The passive lets you talk about an action while pushing the doer into the background or dropping it entirely. German has two passives, and this page covers the one you will meet first and most often: the Vorgangspassiv ("process passive"), built with werden plus a past participle. It describes an action happening to the subject — Das Haus wird gebaut ("The house is being built").
The core pattern: werden + Partizip II
The recipe is simple: conjugate werden for the subject, and send the past participle to the end of the clause.
Das Haus wird gebaut.
The house is being built. (werden conjugated + gebaut at the end)
Die Rechnungen werden am Monatsende bezahlt.
The invoices are paid at the end of the month.
Hier wird Deutsch gesprochen.
German is spoken here. (a real sign you see in shop windows)
Notice that werden does the conjugating and the participle never changes. Das Haus wird gebaut, die Häuser werden gebaut — only werden shifts to match the subject.
Why German uses werden, not sein
Here is the single biggest trap for English speakers. English builds its passive with be: "is built," "was built," "has been built." Your instinct will be to reach for sein — but for an action in progress, German uses werden.
The logic: werden means "to become / to come about," so wird gebaut literally frames the action as something that comes into being — a process unfolding. sein + participle describes the finished state that results, which is a different construction entirely (the Zustandspassiv, covered on its own page).
Die Tür wird geöffnet.
The door is being opened. (werden = the act of opening is happening)
Die Tür ist geöffnet.
The door is open. (sein = the resulting state; someone opened it earlier)
If you can insert "being" or "getting" in the English ("is being built," "is getting repaired"), German wants werden.
Tenses of the werden-passive
The passive exists in every tense. You simply put werden into the tense you need; the participle of the main verb stays put at the end.
| Tense | Example (bauen — to build) | English |
|---|---|---|
| Präsens | Das Haus wird gebaut. | is being built |
| Präteritum | Das Haus wurde gebaut. | was being built / was built |
| Perfekt | Das Haus ist gebaut worden. | has been built |
| Plusquamperfekt | Das Haus war gebaut worden. | had been built |
| Futur I | Das Haus wird gebaut werden. | will be built |
Der Brief wurde gestern geschrieben.
The letter was written yesterday. (Präteritum — the everyday written-past form)
Das neue Stadion wird nächstes Jahr eröffnet werden.
The new stadium will be opened next year. (Futur I)
The Perfekt: worden, not geworden
This is the form learners get wrong most, so it deserves its own section. In the Perfekt and Plusquamperfekt, the passive is built with sein as the auxiliary plus the main participle plus the participle of werden.
But the participle of werden in the passive is worden, not geworden.
Das Auto ist repariert worden.
The car has been repaired. (worden — never geworden)
Die Verträge sind schon unterschrieben worden.
The contracts have already been signed.
Why the special form? Standalone werden (meaning "to become") has the participle geworden: Er ist Arzt geworden ("He has become a doctor"). But when werden is just the passive auxiliary, German drops the ge- prefix and uses the bare worden. Treat it as a fixed rule: a passive Perfekt always ends in worden.
Naming the agent: von + dative, durch + accusative
Often the whole point of the passive is to avoid naming who did it. But when you do want to mention the doer, German uses two prepositions, and which one you pick carries meaning.
von + Dativ names the agent — the person or force that performs the action:
Das Haus wurde von einem berühmten Architekten entworfen.
The house was designed by a famous architect. (von + dative for the doer)
Der Patient wird von zwei Ärzten untersucht.
The patient is being examined by two doctors.
durch + Akkusativ names the means or cause — the instrument or event through which the action happened:
Die Stadt wurde durch ein Erdbeben zerstört.
The city was destroyed by an earthquake. (durch + accusative for the cause/means)
Er wurde durch einen Zufall gerettet.
He was saved by a coincidence.
The contrast is sharper than English's single "by." Compare Der Brief wurde *von der Sekretärin geschrieben ("written *by the secretary" — she is the conscious author) with Der Brief wurde *durch einen Boten zugestellt ("delivered *through a courier" — the courier is the channel). English collapses both into "by"; German makes you decide whether you mean the willful doer (von) or the impersonal means (durch).
Word order: where everything goes
In a main clause, werden sits in the V2 (second) position and the participle goes to the very end, framing the rest of the sentence between them — the classic German Satzklammer (sentence bracket).
In dieser Fabrik werden jeden Tag tausend Autos produziert.
A thousand cars are produced in this factory every day. (werden in position 2, produziert at the end)
In a subordinate clause, the whole verb cluster moves to the end, with the conjugated werden coming last:
Ich weiß nicht, wann das Paket geliefert wird.
I don't know when the package will be delivered. (werden last in the subordinate clause)
Common Mistakes
❌ Das Haus ist gebaut.
Wrong if you mean 'is being built' — this says the house IS (already) built, a finished state.
✅ Das Haus wird gebaut.
Correct: werden for the ongoing action 'is being built'.
❌ Das Auto ist repariert geworden.
Wrong: geworden is the participle of 'to become', not the passive auxiliary.
✅ Das Auto ist repariert worden.
Correct: the passive Perfekt always ends in worden.
❌ Der Roman wurde bei Goethe geschrieben.
Wrong: bei does not introduce the agent.
✅ Der Roman wurde von Goethe geschrieben.
Correct: the human agent takes von + dative.
❌ Die Brücke wurde von einem Sturm beschädigt.
Questionable: a storm is a force, not a willful agent — durch fits better.
✅ Die Brücke wurde durch einen Sturm beschädigt.
Correct: durch + accusative for an impersonal cause.
❌ Die Briefe wird verschickt.
Wrong: werden must agree with the plural subject die Briefe.
✅ Die Briefe werden verschickt.
Correct: plural subject, plural werden.
Key Takeaways
- The process passive = werden (conjugated) + Partizip II (at the clause end). It focuses on the action, not the doer.
- Use werden for the action in progress; sein
- participle is a separate construction for the resulting state.
- The Perfekt is ist/sind ... worden — never geworden.
- Name the agent with von + Dativ (people, intentional doers) or the cause with durch + Akkusativ (forces, means, events).
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Start learning German→Related Topics
- 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.
- 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 Three Uses of werdenB1 — One verb, three jobs: werden is a full verb ('become'), the future auxiliary, and the passive auxiliary — told apart by whatever follows it.
- 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.