Der Saal muss noch vorbereitet werden.

must

Breakdown of Der Saal muss noch vorbereitet werden.

• noch: still (up to now)
• der Saal: the hall
• vorbereitet werden: to be prepared

Questions & Answers about Der Saal muss noch vorbereitet werden.

Why does the sentence use werden (passive) instead of an active form?

Der Saal muss noch vorbereitet werden is in the passive voice. In passive, the focus is on what happens to the Saal (hall), not on who does it.

• Passive: Der Saal muss noch vorbereitet werden.
  → The hall must still be prepared. (We don’t say who by.)
• Active: Jemand muss den Saal noch vorbereiten.
  → Someone still has to prepare the hall.

German often uses the passive when:

• the agent is unknown or unimportant
• you want to sound more formal or neutral.

Why is it werden and not sein in the passive?

German has two main passive forms:

1. Vorgangspassiv (action/process): werden + Partizip II
   → focuses on the action happening or needing to happen
   Der Saal muss noch vorbereitet werden.
   = The hall still has to be prepared (action, process).

2. Zustandspassiv (state/result): sein + Partizip II
   → focuses on the resulting state
   Der Saal ist vorbereitet.
   = The hall is prepared (state, result is finished).

Your sentence talks about an action that still needs to be done, so it uses werden.

How does the modal verb muss work with the passive vorbereitet werden?