cut tomorrow.
❌ Men is informeel. (using 'men' in casual chat)
Register mismatch — 'men' is formal/written. In speech, use 'je' or 'ze'.
✅ Dat zeg je zo niet. / Dat zeggen ze niet.
You don't say it like that. (conversational generic 'je' / 'ze')
Key Takeaways
- Dutch often avoids the passive by keeping the sentence active: generic je (informal), men (formal), or ze (colloquial) remove the agent without a worden-passive.
- The reflexive mediopassive is the resource English lacks: verkoopt goed, leest makkelijk, rijdt heerlijk describe how something behaves; laat zich raden / begrijpen / denken means "can be ...-ed"; opent zich, lost zich op present spontaneous events.
- Use laten + infinitive as the causative ("have/get something done"): Ik laat mijn auto repareren.
- The passive is still correct and idiomatic for agent-irrelevant reporting (De brug werd in 1932 gebouwd). The goal is choosing the right tool, not banning the passive.
- For recipes, manuals, and explanations, default to generic je — it is the single most native-sounding fix for over-translated passives.
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Start learning Dutch→Related Topics
- The Passive with WordenB1 — How Dutch builds the dynamic, process passive with worden plus a past participle — De brief wordt geschreven — and why this 'something is being done' passive is grammatically separate from the resulting-state passive with zijn.
- The Impersonal Passive (Er wordt gedanst)B2 — Dutch can passivise intransitive activity verbs that have no object at all, using a dummy er to fill the empty subject slot: Er wordt gedanst ('there is dancing / people are dancing'). The construction names an activity without naming who does it, and it has no English equivalent — learn it as a fixed frame, er wordt + past participle.
- Men, Je and Ze: Expressing the ImpersonalB1 — Three ways to talk about 'people in general' without naming anyone: formal men ('one', for signs and reports), conversational generic je ('you/one', as long as no one takes it personally), and generic ze ('they', for hearsay — Ze hebben de weg afgesloten). Choosing among them is a register decision: match each to its situation — sign vs chat vs gossip vs report.
- Reflexive VerbsB1 — Many Dutch verbs carry a reflexive pronoun (me, je, zich, ons) as part of their frame. Some are obligatorily reflexive with no English reflexive at all (zich vergissen = be mistaken, zich herinneren = remember, zich haasten = hurry); others are optionally reflexive, changing meaning depending on whether the object is the subject (zich wassen vs iemand wassen). The pronoun is best learned as part of the verb.
- Reflexive Pronouns and ZichA2 — When the subject acts on itself, Dutch uses a reflexive pronoun: me, je, ons reuse the object forms, but the third person and formal u have their own word, zich (Hij wast zich) — a form English simply does not have. Adding -zelf (mezelf, zichzelf) marks emphasis or genuine self-directed action, and many Dutch verbs are obligatorily reflexive where English uses none (zich vergissen = to be mistaken).