Word
Die Pizza wird schnell vom Kellner gebracht.
Meaning
The pizza is brought quickly by the waiter.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Die Pizza wird schnell vom Kellner gebracht.
schnell
fast, quickly
bringen
to bring
vom
from the (von + dem) / of the (belonging to) / by the (agent in a passive clause)
der Kellner
the waiter
Questions & Answers about Die Pizza wird schnell vom Kellner gebracht.
How exactly is the passive voice formed in this sentence?
In German, the standard passive voice (action passive or Vorgangspassiv) is formed using the conjugated helper verb werden (here, wird) in the second position, and the past participle of the main verb (gebracht) at the very end of the sentence.
Since wird is often used for the future tense, does this sentence mean 'The pizza WILL be brought'?
This is a very common mix-up! While the helper verb werden combined with an infinitive at the end of the sentence forms the future tense, werden combined with a past participle (like gebracht here) forms the passive voice. Because this sentence uses a past participle, it translates to the present tense 'is brought', not the future tense.
Why do we use vom Kellner to say 'by the waiter' instead of durch den Kellner?
To express the person actively performing the action in a passive sentence, German uses the preposition von followed by the dative case. vom is a short form of von and the dative masculine article dem. The preposition durch (through/by) is also used in passive sentences, but usually to indicate a means, tool, or cause rather than a living person.
Could I change the middle of the sentence and say Die Pizza wird vom Kellner schnell gebracht?