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In a demanding household, you often need to express that chores *must* be done. While you can use the active voice with a modal verb like **müssen**, German offers concise passive alternatives to focus purely on the task at hand.

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### Necessity with "gehören" + Past Participle

To express that something strongly needs to be done, you can use the verb **gehören** combined with a past participle. This structure is very common in everyday German when talking about chores and maintenance.

Conjugate **gehören** to match the subject (the thing that needs cleaning or fixing), and place the past participle of the main verb at the very end of the sentence.

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If the subject is plural, remember to use the plural form **gehören**.

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### Necessity with "sein" + "zu" + Infinitive

Another passive alternative to express necessity uses the verb **sein** (to be) followed by **zu** and the infinitive of the main verb.

This form translates roughly to "is to be [done]." It sounds a bit more formal and strict, making it perfect for a rigid set of household rules or instructions. Conjugate **sein** for the subject, and place **zu** + infinitive at the end of the clause.

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Necessity (gehören)

adjective

adverb

auxiliary verb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

Definite articles and gender (der, die, das)

Indefinite articles (ein, eine)

Regular verbs and statement word order (ich -e, er -t)

The second person (du -st, Sie -en)

Yes/No questions

The verb 'to have' (habe, hast, hat)

Plural pronouns and regular verbs (wir, ihr, sie)

Plural 'to be' and 'to have' (sind, haben)

Plural nouns and the plural article (die)

Sentence negation (nicht)

Noun negation (kein, keine)

Question words (wer, was, wo, wie)

Numbers 0 to 12 (null, eins, zwei)

The accusative case (den, die, das)

Indefinite accusative articles (einen, keinen)

Direct object pronouns (mich, dich, ihn)

There is / there are (es gibt)

Vowel changes: e to i/ie (er spricht, sie liest)

Vowel changes: a to ä (er fährt)

Weather and conditions (es regnet)

First- and second-person possessives in the nominative (mein, dein, Ihr)

First- and second-person possessives in the accusative (meinen, deinen, Ihren)

Third-person and plural possessives (sein, ihr, unser, euer)

Possession with names (Annas Auto)

Demonstrative pronouns (dieser, diese, dieses)

Expressing preference (gern, lieber)

Asking about direction and origin (woher, wohin)

Expressing ability (können)

Polite requests (möchten)

Expressing intention (wollen)

Modal verbs of obligation and permission (müssen, dürfen)

Separable prefix verbs

Adverbs of frequency (immer, oft, manchmal, nie)

The Dative case and definite articles (dem, der, den)

Dative indefinite and negative articles (einem, einer, keinem)

Dative personal pronouns (mir, dir, ihm, ihr...)

Dative verbs (helfen, danken, gefallen, schmecken)

Dative prepositions (aus, bei, mit, nach...)

Accusative prepositions (für, ohne, gegen)

Two-way prepositions for location (in, an, auf...)

Informal singular imperative (mach, komm)

Plural and formal imperative (macht, machen Sie)

Coordinating conjunctions (und, oder, aber, denn)

Simple past of sein and haben (war, hatte)

The perfect tense: regular verbs (gemacht, gespielt)

Past tense: irregular verbs (ge-...-en)

The perfect tense: mixed verbs (gebracht, gekannt)

The perfect tense with sein (ist gegangen)

The perfect tense: separable verbs (eingekauft)

The perfect tense: inseparable and -ieren verbs (besucht, studiert)

Informal singular commands (mach, lern)

Numbers 13 to 20 (dreizehn to zwanzig)

Counting by tens to 100 (dreißig, vierzig)

Telling time (Uhr, halb, Viertel, vor, nach)

Numbers 21 to 99 (einundzwanzig, zweiunddreißig)

Greetings and farewells

Thank you, sorry and good wishes

Everyday replies

Numbers 100 to 1,000,000 (hundert, tausend...)

Becoming and getting (werden)

The impersonal pronoun (man)

Indefinite pronouns (jemand, niemand...)

Time sequence prepositions (vor, nach, bei)

Time span prepositions (von... bis, seit, für)

Adverbs of sequence (zuerst, dann, danach)

Two-way prepositions for direction (in, auf, an...)

Directional adverbs (hin, her)

Placement verbs (setzen, stellen, legen)

Months of the year (Januar, Februar)

The four seasons (Frühling, Sommer)

Time prepositions and indefinite pronouns (an, in, um)

Ordinal numbers 1st to 19th (am ersten)

Ordinals 20th and beyond (-ste, -sten)

Placement vs. location verbs (stellen vs. stehen)

Accusative reflexive pronouns (mich, dich, sich)

Accusative reflexive verbs (sich freuen)

Dative reflexive pronouns (mir, dir, sich)

Dative reflexive verbs (sich etwas merken)

Ordinal numbers 11th to 19th (-te)

Temporal prepositions (an, in, um)

Double objects with nouns

Double objects with pronouns

The modal verb for advice (sollen)

Simple past of modal verbs (musste, wollte...)

Simple past of common irregulars (wurde, wusste, es gab)

Adverbial connectors of consequence (deshalb, darum...)

Subordinate clauses for statements (dass)

Question	Answer
to sweep	fegen
One must sweep the floor every day.	Man muss den Boden jeden Tag fegen.
to need to be (done)	gehören
to vacuum	staubsaugen
The carpet needs to be vacuumed immediately.	Der Teppich gehört sofort gestaubsaugt.
Who swept and vacuumed yesterday?	Wer hat gestern gefegt und gestaubsaugt?
the lawn	der Rasen
to mow	mähen
The garden is huge and the lawn needs to be mowed.	Der Garten ist riesig und der Rasen gehört gemäht.
The lawn is to be mowed this afternoon.	Der Rasen ist heute Nachmittag zu mähen.
to scrub	schrubben
The dirty bathroom needs to be scrubbed thoroughly.	Das schmutzige Bad gehört gründlich geschrubbt.
to wipe	wischen
After that, the kitchen is to be wiped.	Danach ist die Küche zu wischen.
One must wipe the table, but not scrub it.	Man muss den Tisch wischen, aber nicht schrubben.
to dust	abstauben
The furniture needs to be dusted regularly.	Die Möbel gehören regelmäßig abgestaubt.
to fold	falten
The dry laundry needs to be folded neatly.	Die trockene Wäsche gehört ordentlich gefaltet.
No child wants to dust or fold laundry.	Kein Kind will abstauben oder Wäsche falten.
the cutlery	das Besteck
to polish	polieren
The cutlery for the guests needs to be polished.	Das Besteck für die Gäste gehört poliert.
We clean the cutlery by polishing it.	Wir reinigen das Besteck, indem wir es polieren.