Breakdown of Der Dieb ist in der Stadt festgenommen worden.
sein
to be
in
in
die Stadt
the city
der Dieb
the thief
werden
to be (passive auxiliary + past participle)
festnehmen
to arrest
Questions & Answers about Der Dieb ist in der Stadt festgenommen worden.
Why do we use "ist ... worden" instead of "hat ... worden"?
In German, the passive voice in the Perfekt (present perfect) tense is always built with the helper verb sein (here, ist). Even if the main active verb usually takes haben, the passive tense always requires sein.
Why is the word at the end "worden" and not "geworden"?
When you build the passive voice in the Perfekt tense, you use the special shortened form worden. You only use geworden when the verb werden is used as a regular verb meaning "to become" (for example: Er ist alt geworden - He has become old).
How does the separable verb "festnehmen" form its past participle here?
For separable verbs, the -ge- piece of the past participle goes right between the prefix and the main verb stem. So the prefix fest joins with genommen to make festgenommen.
Why does the sentence use "in der Stadt" (dative) instead of "in die Stadt" (accusative)?
The preposition in is a two-way preposition. Because the thief was arrested at a fixed location (answering "where?" rather than "to where?"), we use the dative case. Stadt is a feminine noun, so its dative article is der.
What is the difference between "ist festgenommen worden" and "wurde festgenommen"?
Both mean "was arrested" and refer to the past. wurde festgenommen is the simple past (Präteritum) and is often used in writing or news reports. ist festgenommen worden is the conversational past (Perfekt) and is what people generally use when speaking.
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