LESSON 69: PASSIVE VOICE Flashcards
What is the passive voice?
The passive voice is used when the object of the sentence is being acted upon, e.g. ‘The tree is struck by the car’ instead of ‘the car strikes the tree.’
When is the passive voice used?
The passive voice is not used very often in spoken German. It is most often encountered in news stories and literature.
How do you form the passive voice?
The nouns are rearranged (subject becomes object, and object becomes agent), ‘werden’ follows the new object, and the sentence ends with the past participle of the old active verb.
Where do the nouns go in the passive voice?
The subject of the ‘active’ sentence (the tree) becomes the ‘object’ of the new passive sentence, and the object of the active sentence, if any (in this case, the car) becomes the agent in the passive sentence.
Where do the verbs go in the passive voice?
The new object (tree) goes first in the sentence in the nominative case, followed by the appropriate conjugation of ‘werden’ and then the past participle of the former active verb ‘schlagen.’
Do you always need an ‘agent’ (accusative or dative case) noun in the passive voice?
No. There need not always be an ‘agent’ in the new passive sentence; you can just say ‘the tree was struck.’ If there is an ‘agent’ (car) it goes just before the past participle of the active verb.
How is the new ‘agent’ handled in the passive voice?
If the former ‘object’/new ‘agent’ is a person, use a von-phrase like ‘von dir’ or ‘von mir.’ If the agent is a non-person, use a durch-phrase like ‘durch den Wind’ or durch das Auto.’
How do you invoke the past tense in the passive voice?
Use the conjugated form of ‘wurden’ with the past participle of the active verb.
adjective: preferred, given priority
bevorzugt
to guarantee
gewährleisten: ich gewährleiste, etc; gewährleisteten, haben gewährleistet also garantieren; garantierten; haben garantiert
a guarantee
die Gewährleistung, die Gewährleistungen; also die Garantie, die Garantien
phrase: We eat again.
Es wird wieder gegessen.
bevorzugt
adjective: preferred, given priority
gewährleisten: ich gewährleiste, etc; gewährleisteten, haben gewährleistet also garantieren; garantierten; haben garantiert
to guarantee
die Gewährleistung, die Gewährleistungen; also die Garantie, die Garantien
a guarantee
