Breakdown of Der Einbruch ist gestern aufgeklärt worden.
sein
to be
gestern
yesterday
werden
to be (passive auxiliary + past participle)
der Einbruch
the burglary
aufklären
to solve (a crime, case)
Questions & Answers about Der Einbruch ist gestern aufgeklärt worden.
Why do we use ist here instead of hat for the Perfekt tense?
The passive voice in German is always built with the helping verb werden. When you put werden into the Perfekt tense, it requires the auxiliary verb sein rather than haben. Therefore, we use ist to match the singular subject Der Einbruch.
I learned that the past participle of werden is geworden. Why is it just worden here?
You use geworden when werden is the main verb of the sentence, meaning to become. However, when werden acts as a helping verb to form the passive voice, as it does in this sentence, it drops the ge- prefix and becomes simply worden.
Why are there two past participles, aufgeklärt and worden, at the end of the sentence?
In German, all verb parts besides the conjugated verb (ist) are pushed to the end of the sentence. For the Perfekt passive, the past participle of the main action (aufgeklärt) goes to the end first, and the passive helping verb (worden) is placed immediately after it.
How is the word aufgeklärt formed?
The infinitive verb is aufklären (to clear up or solve), which is a separable verb. When forming the past participle of a separable verb, the -ge- gets sandwiched exactly between the prefix auf- and the verb stem klärt, resulting in aufgeklärt.
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