German Grammar A–Z
Look up German grammar topics A–Z, organized by category and level — with clear explanations and examples.
The Passive with von and durch
The passive voice (Passiv) is one of the important areas of knowledge that learners need to master in German grammar. The passive is used to emphasize the action being carried out. When an active sentence (Aktiv) is turned into a passive sentence, its subject goes with von or durch. Today's article will help you distinguish between these two cases.
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1. How to change from active (Aktiv) to passive (Passiv)
- Active sentence: S + V + O +...
→ S: Subject (can refer to a person or a thing)
→ V: main verb
→ O: object referring to a thing
- General transformation:
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The object referring to a thing becomes the subject in the passive sentence.
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The main verb is put into the Partizip II
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In different tenses, the structure of the passive with werden is different
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When we want to add the agent (S) performing the action to the passive sentence, we add von or durch
Example:
a. Active sentence: Mein Vater repariert das Auto. (Präsens - present)
Passive sentence: Das Auto wird von meinem Vater repariert.
b. Active sentence: Mein Vater reparierte das Auto. (Präteritum - past)
Passive sentence: Das Auto wurde von meinem Vater repariert.
→ The object referring to a thing, das Auto, becomes the subject of the passive sentence. The main verb reparieren is put into the Partizip II: repariert. Werden in the present tense with the subject das Auto is conjugated as werde, and werden in the past tense with the subject das Auto is conjugated as wurde. The agent performing the action is mein Vater, which becomes von meinem Vater after adding von.
2. Distinguishing von and durch:
| von | durch |
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| a. Daniel liest ein Buch. (Daniel reads a book.) ⇒ Ein Buch wird von Daniel gelesen. (A book is read by Daniel.) → agent: Daniel (a person's name) b. Meine Mutter putzt oft mein Haus. (My mother often cleans my house.) ⇒ Mein Haus wird oft von meiner Mutter geputzt. (My house is often cleaned by my mother.) → agent: meine Mutter in the Dativ → meiner Mutter | a. Der Sturm zerstört die Brücke. (The storm destroys the bridge.) ⇒ Die Brücke wurde durch den Sturm zerstört. (The bridge was destroyed by the storm.) → agent: der Sturm in the Akkusativ → den Sturm b. Der Wind hat den Blumentopf gebrochen. (The wind broke the flowerpot.) ⇒ Der Blumentopf ist durch die Katze gebrochen worden. (The flowerpot was broken by the cat.) → agent: die Katze in the Akkusativ → die Katze |
***Note: Because the passive aims to emphasize the action being carried out rather than the agent, von/durch... can be omitted from the sentence
