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Review
There are two main types of verbs, strong verbs (irregular verbs with vowel
changes in some of their forms and with -en endings in the past participle),
and weak verbs (regular verbs with -te endings in Simple Past and -t endings
for their past participles). A given verb always stays within the same category:
e.g. the past participle of kaufen is always gekauft, never gekaufen!
This is summarized on the page on strong, weak
and mixed verbs.
In addition, verbs
can be in two main moods, indicative (factual) and subjunctive (counterfactual),
each existing in various tenses (whereas there are 5 indicative tenses, there
are only two subjunctive tenses: past and present--but there are two ways to
form the present subjunctive). This is summarized on the page on verb
moods.
We will now see
that there are also two possible "voices," active and passive.
Two
Voices
1. Active Voice:
this is the "normal" voice, in which the subject of the action is really the
person or thing carrying it out, and the direct object is in the accusative:
"I pet the dog"--"Ich streichele den Hund"
2. Passive Voice:
in the passive, the object of the action becomes the subject (nominative) of
the sentence: "The dog is petted"--"Der Hund wird gestreichelt"
Both voices exist
in all tenses and moods, but we won't make you care about the passive subjunctive
(although it really would be easy!). So you just need to know how to form the
five possible indicative passive tenses.
German
vs. English
German uses the
verb "werden" to form the passive; English uses the verb "to be." So where English
says "The dog is petted," German literally says "The dog becomes petted." This
extends to all the tenses. Here are the passive forms of the various tenses
of "I pet the dog" ("Ich streichele den Hund"):
| Present |
The
dog is petted |
Der
Hund wird gestreichelt |
("The
dog becomespetted") |
| Narrative
Past (Präteritum) |
The
dog was petted |
Der
Hund wurde gestreichelt |
("The
dog became petted") |
| Perfect
(Conversational Past) |
The
dog was petted |
Der
Hund ist gestreicheltworden |
("The
dog became petted") |
| Past
Perfect |
The
dog had been petted |
Der
Hund war gestreicheltworden |
("The
dog had becomepetted") |
| Future |
The
dog will be petted |
Der
Hund wird gestreicheltwerden |
("The
dog will becomepetted") |
| Modal--present
tense |
The
dog must be petted |
Der
Hund muß gestreicheltwerden |
("The
dog must becomepetted") |
| Modal--narrative
tense |
The
dog had to be petted |
Der
Hund mußte gestreicheltwerden |
("The
dog had to becomepetted") |
Note how both German
and English always insert the past participle of the main verb (here: petted/gestreichelt)
in all passive tenses. In English, the various tenses are indicated by the various
tenses of the verb "to be"; in German, by the various tenses of "werden."
Note: Don't
confuse passive voice and subjunctive mood. Passive is about what is
(or was or will be) being done to someone or something. Subjunctive
is about what someone would/might do or have done. What would be
done is passive (be done) and subjunctive (would) at once, and it's
something we don't discuss much, although it would be easy to do! If this confuses
you, look back at the above table carefully, and compare it with what you know
about the subjunctive.
Passive
in three easy steps
1. The object of
the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence (with which
the verb werden agrees). The subject of the active sentence doesn't need to
be stated in the passive version (often, that's the point of the passive), but
if you want, you can state it by inserting von + dative (equivalent to English
by ___). All other nouns and pronouns remain unchanged; in particular, dative
objects remain dative.
| Er
isst das Ei ==> Das Ei wird (von ihm) gegessen. |
Er
isst die Eier ==> Die Eier werden (von ihm)
gegessen. |
| He eats the
egg ==> The egg is eaten (by him). |
He eats the
eggs ==> The eggs are eaten (by him). |
2. Always insert
the past participle of the main verb: note how past participles occur in every
row of the above table.
3. Decide on the
proper tense and choose the appropriate tense of werden.
Übung
mit Antworten
Now practice this by putting some active sentences into the passive AND CHECK
YOUR ANSWERS BELOW:
1. Der Wolf frißt
Rotkäppchen
2. Der Wolf frißt Rotkäppchen und die Großmutter
3. Er verbrennt sein Bett
4. Er verbrennt seine Betten
5. Ich gebe ihr eine Dose SPAM
6. Ich gebe ihr viele Dosen SPAM
7. Du findest das Baby
8. Du findest die Babys
9. Du fandest das Baby
10. Du fandest die Babys
11. Du hast das Baby gefunden
12. Du hast die Babys gefunden
13. Wir helfen dir [careful: note there's no accusative object in this sentence
==> nothing to become the subject of the passive sentence ==> by default, the
passive sentence uses third person singular]
14. Wir helfen euch [everything I said above still applies!]
15. Wir müssen das Baby waschen
16. Wir müssen die Babys waschen
17. Wir mußten das Baby waschen
18. Wir mußten die Babys waschen
19. Wir müssen dem Baby helfen
20. Wir müssen den Babys helfen
21. Wir mußten dem Baby helfen
22. Wir mußten den Babys helfen
ANTWORTEN
1. Rotkäppchen wird gefressen
2. Rotkäppchen und die Großmutter werden gefressen
3. Sein Bett wird verbrannt
4. Seine Betten werden verbrannt
5. Ihr wird eine Dose SPAM gegeben/Eine Dose SPAM wird ihr gegeben [dative "ihr"
stays dative]
6. Ihr werden viele Dosen SPAM gegeben/Viele Dosen SPAM werden ihr gegeben [dative
"ihr" stays dative]
7. Das Baby wird gefunden
8. Die Babys werden gefunden
9. Das Baby wurde gefunden
10. Die Babys wurden gefunden
11. Das Baby ist gefunden worden
12. Die Babys sind gefunden worden
13. Dir wird geholfen [dative "dir" stays dative]
14. Euch wird geholfen [dative "euch" stays dative]
15. Das Baby muß gewaschen werden
16. Die Babys müssen gewaschen werden
17. Das Baby mußte gewaschen werden
18. Die Babys mußten gewaschen werden
19. Dem Baby muß geholfen werden [the baby remains in the dative ==> this
sentence has no subject (subjects are nominative!) ==> by default, the passive
sentence uses third person singular]
20. Den Babys muß geholfen werden [the babys remain in the dative ==>
this sentence has no subject (subjects are nominative!) ==> by default, the
passive sentence uses third person singular]
21. Dem Baby mußte geholfen werden [the baby remains in the dative ==>
this sentence has no subject (subjects are nominative!) ==> by default, the
passive sentence uses third person singular]
22. Den Babys mußte geholfen werden [the babys remain in the dative ==>
this sentence has no subject (subjects are nominative!) ==> by default, the
passive sentence uses third person singular]
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