Breakdown of Wurde das Telefon in Deutschland erfunden?
in
in
Deutschland
Germany
werden
to be (passive auxiliary + past participle)
das Telefon
the telephone
erfinden
to invent
Questions & Answers about Wurde das Telefon in Deutschland erfunden?
Why do we use wurde instead of war to say "Was the telephone invented"?
This sentence uses the passive voice in the simple past. While English uses "was" for this, German builds the passive voice using the helper verb werden. The simple past form for a singular subject like das Telefon is wurde. The main action is then shown by the past participle erfunden at the end of the sentence.
Why doesn't the past participle erfunden start with ge- like most past participles?
The infinitive of this verb is erfinden (to invent). Because it starts with the inseparable prefix er-, it does not take the extra ge- prefix when forming the past participle. Other inseparable prefixes that work this way include be-, ent-, ver-, and zer-.
Why is erfunden placed at the very end of the question?
This is the standard German "verb bracket" (Verbklammer). In a yes/no question, the conjugated helper verb (wurde) takes the very first position. The past participle (erfunden) gets pushed to the very end of the sentence, wrapping around the subject and the location.
In this passive sentence, is das Telefon the subject or the object?
It is the grammatical subject, which means it is in the nominative case! In an active sentence, the person inventing would be the subject and the telephone would be the direct object. But in the passive voice, the thing receiving the action gets promoted to be the subject.
Learn Wurde das Telefon in Deutschland erfunden and more in German
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free