The present passive voice
In an active sentence, the focus is on who is performing the action. When you want to emphasize the action itself or what happens to an object, you use the passive voice (Vorgangspassiv).
To form the present passive, use the helping verb werden and a past participle.
| Pronoun | Form of werden |
|---|---|
| ich | werde |
| du | wirst |
| er/sie/es | wird |
| wir | werden |
| ihr | werdet |
| sie/Sie | werden |
Just like with other compound verbs, the conjugated helping verb (werden) takes the second position in a standard main clause, and the past participle is pushed to the very end of the sentence.
| The cars are produced in the factory. | In der Fabrik werden die Autos produziert. |
| How is this product manufactured? | Wie wird dieses Produkt hergestellt? |
Describing processes
Because the passive voice hides the person doing the action, it is incredibly common when describing industrial processes, manufacturing, and logistics.
| The material is inspected automatically. | Das Material wird automatisch kontrolliert. |
| The packages are sorted and then packaged. | Die Pakete werden sortiert und dann verpackt. |
| The goods are delivered tomorrow. | Die Ware wird morgen geliefert. |
Adding the agent with von
Even in a passive sentence, you can still mention who or what is performing the action (the agent). To do this, use the preposition von (by) followed by the dative case.
In the example below, von combines with the dative masculine article dem to form vom.
| The pizza is brought quickly by the waiter. | Die Pizza wird schnell vom Kellner gebracht. |
