Passive Voice - Building the Passive Voice

The majority of transitive verbs can be used in the passive voice. A transitive verb is a verb which governs one or more objects. For example, in the sentence below, the verb ausfüllen requires an accusative object, which is das Formular.

  Die Frau hat das Formular ausgefüllt.

When this sentence is expressed in the passive voice, several things happen. 
  • First, the direct object of the verb (e.g. das Formular) in the active voice becomes the subject in the passive voice. In other words, the accusative object changes to a nominative subject. 
  • Next, the main verb (ausfüllen) becomes its passive equivalent. This basically means that the main verb is converted into its past participle and werden (or sein for Zustandspassiv) is added as an auxiliary verb. werden is, of course, conjugated appropriately by tense, mood, etc., and the main verb always remains as its past participle, irrespective of conjugation changes.
  • Finally, the subject of the verb in the active voice (die Frau) is indicated through a preposition or often left out altogether.
This is the basic recipe for converting a sentence from active into the passive voice. Using these rules, we can easily transform the above sentence into the passive voice:

  Das Formular wurde (von der Frau) ausgefüllt.

Verbs that govern a Dative, Genitive, or Prepositional Object

Only the accusative object of a verb can become the nominative subject in a passive sentence. This means that a dative, genitive, or prepositional object can never become the nominative subject. Instead, the object remains as it was.

For example, the verb helfen governs a dative object. An example with it in the active sentence would be:

  Der Mann hat dem Kollegen geholfen.
  The man helped the colleague.

When converted to the passive voice, dem Kollegen does not change case:

  Dem Kollegen wurde (vom Mann) geholfen.
  The colleague was helped (by the man).

This applies equally to verbs with genitive and prepositional objects.

Active Passive
Sie gedachten der Toten.
They remembered the dead.		 Der Toten wurde gedacht.
The dead were remembered.
Sie sprechen kaum über das Thema.
They are barely talking about this topic.		 Über das Thema wird kaum gesprochen.
This topic is barely being talked about.

The Impersonal “Es”

Take this sentence:

  Ihnen wurde geraten.
  They were advised.

In this sentence, there is no visible subject, yet werden, the finite verb, has been conjugated in the third person singular. It cannot have been influenced by the dative object, because only the nominative subject determines the conjugation of a verb. Instead, it is due to the impersonal “Es”.

The impersonal “Es” is a grammatical aid for such sentences. It does not refer to any object and changes little or nothing about the meaning of a sentence by itself. Instead, by allowing us to make subjectless sentences, it enables us to use verbs without accusative objects.

The impersonal “Es” can only be the first element in a clause. It cannot be placed elsewhere in a clause. For example:

  Es wurde euch gedankt. 
  You guys were thanked.

As in the first sentence, the impersonal “Es” can be left out altogether if another element takes its place. The impersonal “Es” is, however, essentially being hidden by the other element and still affects the conjugation of the verb, as you can see:

  Euch wurde gedankt.
  You guys were thanked.

This construction can also be used with any type of verb, even "illegal" verbs, to denote a continuous activity. For example:

  An dem Abend wurde viel gesungen.
  There was a lot of singing that evening.

Verbs with Two Objects (accusative, dative)

Some verbs have two objects: an accusative object and a dative object. These are usually in the accusative and dative case respectively. For example, the verb geben:

  Ich habe ihr einen Apfel gegeben. 
  I gave her an apple.

When converting this to the passive voice, the accusative object becomes the nominative subject and the dative object remains as it is. So:

  Der Apfel ist ihr gegeben worden.
  The apple has been given to her.

If we want to place emphasis on whom the apple was given to, then we can switch the subject and the dative object.

  Ihr ist der Apfel gegeben worden. 
  She has been given the apple.

 The same idea applies to verbs with an additional genitive object or prepositional object.

Verbs with Two Objects (accusative, accusative)

A minority of verbs have both objects in the accusative case, for example lehren and abfragen. When using these verbs in the passive voice, the indirect object can be written in either the nominative or the dative. Both are valid.1

If written in nominative, then the indirect object becomes the subject. If written in dative, then the direct object becomes the subject like normal. For example:

Ich wurde die deutsche Sprache gelehrt. OR Mir wurde die deutsche Sprache gelehrt.

Er wurde die Vokabeln abgefragt. OR Ihm wurden die Vokabeln abgefragt.

 If, however, one of the accusative objects is another clause, then the other accusative object must be in the accusative case. For example:

Ich bin gelehrt worden, wie man deutsche Wörter richtig ausspricht.

 1 Duden: Das Wörterbuch der sprachlichen Zweifelsfälle, Band 9, Seite 708.

“Illegal” Verbs

Some verbs do not have passive equivalents and thus cannot normally be used in the passive voice.

Modal and modal-like verbs

Modal verbs themselves, namely:

dürfen, können, mögen, müssen, sollen, wollen

This includes the modal-like verbs, namely those who do not belong to the above group but do not require an infinitive clause with the additional verb. For example:

hören, lassen, sehen

Certain transitive verbs

A minority of transitive verbs (specifically the Vorgangspassiv here). This group consists of verbs that do not indicate a process, such as verbs of possessing. Examples (non-exhaustive list):

ähneln, bekommen, besitzen, entfallen, enthalten, entsprechen, erhalten, erstaunen, freuen, gefallen, gehören, gelingen, gelten, haben, kosten, missraten, schmecken, schmerzen, verwundern

Intransitive verbs

All verbs without objects, intransitive verbs, cannot normally be used. If, however, they indicate an activity, then they can be employed with the impersonal "Es" (see above). For example:

  Ruhe, hier wird gearbeitet!
  Quiet, people are working here!

Reflexive verbs

All reflexive verbs, such as:

sich waschen, sich beeilen, sich schämen

However, they can be used in the passive voice when used as a demand or command. For example:

  Hier wird sich nicht hingesetzt.
  Sitting is not allowed here.

  Jetzt wird sie gewaschen!
  Wash yourselves now!

While valid, this is uncommon.

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