Passive Voice in the Past in German

In Brief

Use wurde + past participle for the German past passive in the Präteritum: Das Haus wurde gebaut (“The house was built”). Use sein + past participle + worden for the Perfekt: Das Haus ist gebaut worden (“The house was/has been built”). The crucial form is worden, not geworden.

Overview

The passive voice presents an event from the perspective of the person or thing affected by it. In Die Firma beförderte ihn (“The company promoted him”), the company is the subject and performs the action. In Er wurde befördert (“He was promoted”), the affected person becomes the subject; the company can be omitted because it is unknown, obvious, or simply less important.

German calls this event-focused construction the Vorgangspassiv, or process passive. It is built with werden plus a past participle (the verb form found in expressions such as gemacht, gelesen, and repariert). At B2, the main task is to use this passive confidently in past-time narration: especially wurde/wurden + participle and ist/sind + participle + worden.

English often allows both “was built” and “has been built,” but German chooses between Präteritum and Perfekt according to tense, register, and context. The two German forms describe the same type of passive event; they do not create two different kinds of passive.

How It Works

From active to passive

Start with an active sentence:

Die Technikerin reparierte den Computer.
“The technician repaired the computer.”

The direct object (the person or thing directly affected by the action), den Computer, becomes the nominative subject of the passive. The original subject can disappear or return in an agent phrase:

Der Computer wurde (von der Technikerin) repariert.
“The computer was repaired (by the technician).”

This change also affects case: accusative den Computer becomes nominative der Computer. The passive auxiliary agrees with the new subject.

Subject	Präteritum of werden	Example
ich	wurde	Ich wurde eingeladen.
du	wurdest	Du wurdest eingeladen.
er/sie/es	wurde	Sie wurde eingeladen.
wir	wurden	Wir wurden eingeladen.
ihr	wurdet	Ihr wurdet eingeladen.
sie/Sie	wurden	Sie wurden eingeladen.

Präteritum: wurde + past participle

The basic pattern is:

subject + wurde/wurden + other information + past participle

Die Tür wurde gestern geöffnet.
“The door was opened yesterday.”

In a main clause, finite wurde occupies the usual verb position, while the participle goes to the end. This creates a sentence bracket: the two verb parts surround the middle of the clause.

In a subordinate clause introduced by a word such as weil (“because”) or obwohl (“although”), both verbal parts move to the end, with wurde last:

Wir gingen hinein, weil die Tür geöffnet wurde.
“We went in because the door was opened.”

For an ordinary past narrative, this is usually the most economical past passive. It is especially common in written reports, news, historical accounts, and formal descriptions, but it also occurs naturally in speech.

Perfekt: sein + past participle + worden

The perfect passive follows this pattern:

subject + present form of sein + other information + past participle + worden

Das Buch ist gelesen worden.
“The book has been read / was read.”

Subject	Auxiliary	End of clause	Complete example
ich	bin	eingeladen worden	Ich bin eingeladen worden.
du	bist	eingeladen worden	Du bist eingeladen worden.
er/sie/es	ist	eingeladen worden	Er ist eingeladen worden.
wir	sind	eingeladen worden	Wir sind eingeladen worden.
ihr	seid	eingeladen worden	Ihr seid eingeladen worden.
sie/Sie	sind	eingeladen worden	Sie sind eingeladen worden.

Here sein carries person and number, while the participle remains unchanged. In a subordinate clause, the complete verb group moves to the end:

Sie sagt, dass das Buch bereits gelesen worden ist.
“She says that the book has already been read.”

German conversation generally favors the Perfekt for past events. However, passive Präteritum with wurde remains common even in speech because it is shorter and easier to process than a long perfect-passive group. The choice therefore depends on context, not on a rigid “speech versus writing” rule.

Why it is worden, not geworden

The normal past participle of werden is geworden when werden means “become”:

Er ist müde geworden. — “He has become tired.”

When werden serves as the passive auxiliary, its participle is the special form worden:

Er ist befördert worden. — “He has been promoted.”

That missing ge- carries an important grammatical distinction.

Agents and causes: von and durch

A passive sentence often leaves the performer unmentioned. When it matters, German commonly uses:

• von + dative for a person, institution, or identifiable source of an action: Der Antrag wurde von der Behörde geprüft.
• durch + accusative for a means, process, or intervening cause: Die Straße wurde durch den Sturm blockiert.

The boundary is not absolute. The intended viewpoint matters: von einem Fehler verursacht treats the error as a source, while durch einen Fehler verursacht presents it as the cause or means. Unlike English, German does not use one universal equivalent of “by.”

What happens to other objects?

Only an accusative object normally becomes the nominative subject. A dative object (the recipient or beneficiary, often translated with “to” or “for”) stays dative:

Man half dem Patienten. → Dem Patienten wurde geholfen.
“Someone helped the patient.” → “The patient was helped.”

Because helfen takes the dative, there is no nominative subject in the passive sentence. German still uses singular wurde. An impersonal placeholder es may appear in first position, but it disappears when another element comes first:

Es wurde dem Patienten geholfen.
Dem Patienten wurde geholfen.

Examples in Context

German	English	Note
Das Haus wurde 1998 gebaut.	The house was built in 1998.	Präteritum; a dated past event
Er wurde nach zwei Jahren befördert.	He was promoted after two years.	A person affected by the action
Die Rechnung wurde gestern bezahlt.	The invoice was paid yesterday.	The agent is unimportant
Die Fenster wurden wegen des Lärms geschlossen.	The windows were closed because of the noise.	Plural wurden
Der Patient wurde von einer Spezialistin untersucht.	The patient was examined by a specialist.	Agent with von + dative
Mehrere Flüge wurden durch den Sturm gestrichen.	Several flights were cancelled because of the storm.	Cause with durch + accusative
Das Buch ist bereits gelesen worden.	The book has already been read.	Perfekt passive
Wir sind nicht über die Änderung informiert worden.	We were not informed about the change.	Plural sind; participle before worden
Ist der Vertrag inzwischen unterschrieben worden?	Has the contract been signed by now?	Yes/no question
Niemand wusste, warum das Treffen abgesagt wurde.	Nobody knew why the meeting was cancelled.	wurde comes last in the subordinate clause
Sie bestätigt, dass alle Daten gelöscht worden sind.	She confirms that all the data has been deleted.	Perfect passive in a subordinate clause
Dem Verletzten wurde sofort geholfen.	The injured person was helped immediately.	Dative remains dative; impersonal passive
Nach dem Unfall wurde stundenlang diskutiert.	After the accident, there was discussion for hours.	Passive of an intransitive activity verb
Als wir ankamen, war das Essen schon vorbereitet worden.	When we arrived, the food had already been prepared.	Pluperfect passive

Common Mistakes

Using geworden in the perfect passive

• Wrong: Das Buch ist gelesen geworden.
• Right: Das Buch ist gelesen worden.
• Why: Auxiliary werden uses worden in the perfect passive. Geworden means “become”: Das Buch ist teuer geworden (“The book has become expensive”).

Building the Perfekt with haben

• Wrong: Die Tür hat geöffnet worden.
• Right: Die Tür ist geöffnet worden.
• Why: The perfect passive always forms its perfect tenses with sein, even if the main verb normally takes haben in the active: Jemand hat die Tür geöffnet.

Confusing an event with a resulting state

• Wrong for “The door was opened at eight”: Die Tür war um acht geöffnet.
• Right: Die Tür wurde um acht geöffnet.
• Why: wurde geöffnet presents the action of opening. war geöffnet normally describes the state “was open.” The time expression may make the intended reading clearer, but choosing the correct auxiliary is essential.

Keeping the old accusative case

• Wrong: Den Computer wurde repariert.
• Right: Der Computer wurde repariert.
• Why: The active accusative object becomes the nominative subject: den Computer changes to der Computer. A genuine dative object, however, stays dative: Dem Kunden wurde geholfen.

Putting the verb group in English order

• Wrong: Das Problem ist worden schnell gelöst.
• Right: Das Problem ist schnell gelöst worden.
• Why: In a main-clause perfect passive, the participle and worden form the closing part of the sentence bracket, in that order.

Treating von as the only translation of “by”

• Less natural: Die Straße wurde von einen Erdrutsch blockiert.
• Right: Die Straße wurde durch einen Erdrutsch blockiert.
• Why: A means or cause commonly takes durch + accusative. Also note the case: durch einen Erdrutsch, but von einem Erdrutsch.

Usage Notes

German passive is especially useful when the event or result matters more than who acted. You will often meet it in news reports, workplace communication, instructions, academic writing, and administrative language: Der Antrag wurde abgelehnt foregrounds the application and the decision, not the official who made it.

English speakers should not automatically copy every English passive. German often prefers an active sentence with man (“one/people/they”), especially in everyday language: Man hat die Straße gesperrt may sound more conversational than Die Straße ist gesperrt worden. Conversely, German formal prose may use passive constructions where natural English chooses an active subject. Translate the viewpoint, not only the verb form.

Past passive does not itself say whether the action was successfully completed or whether the result still holds. Die Tür wurde geschlossen reports a closing event; the door may later have been reopened. To describe its state at a particular time, use the state passive: Die Tür war geschlossen (“The door was closed”).

Agentless passive can also be deliberately impersonal. Es wurde getanzt means roughly “There was dancing” or “People danced.” The activity verb has no accusative object to promote, but German can still use the passive to focus on the activity rather than its participants.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

The pluperfect passive

To place a passive event before another past event, use the pluperfect (a form meaning “had happened”):

war/waren + past participle + worden

Die Unterlagen waren bereits verschickt worden, als der Fehler auffiel.
“The documents had already been sent when the error was noticed.”

In a subordinate clause: ..., weil die Unterlagen bereits verschickt worden waren.

Process passive versus state passive across tenses

German	English	Focus
Die Tür wurde geschlossen.	The door was closed.	The closing event
Die Tür ist geschlossen worden.	The door has been closed.	The completed closing event
Die Tür war geschlossen.	The door was closed.	The state of being closed
Die Tür ist geschlossen gewesen.	The door has been closed.	A state that held in the past

English translations overlap, so look at the German auxiliary. Werden marks a process or event; sein directly plus the participle marks a state. In ist geschlossen worden, ist builds the perfect and worden identifies the process passive.

Passive with modal verbs

With a modal verb, the passive infinitive is participle + werden:

Die Brücke musste repariert werden.
“The bridge had to be repaired.”

The Präteritum form is normally preferred because the perfect can become heavy:

Die Brücke hat repariert werden müssen.
“The bridge has had to be repaired.”

This perfect construction uses a double-infinitive pattern and haben, not the ordinary passive sequence with worden. It is important to recognize, but in your own writing you can often choose the clearer musste repariert werden.

Alternatives and stylistic choices

German has several ways to avoid or vary the passive. Man provides an unspecified human subject; sich lassen + infinitive can express possibility (Das Problem ließ sich lösen — “The problem could be solved”); and some adjectives in -bar express suitability or possibility (lesbar, “readable”). These alternatives are not interchangeable in every context: they may change whether a sentence describes an actual event, a possibility, or a general property.

Practice Tips

1. Transform complete sentences in both directions. Start with Die Firma prüfte den Antrag. Change the accusative object into the nominative subject, choose wurde, and send the participle to the end: Der Antrag wurde von der Firma geprüft. Then reverse the process.
2. Build tense pairs. For each example, say a Präteritum and a Perfekt version: Das Paket wurde geliefert / Das Paket ist geliefert worden. This makes the auxiliary change and the word worden automatic.
3. Sort events from states. When reading, mark wurde geöffnet as an event and war geöffnet as a state. Ask “Did something happen, or was a condition true?” before choosing the German form.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Passive Voice (Present) — introduces the core pattern werden + past participle and the passive viewpoint.
• Next steps: Passive Alternatives — explores man, sich lassen, sein + zu, and other ways to express passive-like meanings.