Unterrichtseinheit Deutsch B1-B2 - das Passiv

German Grammar for Everyone Simple PracticalExcelle Welcome to our language workshop Perfect German In the following lesson you'll learn useful grammar rules and essential basics for everyday life I wish you great enjoyment and steady progress in your efforts to learn the German language Welcome to my lesson on the passive voice in the German language In this lesson you'll learn the essentials of the state and action passive voices from me German distinguishes between active and passive constructions In active sentences the acting person or the subject is at the center The W-question in an active sentence is therefore: Who Example The teacher writes a sentence on the board Question Who writes a sentence on the board Answer The teacher In passive constructions the focus is on the event or action itself not on the person performing it What Question word Therefore what is the form in a passive sentence Example A sentence is written on the board Question What is written on the board Answer A sentence ConclusionWho Whoever writes something on the board is not important in the passive construction In passive constructions the acting individuals are unknown irrelevant or absent Doing something is not important in the passive voice In passive constructions the active participants are either unknown unimportant or absent In the German language there are two passive forms Namely the active past participle and the passive state participle The active passive construction is a form of the passive that emphasizes the action or process currently taking place or having just occurred In the second passive form the process passive the sentence's subject is replaced by or omitted in favor of the so-called agent—the person performing the action The verb is in the past participle and is formed with the auxiliary verb "to be " Example The ball was thrown by me In the present passive the verb is formed with the auxiliary verb "to be " and the subject remains unchanged The past participle describes the state of the subject The ball has been thrown Both forms can be constructed at various times and with different auxiliary verbs In the passive voice we use "werden" along with the past participle The agent in the passive construction is pushed into the background or entirely omitted Or put differently The active passive construction emphasizes the event action or process itself In the passive voice we can always ask: What is happening Present What happened Past and What will happen FutureQuestions Attention Verbs that form the Perfect tense with 'sein' Reflexive verbs or verbs that describe a state rather than an action Cannot form the passive voice Here is an overview of the various tenses used in the formation of the passive voice Present tense Past participle and Participle II Simple past Present perfect Auxiliary verb "to be" with past participle and "worden" Past perfect Past participle and "worden" Future I "werden" and past participle and "werden" Future II Being and Past Participle II and Having Been and Being Active or passive — everything depends on your perspective Active the doing form Agens and passive the suffering form Patiens are the two modes of action found in German The lion hunts the gazelle This is an active sentence The gazelle is hunted by the lion This is a passive sentence It ultimately depends on perspective: am I the hunter or the hunted In the active voice the emphasis is on the initiator equivalent to agency The constituent becomes the topic In the passive all eyes are focused on the recipient who is equivalent to the patient When converting an active sentence into a passive one the sentence elements are accordingly swapped The construction known as the past passive is also called the werden passive Here are example sentences and a comparison between the active voice and the corresponding passive voice construction I am baking a cake A cake is being baked by me Tim is washing his car His car is being washed by Tim Tina is giving me back my key My key is being returned to me by Tina The teacher asks the student The student is being asked by the teacher The mother cooked porridge yesterday A porridge was cooked yesterday by the mother A thief stole the bicycle The bicycle was stolen by a thief The child throws the ball The ball is thrown by the child Tina and Tim are drinking the juice The juice is being drunk by Tina and Tim Tina and Tim drank the juice The juice was drunk by Tina and Tim The juice was drunk by Tina and Tim Tina and Tim had drunk the juice The juice had been drunk by Tina and Tim Tina and Tim will drink the juice The juice will be drunk by Tina and Tim Here are additional example sentences in various tenses using the progressive passive voice When will I be loved by you Why have you never been loved I am loved by the best woman in the world The student was quizzed by his teacher on vocabulary words The man will be asked by the police about his alibi tomorrow No one ever asked for our identification If you are asked you must give a truthful response The child was rescued just before drowning The man was pulled out of his burning house by the fire department His wife has also been rescued Why weren't you invited to the party either Who else is going to be invited to the party We've been invited to the birthday party The baby needs to be weighed regularly All people are weighed at birth Every pig must be weighed before slaughter I was only slightly injured in the accident In addition to the active past tense German has another passive form namely the stative passive Unlike the past passive in the state passive the action has already been completed The passive voice in the present tense can only be formed with transitive verbs that take an accusative object The present passive is the form of the passive constructed with the auxiliary verb "to be" and the past participle The state passive can often be derived from the action passive In this case the forms of the auxiliary verb "to be" are replaced by the forms of the auxiliary verb "to be " The present passive is typically used only in the present and past tenses In forming the state passive the auxiliary verb "to be" plays a crucial role in its various tense forms This passive construction is therefore also called the "Being" Passive Here are the state passive forms in all six tenses Present Past participle Past tense Past participle and auxiliary verb "been" Present perfect Auxiliary verb "been" and past participle Past Perfect Noun and Participle II and been Future I Past participle and its Future II Past participle and its Here are example sentences illustrating the passive voice with "sein" compared to active sentences I am baking the cake The cake is baked Tim is washing the car The car has been washed Tina is giving me the key back The key has been returned The teacher asks the student The student is being asked The mother cooked porridge yesterday Porridge was cooked A thief stole the bicycle The bicycle had been stolen In German the state passive can also be formed using modal verbs However the modal verbs themselves remain in the active voice The formation of the stative passive with modal verbs then proceeds as follows Must and past participle II with sein May and past participle II with sein Will and past participle II with sein Should and past participle II with sein May and past participle II with sein Can and Participle II and be Here are a few example sentences in the present passive with modal verbs The window could already have been closed again The door should actually be open The poem should have been memorized by tomorrow The cake has probably already been eaten The student wants to be praised Homework could have been finished ages ago The chickens should be fed within the next ten minutes My broken car should have been fixed ages ago Here is a recap of the different tenses in the present passive The window is closed Present The window was closed Past tense The window had been closed Present perfect Future perfect The window will have been closed Future I The window will have been closed Future II The work will have been completed Present The work was completed Simple Past The work has been done Perfect The work had been done Pluperfect The work will have been done Future I Future II The doors will have been closed Present The doors were closed Past Perfect: The doors had been closed Past perfect: The doors will have been closed Future I: The doors must have been closed Future Perfect My bicycle has been repaired Present Perfect My bicycle had been repaired Past tense My bicycle had been repaired Present perfect Pluperfect My bicycle will be repaired Future I My bicycle will have been repaired Future II The letter has been written Present tense The letter was written Past tense The letter has been written Present perfect The letter had been written Past perfect The letter will have been written Future I The letter will have been written Future II Not all verbs can be used in the passive voice Here are a few examples of verbs that do not form a passive Fall in love I'm falling in love with Anna Sitting I'm sitting on a park bench with Anna Stay I'm staying seated Death The seriously ill patient passed away yesterday Bloom The last rose blooms on the heath Hunger and thirst have I'm hungry and thirsty Ow Tim has had a new bicycle since yesterday Obta My friend Hans receives a lovely gift from me for his birthday Knowledge I'm at a loss for what to do To know You must know a good doctor Not every active sentence can be converted into a passive one For instance the following sentences cannot be rendered as passive constructions The ra It's raining Snowing It snowed yesterday Sunshine Hopefully the sun will shine just as beautifully tomorrow as it has today Sleeping The driver fell asleep but fortunately nothing happened Stay in the same grade The student had to repeat the 11th grade Wash oneself I have washed myself Swimming My young grandson started learning to swim today Traveling I'm traveling starting tomorrow We have now reached the end of this lesson You have learned in this lesson that the passive voice is an indispensable part of the German language The passive voice describes actions or states without emphasizing the person performing them It allows for flexible expression and is particularly suitable in scientific and formal contexts This is important because it facilitates generalizations and avoids the use of the first-person perspective I wish you continued joy in learning and I say Goodbye see you next time I hope you enjoy the videos from our language workshop Perfect German Further learning materials from German A1 to C2 are available on our two websites: www sprachwerkstattdeutsch de and www lerne-deutsch de Goodbye see you next time