German has two passives, and this is the single biggest thing that trips up English speakers. The werden-passive (Vorgangspassiv) describes an action as it happens. The sein-passive (Zustandspassiv) describes the state that exists after the action is finished. English collapses both into one form — "the door is closed" — so you have to learn to feel the difference that German marks grammatically.
The core distinction: event vs. state
Look at these two sentences. They look almost identical, but they describe completely different things.
Die Tür wird geschlossen.
The door is being closed. — werden-passive: the closing is happening right now, someone is doing it.
Die Tür ist geschlossen.
The door is closed. — sein-passive: the closing is over; this describes the door's current condition.
The werden-passive answers the question "What is happening to it?" The sein-passive answers "What condition is it in?" That is the mental switch you need. If you can replace the German with "is in the state of being X-ed," you want sein. If you mean "is undergoing the action of being X-ed," you want werden.
How the sein-passive is formed
The recipe is simple: a finite form of sein plus the past participle (Partizip II).
| Tense | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Present | ist / sind + participle | Das Geschäft ist geschlossen. |
| Past (Präteritum) | war / waren + participle | Das Geschäft war geschlossen. |
| Future | wird + participle + sein | Das Geschäft wird geschlossen sein. |
Notice what is not here: there is no worden. The word worden belongs exclusively to the perfect of the werden-passive (ist geschlossen worden = "has been closed", the event). The sein-passive never uses worden, because it is not describing an event at all — it is just sein + participle, exactly parallel to a predicate adjective like Die Tür ist alt ("the door is old").
Das Geschäft ist sonntags geschlossen.
The shop is closed on Sundays. — a recurring state, no action in view.
Als ich ankam, war das Fenster schon geöffnet.
When I arrived, the window was already open(ed). — the state that existed at that moment.
In einer Stunde wird alles erledigt sein.
In an hour everything will be done. — a future state of completion.
Why German splits what English merges
In English, "the door is closed" is genuinely ambiguous. It can mean someone is closing it right now (rare, but possible with "is being closed") or it is in a closed state. English leans on context and on the extra words "being" / "has been" to disambiguate. German does the work in the verb itself:
| English | German — event (werden) | German — state (sein) |
|---|---|---|
| The window is opened / is being opened | Das Fenster wird geöffnet. | — |
| The window is open(ed) | — | Das Fenster ist geöffnet. |
| The letter is written / is being written | Der Brief wird geschrieben. | — |
| The letter is (already) written | — | Der Brief ist geschrieben. |
The deep logic: the sein-passive is really the result of a completed werden-passive event. First the action happens (Die Tür wird geschlossen), then the resulting state holds (Die Tür ist geschlossen). One is the process, the other is the photograph taken afterward.
Der Tisch wird gedeckt, und fünf Minuten später ist er gedeckt.
The table is being set, and five minutes later it is set. — the same verb in process, then in result.
When you naturally reach for the sein-passive
The sein-passive is the everyday way to report a finished condition — exactly the situations where English would say "is closed / is broken / is reserved / is finished."
Der Aufzug ist leider außer Betrieb — er ist seit gestern kaputt.
The lift is unfortunately out of order — it has been broken since yesterday. (informal everyday)
Dieser Tisch ist reserviert.
This table is reserved. — a sign you would actually see in a restaurant.
Keine Sorge, die Rechnung ist schon bezahlt.
Don't worry, the bill is already paid. — emphasising the settled state, not who paid.
Die Verträge waren bereits unterschrieben, als der Chef kam.
The contracts were already signed when the boss arrived. (formal/business)
A few traps and fine points
Not every verb yields a sein-passive. Only verbs whose action produces a lasting, changeable result do. schließen → geschlossen (the door stays closed) works; but a verb like loben ("to praise") has no resulting state on the object, so Er ist gelobt sounds wrong — you would say Er wird gelobt (he is being praised) or Er ist gelobt worden (he has been praised).
Don't confuse the sein-passive with the perfect of motion/change verbs. Er ist angekommen ("he has arrived") looks like sein + participle, but it is the ordinary perfect tense of an intransitive verb, not a passive. The sein-passive always comes from a transitive verb describing a result on the object.
Die Suppe ist gekocht — wir können essen.
The soup is cooked — we can eat. — sein-passive: resulting state of the soup.
Common Mistakes
❌ Die Tür ist geschlossen worden, sieh mal — sie geht gerade zu.
Incorrect — 'ist ... worden' is the perfect of the EVENT passive ('has been closed'), but here you mean the action happening now.
✅ Die Tür wird geschlossen, sieh mal.
Look, the door is being closed. — use the werden-passive for the action in progress.
❌ Das Geschäft wird sonntags geschlossen, also komm nicht.
Incorrect for a standing fact — this literally says 'the shop GETS closed on Sundays' (the act of closing), not that it's shut.
✅ Das Geschäft ist sonntags geschlossen, also komm nicht.
The shop is closed on Sundays, so don't come. — sein-passive for the state.
❌ Der Brief ist geschrieben geworden.
Incorrect — the sein-passive never uses 'geworden' (or 'worden'); it is plain sein + participle.
✅ Der Brief ist geschrieben.
The letter is (already) written. — state. (For the event 'has been written': Der Brief ist geschrieben worden.)
❌ Mein Auto ist gestohlen.
Incorrect — there is no lasting 'stolen state' of the car in your possession; this needs the event passive.
✅ Mein Auto ist gestohlen worden.
My car has been stolen. — perfect of the werden-passive (event); note 'worden', not 'geworden'.
Key Takeaways
- werden + participle = the event, the action in progress. Asks what is happening to it?
- sein + participle = the resulting state. Asks what condition is it in?
- The sein-passive is plain sein
- participle — never with worden or geworden.
- The same English sentence ("the door is closed") splits in German depending on whether you mean the closing (werden) or the closedness (sein).
- Only verbs with a lasting, observable result on the object form a good sein-passive.
Now practice German
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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 Passive: Overview and When to Use ItB1 — How the werden-passive works across the tenses, how to name the agent with von or durch, the sein-passive for result states, and — crucially — when German prefers man or an active instead.
- Passive with Modal VerbsB2 — How to combine a modal verb with the passive in German: modal + past participle + werden, with correct word order.
- 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.