Word
Das Metall wird von der Maschine zermahlen.
Meaning
The metal is ground up by the machine.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Das Metall wird von der Maschine zermahlen.
von
from, of / by (agent in passive clauses)
die Maschine
the machine (mechanical)
werden
to be (passive auxiliary + past participle)
das Metall
the metal
Questions & Answers about Das Metall wird von der Maschine zermahlen.
Why does this sentence use wird if it isn't talking about the future?
In this sentence, wird is used to form the passive voice, not the future tense. German forms the passive using a conjugated form of werden (here, wird) combined with a past participle at the end of the sentence (zermahlen). This translates to "is ground up" rather than "will be" or "will grind."
Why is the past participle zermahlen missing a ge-?
The verb zermahlen starts with the inseparable prefix zer-. In German, verbs with inseparable prefixes (such as be-, emp-, ent-, er-, ver-, and zer-) never add a ge- when forming the past participle. Therefore, the past participle looks exactly like the infinitive form here: zermahlen.
Does the prefix zer- add a specific meaning to the verb?
Yes! The prefix zer- usually implies that something is being destroyed, crushed, or broken into little pieces. While mahlen simply means "to grind" (like coffee beans), adding zer- emphasizes that the metal is being ground down until it is completely crushed or obliterated.
Could I say durch die Maschine instead of von der Maschine?