Das Zimmer muss gemalt werden.

The room must be painted.

Breakdown of Das Zimmer muss gemalt werden.

• müssen: must
• das Zimmer: the room
• gemalt werden: to be painted

Questions & Answers about Das Zimmer muss gemalt werden.

What type of construction is Das Zimmer muss gemalt werden?

It’s the German passive voice, more precisely the Vorgangspassiv (dynamic/action‐focused passive). It shows that an action (painting) is performed on the subject (“the room”) without naming who carries it out.

Why is muss used here, and what does it add to the meaning?

muss is the 3rd person singular of the modal verb müssen (“must”/“have to”). It expresses necessity: rather than simply stating “the room is painted,” it says “the room must be painted.”

Why do gemalt and werden appear together at the end of the sentence?

In a German main clause with a modal verb:

1. The finite verb (muss) goes into second position.
2. All non‐finite verbs (here gemalt, the past participle, and werden, the passive auxiliary) form a cluster at the very end.

Why is gemalt used instead of a present‐tense form like malt?

Passive sentences require the past participle of the main verb. For malen, the participle is formed as ge‑ + stem + t, giving gemalt. You don’t use the present tense (malt) in a passive.

Why do we use werden to build the passive here, rather than sein?

German has two passive types:

• Vorgangspassiv (action/process passive) uses werden
  • past participle to highlight the action (e.g. Das Zimmer wird gemalt).
• Zustandspassiv (state passive) uses sein
  • past participle to describe a resulting state (e.g. Das Zimmer ist gemalt = “the room is (now) painted”).
    Since we want to express that the room must be painted (an action), we use werden.

What grammatical case is das Zimmer in, and why?

It’s in the nominative case because in a passive construction the logical object of the active sentence becomes the grammatical subject—and all subjects in German take the nominative.

How would you express this idea in the active voice?

You could say:

• Jemand muss das Zimmer malen. (“Someone must paint the room.”)
• Or specify a person: Der Maler muss das Zimmer malen.

How can you include the agent (“by someone”) in this passive sentence?

Use a von‑phrase with the dative:

• Das Zimmer muss von dem Maler gemalt werden.
  You can also contract von dem to vom: Das Zimmer muss vom Maler gemalt werden.

What’s the difference between malen and streichen when talking about painting a room?

• malen usually refers to painting pictures or doing artistic work.
• streichen (or anstreichen) is the normal verb for painting walls, rooms, furniture, etc. with paint or varnish.
  So for a room you’d typically say Das Zimmer muss gestrichen werden.

How do you ask “Who must paint the room?” in German?

• In the active voice: Wer muss das Zimmer malen?
• In the passive voice: Von wem muss das Zimmer gemalt werden?

How would you say “The room had to be painted” (simple past passive)?

Use the Präteritum of müssen:

• Das Zimmer musste gemalt werden.