Breakdown of Hier wird nicht mit dem Beamten diskutiert!
hier
here
nicht
not
mit
with
diskutieren
to discuss
werden
to be (passive auxiliary + past participle)
der Beamte
the official
Questions & Answers about Hier wird nicht mit dem Beamten diskutiert!
Why is there no subject in this German sentence?
This is the impersonal passive. It is used when the focus is entirely on the action itself, not who is doing it. Intransitive verbs (verbs without a direct object) like diskutieren can form this passive, which results in a sentence with no real subject. The verb wird just defaults to the third-person singular.
Where is the dummy subject es? Shouldn't it be Hier wird es nicht...?
No, the dummy subject es is only used to fill the first position in a sentence so the verb can stay in position two. If you start the sentence with it, you would say Es wird hier nicht mit dem Beamten diskutiert! But since Hier already fills the first spot, the es completely disappears.
Why does this sentence translate to 'There is no arguing' instead of 'It is not argued'?
While 'Here is not argued' is the literal translation, German frequently uses the impersonal passive to state strict rules or commands. In English, we naturally express this with phrases like 'There is no doing something' or 'No doing something allowed!'
Why does the word for officer end in -en here (dem Beamten)?
The word Beamter (civil servant or officer) is an adjectival noun. This means it changes its endings exactly like an adjective would. Because it follows the dative preposition mit and the definite article dem, it takes the weak ending -en, becoming dem Beamten.
Why is the past participle diskutiert and not gediskutiert?
Verbs that end in -ieren in their infinitive form (like diskutieren, studieren, or reparieren) never take the ge- prefix in the past participle. They simply end in -t.
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