Lesson 62 of 69 · B1, Unit 3: Advanced grammar

The passive

The German passive is built with werden + past participle: Das Haus wird gebaut (the house is being built). It focuses on the action, not the person doing it. You'll meet it constantly in news, instructions, signs, and official letters.

To say who did it, use von + dative: Das Buch wurde von Goethe geschrieben. The past passive uses wurde: Die Brücke wurde 1990 gebaut.

By the end you can:

form the present and past passive with werden and wurde
add the agent with von
tell the process passive (wird gemacht) from the state passive (ist gemacht)

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