The passive lets you talk about an action while leaving the doer in the background — or out of the picture entirely. German has two distinct passives: the Vorgangspassiv (process passive) built with werden, which describes something happening, and the Zustandspassiv (state passive) built with sein, which describes the resulting state. This page ties the system together: how the werden-passive forms across the tenses, how to name the agent if you want to, and — the part most courses skip — when German actually uses the passive versus its very common alternatives.
The Vorgangspassiv: werden + Partizip II
The process passive describes an action in progress or as an event. You build it with werden (conjugated) plus the past participle at the end of the clause. The object of the active sentence becomes the subject:
- Active: Der Architekt baut das Haus. (The architect builds the house.)
- Passive: Das Haus wird gebaut. (The house is being built.)
Das neue Stadion wird gerade gebaut.
The new stadium is being built right now.
Die Rechnung wird am Monatsende bezahlt.
The invoice is paid at the end of the month.
The werden here is the passive auxiliary, not the future and not the full verb "to become." Context and the participle at the end tell them apart.
Naming the agent: von vs durch
Often the whole point of the passive is to omit the doer. But when you do want to name them, German distinguishes the agent from the means:
- von + Dativ names the doer — the person or force responsible.
- durch + Akkusativ names the means or cause — the instrument through which it happened.
Das Tor wurde von einem jungen Spieler geschossen.
The goal was scored by a young player.
Die Stadt wurde durch das Erdbeben zerstört.
The city was destroyed by the earthquake.
A useful test: ask who did it (→ von) versus what caused/conveyed it (→ durch). A letter is sent von dir (by you, the sender) but durch die Post (via the postal service, the channel).
The passive across the tenses
The participle never changes; only the form of werden moves through the tenses. The one trap is the perfect, where werden's participle appears as worden, not geworden:
| Tense | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Präsens | wird gebaut | Das Haus wird gebaut. |
| Präteritum | wurde gebaut | Das Haus wurde gebaut. |
| Perfekt | ist gebaut worden | Das Haus ist gebaut worden. |
| Plusquamperfekt | war gebaut worden | Das Haus war gebaut worden. |
| Futur I | wird gebaut werden | Das Haus wird gebaut werden. |
Das Konzert ist leider abgesagt worden.
The concert has unfortunately been cancelled.
With modals
A modal verb pushes the passive infinitive gebaut werden to the end, behind the modal:
Die Brücke muss bis Freitag repariert werden.
The bridge has to be repaired by Friday.
Zustandspassiv: sein + Partizip II
The state passive uses sein plus the participle and describes the resulting condition, not the act of producing it. Compare:
- Die Tür wird geöffnet. — The door is being opened (the process, someone is doing it now).
- Die Tür ist geöffnet. — The door is open (the state, the opening is already done).
Das Geschäft ist sonntags geschlossen.
The shop is closed on Sundays (state).
Der Tisch ist schon gedeckt.
The table is already set (state).
Use werden when you mean the event unfolding; use sein when you mean the finished result you can observe. A fuller treatment lives on the dedicated Zustandspassiv page.
When to use the passive — and when not to
This is where most German learners go wrong, usually by over-using the passive out of habit transferred from English. German leans on the passive less than English does and reaches instead for active alternatives. Use the werden-passive when:
- the agent is unknown (Mein Fahrrad wurde gestohlen — you don't know by whom),
- the agent is irrelevant or generic (Hier wird Deutsch gesprochen),
- the agent is obvious from context, or
- you are writing in a formal/written register — instructions, recipes, science reports, news, officialese — where the focus is on the action or result, not the doer.
Die Zwiebeln werden fein gehackt und kurz angebraten.
The onions are finely chopped and briefly fried (recipe register).
The everyday alternative: man + active
In ordinary speech, German very often replaces an agentless passive with man + active — far more naturally than English would. One/you/they in English feels stilted; German man is the unmarked everyday choice:
In Österreich sagt man Servus.
In Austria they say Servus.
Compare the two ways to say the same thing: the passive Das macht man so / So wird das gemacht both mean "that's how it's done," but in conversation man macht das so sounds lighter and more natural, while the passive leans formal.
A quick decision guide
| Situation | Prefer |
|---|---|
| Recipe, instructions, scientific or official text | werden-passive |
| Spoken, agentless generalization ("you do X") | man + active |
| Focus on the finished state, not the act | sein-passive |
| You want to name a doer but keep it backgrounded | werden-passive + von |
| "X can be done" (potential, written) | sich lassen or sein + zu |
There are two further agentless alternatives worth knowing: sich lassen (Das lässt sich machen — "that can be done") and sein + zu (Das ist leicht zu machen — "that's easy to do"). Both carry a modal "can/must be done" flavour and are covered on the impersonal-and-alternatives page.
English contrast
English passivizes freely and often, partly because its passive is so easy to form (be + participle). German speakers sense the passive as heavier and more formal, so they avoid it in speech. Two concrete consequences:
- Where an English speaker says "I was given a book," German cannot promote the indirect object the same way; it says Mir wurde ein Buch geschenkt or, more naturally, Ich habe ein Buch geschenkt bekommen / Man hat mir ein Buch geschenkt.
- Where English uses an agentless passive in casual speech ("It's said that…"), German prefers man sagt, dass… The reflex to translate every English passive with a German passive is the single biggest source of stilted-sounding output.
Common Mistakes
❌ Das Haus ist gebaut geworden.
Wrong participle — the passive uses worden, never geworden.
✅ Das Haus ist gebaut worden.
The house has been built.
❌ Der Brief wurde von der Post zugestellt durch den Boten.
Mixed up — name the doer with von (der Bote) or the channel with durch, not both clumsily.
✅ Der Brief wurde von dem Boten zugestellt.
The letter was delivered by the courier.
❌ In Deutschland wird das Bier sehr gemocht von den Leuten.
Unnatural — a stative liking is better as an active with the people as subject.
✅ In Deutschland trinken die Leute gern Bier.
In Germany people like to drink beer.
❌ Es wird gesagt, dass es regnen wird, von den Meteorologen.
Overloaded passive — spoken German prefers man.
✅ Man sagt, dass es regnen wird.
They say it's going to rain.
❌ Die Tür wird offen.
Wrong passive — a finished, observable state takes sein, not werden.
✅ Die Tür ist offen.
The door is open.
Key Takeaways
- The Vorgangspassiv (werden + Partizip II) describes a process; the Zustandspassiv (sein + Partizip II) describes the resulting state.
- Name the doer with von + Dativ, the means with durch + Akkusativ; most of the time you name neither.
- In the perfect the participle of werden is worden, never geworden.
- Use the passive for formal/written, agentless contexts; in speech, prefer man + active.
- German uses the passive less than English — resist translating every English passive with a German one.
Now practice German
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning German→Related Topics
- The Werden-Passive (Vorgangspassiv)B1 — How to form and use the German process passive with werden plus the past participle, including the tricky Perfekt form ist gebaut worden.
- The Sein-Passive (Zustandspassiv / Result State)B2 — How German uses sein + past participle to describe the resulting state of an action, and how it differs from the werden-passive.
- Passive with Modal VerbsB2 — How to combine a modal verb with the passive in German: modal + past participle + werden, with correct word order.
- Impersonal Passive and Alternatives to the PassiveC1 — The agentless impersonal passive (Es wird getanzt) and the constructions German prefers over the passive: man, sich lassen, sein + zu, and -bar adjectives.
- man vs the PassiveB2 — When to use the indefinite pronoun man (one/you/they + active verb) versus the werden-passive to express agentless or general actions — and why natural German uses far fewer passives than English.
- The Impersonal Pronoun manA2 — man means 'one / you / they / people in general,' always takes a singular verb, borrows its oblique forms from einer, and is German's everyday substitute for the passive.