Breakdown of Die Ausstellung wird von einem Künstler entworfen.
ein
a, an (eine)
von
from, of / by (agent in passive clauses)
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
werden
to be (passive auxiliary + past participle)
der Künstler
the artist
die Ausstellung
the exhibition
entwerfen
to design
Questions & Answers about Die Ausstellung wird von einem Künstler entworfen.
Why do we use von to say "by" in this sentence instead of durch?
In German passive sentences, von is used for the actual agent doing the action—usually a person, animal, or institution. Because ein Künstler (an artist) is a person actively designing the exhibition, we use von. You would use durch if the action was caused by an instrument, a means, or a force of nature (like a storm).
Why is it einem Künstler and not ein Künstler?
The preposition von always requires the dative case. Because Künstler is a masculine noun, the indefinite article changes to the dative form, einem.
Why does the sentence use wird ... entworfen rather than ist ... entworfen?
Using werden (here conjugated as wird) creates the process passive. It tells us the action is happening right now: the exhibition is currently being designed. If you used ist, it would be the state passive, meaning the action is already finished and we are just looking at the completed design.
Why doesn't the past participle entworfen have a ge- at the beginning?
The infinitive of the verb is entwerfen. Verbs that start with the inseparable prefix ent- (along with others like be-, er-, and ver-) do not take a ge- when forming the past participle.
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