On the previous page you met the worden-passive, which describes a process: De deur wordt gesloten, "the door is being closed", the closing happening before your eyes. This page covers its counterpart, the stative passive with zijn + past participle: De deur is gesloten, "the door is closed", describing the resulting state after the closing is over. Same participle, different auxiliary, different meaning — and Dutch keeps the two apart where English uses one word for both. But there's a sting in the tail: that very same string, is + participle, is also how Dutch builds the perfect of the passive ("has been closed"). So De deur is gesloten is structurally ambiguous between a present state and a completed action, and on top of that, is + a normal adjective is just the copula ("the door is X"). One form, three jobs. This page untangles them.
The form: zijn + past participle, the state
The stative passive uses zijn ("to be"), conjugated for person and tense, plus the past participle. It describes the state the subject is in as a result of an earlier action — not the action itself.
De deur is gesloten.
The door is closed. — the state now, the result of someone having closed it.
De winkel is gesloten.
The shop is closed. — describes its current state, e.g. on a sign at the door.
Alle ramen zijn al schoongemaakt.
All the windows are already cleaned. — they're in a clean state; separable 'schoongemaakt'.
The intuition: zijn + participle answers "what condition is it in?", not "what is happening to it?". The action that produced the state is finished and out of view; what remains is the result. This is why the stative passive resists a door-agent — there's no ongoing action for an agent to perform. De deur is gesloten describes the door, full stop; adding door Jan sounds odd because we're naming a state, not reporting who did what (for that, you'd use the perfect — see below).
The contrast that defines it: worden vs zijn
The whole point of the zijn-passive only comes into focus next to the worden-passive. English "the shop is closed" is ambiguous; Dutch forces the choice and thereby says more.
| Dutch | Auxiliary | Meaning | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| De winkel wordt gesloten | worden | process | The shop is being closed (someone is closing it) |
| De winkel is gesloten | zijn | resulting state | The shop is closed (it's shut now) |
De winkel wordt om zes uur gesloten.
The shop is closed at six — i.e. someone closes it then. Process: 'wordt'.
De winkel is al gesloten; we zijn te laat.
The shop is already closed; we're too late. State now: 'is'.
The complication: is + participle does triple duty
Here is what makes Dutch passives genuinely hard, and where you must read carefully. The perfect of the worden-passive — "has been _-ed" — is not built with worden at all. The worden drops out completely, and the perfect is formed with zijn + participle. So:
| You might expect | Dutch actually uses | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| De brief is geschreven | has been written (perfect passive) | |
| De brief is verzonden | has been sent (perfect passive) |
The consequence is that is + participle does three different jobs, and only context tells them apart:
- Stative passive (state): De deur is gesloten — "the door is closed" (its current condition).
- Perfect of the worden-passive (completed action): De deur is gesloten (door de conciërge) — "the door has been closed (by the caretaker)" (a finished event, agent possible).
- Copula with an adjective: De deur is groen — "the door is green" (ordinary "to be"; gesloten here just happens to also work as an adjective).
De brief is al verzonden.
The letter has already been sent. — perfect of the passive; 'worden' has dropped, 'is verzonden'.
Het rapport is door de commissie goedgekeurd.
The report has been approved by the committee. — perfect passive WITH a 'door'-agent, so this is the completed-action reading, not a bare state.
De ramen zijn vanmorgen gewassen.
The windows were cleaned this morning. — completed event with a time adverb: the perfect-passive reading.
How do you tell the state reading from the perfect reading? Three clues:
- A door-agent (door de commissie) or a time-when adverb (vanmorgen, gisteren) points to the completed-action / perfect reading — you're reporting an event.
- A bare is
- participle with no agent and no event-time, often describing a sign or a present condition (De winkel is gesloten), points to the state reading.
- In many sentences both readings are available and the difference is genuinely small — De deur is gesloten can be "the door is (in a) closed (state)" or "the door has been closed", and Dutch simply doesn't force the issue. This ambiguity is real and not a failing on your part; even native speakers don't disambiguate it unless context demands.
Don't over-use zijn
Because English "is _-ed" maps so neatly onto is + participle, learners reach for zijn even when they mean a live process — and then accidentally say "it's already done" when they meant "it's being done". Whenever the action is ongoing, you need worden, not zijn. Reserve zijn for the resulting state (and accept that it doubles as the perfect).
Mijn fiets wordt gerepareerd.
My bike is being repaired. — it's in the shop now; ongoing process needs 'wordt'.
Mijn fiets is gerepareerd.
My bike is repaired. — it's fixed now (state) / it has been repaired (perfect). Both use 'is'.
Common Mistakes
❌ De winkel wordt gesloten. (meaning: it's shut now, we're too late)
Wrong — 'wordt' is the ongoing process. For the current shut state use 'is gesloten'.
✅ De winkel is gesloten.
The shop is closed.
❌ De brief is geworden geschreven.
Incorrect — the perfect passive drops 'worden' entirely; it's just 'is geschreven'.
✅ De brief is geschreven.
The letter has been written.
❌ De muur is geschilderd, kom niet te dichtbij. (meaning: it's wet, being painted now)
Wrong reading — 'is geschilderd' is the finished state; for the live process use 'wordt geschilderd'.
✅ De muur wordt geschilderd, kom niet te dichtbij.
The wall is being painted, don't come too close.
❌ De deur is gesloten door Jan. (intending a plain state description)
Adding a 'door'-agent forces the completed-action reading, not a neutral state; drop the agent for a pure state.
✅ De deur is gesloten.
The door is closed. — pure state, no agent.
Key Takeaways
- The stative passive is zijn
- participle and describes a resulting state: De deur is gesloten = "the door is closed (now)".
- It contrasts with the worden-passive (process): wordt gesloten "is being closed" vs is gesloten "is closed".
- The perfect of the worden-passive drops worden and uses zijn: is geschreven = "has been written".
- So is + participle does triple duty: stative passive (state), perfect passive (completed action), and copula + adjective.
- A door-agent or event-time adverb signals the completed-action reading; a bare is
- participle signals the state. Some sentences stay genuinely ambiguous.
- Don't over-use zijn: for an ongoing action you need worden.
Now practice Dutch
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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.
- Worden vs Zijn: Process vs State PassiveB2 — A decision guide for the Dutch passive — worden + participle for the process passive (is being built, ongoing action) versus zijn + participle for the state passive (has been built, the finished result) — and why one English 'is built' splits into two Dutch sentences.
- 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.
- Avoiding the Passive: Men, Je, and ReflexivesC1 — Dutch often prefers an active workaround where English would reach for the passive: a generic men, je or ze (Men zegt dat... instead of Er wordt gezegd dat...), the reflexive mediopassive (Het boek verkoopt goed, Dat laat zich raden), and laten + infinitive for causatives. The mediopassive in particular — a verb used actively but with a passive sense — is a genuine Dutch resource that English lacks.