Breakdown of Der Fall ist nie aufgeklärt worden.
sein
to be
nie
never
der Fall
the case
werden
to be (passive auxiliary + past participle)
aufklären
to solve (a crime, case)
Questions & Answers about Der Fall ist nie aufgeklärt worden.
Why do we use ist here instead of hat?
In German, the present perfect (Perfekt) of the passive voice is always formed with the helping verb sein (here, ist), never with haben. The full structure is sein + past participle + worden.
Why is the last word worden and not geworden?
Worden is a special shortened form of geworden used only for the passive voice. When werden acts as a helping verb to form the passive, its past participle drops the ge- prefix. If it were the main verb meaning 'to become', you would use geworden.
Why is the ge- in the middle of aufgeklärt?
The verb aufklären (to solve or clear up) is a separable verb. When forming the past participle of a separable verb, the -ge- goes between the separable prefix (auf-) and the main verb stem (-klärt).
Why are there two verbs piled up at the end of the sentence?
In the Perfekt tense of the passive voice, the conjugated helping verb (ist) takes the second position. The rest of the verb phrase gets pushed to the very end. The past participle describing the action (aufgeklärt) always comes right before the passive marker (worden).
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