Breakdown of Während der Kontrolle wird nicht gesprochen.
nicht
not
sprechen
to speak
werden
to be (passive auxiliary + past participle)
während
during
die Kontrolle
the inspection
Questions & Answers about Während der Kontrolle wird nicht gesprochen.
Where is the subject in this sentence?
This sentence uses the impersonal passive to focus on an action happening, rather than who is doing it. Normally you might expect the dummy subject es, but because the phrase während der Kontrolle takes up the first position in the sentence, the es is dropped completely. If you wanted to start the sentence with es, it would be: Es wird während der Kontrolle nicht gesprochen.
Why is it der Kontrolle if Kontrolle is a feminine noun?
The preposition während (during) requires the genitive case. In the genitive case, the feminine definite article die changes to der.
Why translate this as "There is no talking" instead of literally "It is not spoken"?
A literal translation sounds very unnatural in English. German frequently uses the impersonal passive to express general rules, prohibitions, or group activities. English usually handles this with phrases like "There is no..." or "People do not...".
Why are the two verb parts (wird and gesprochen) separated?
This follows the standard German sentence bracket rule for the passive voice. The conjugated helping verb wird takes the second position in the sentence, and the past participle gesprochen is pushed to the very end.
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