A Foundation Course in Reading German, 2017a
A Foundation Course in Reading German, 2017a
A Foundation Course in Reading German, 2017a
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Offl<strong>in</strong>e Textbook | A <strong>Foundation</strong> <strong>Course</strong> <strong>in</strong> Read<strong>in</strong>g <strong>German</strong><br />
https://courses.dcs.wisc.edu/wp/read<strong>in</strong>ggerman/pr<strong>in</strong>t-entire-textbook/<br />
Page 82 of 151<br />
12/8/2017<br />
Dieses Schiff ist von der neuen Firma gebaut worden.<br />
This ship was built by the new firm.<br />
Note: The auxiliary verb for werden is se<strong>in</strong>. The past participle of werden becomes<br />
worden only <strong>in</strong> passive voice (<strong>in</strong>stead of the normal geworden).<br />
Past perfect<br />
Dieses Schiff war von der neuen Firma gebaut worden.<br />
This ship had been built by the new company.<br />
Future<br />
Dieses Schiff wird von der neuen Firma gebaut werden.<br />
This ship will be built by the new company.<br />
Future perfect<br />
Dieses Schiff wird von der neuen Firma gebaut worden se<strong>in</strong>.<br />
This ship will have been built by the new company.<br />
Po<strong>in</strong>ts to remember:<br />
1. In the passive voice, werden and its parts correspond to English “to be” and its<br />
parts.<br />
2. The past participle of the action verb stands <strong>in</strong> f<strong>in</strong>al position with<strong>in</strong> the clause<br />
or sentence (but before any parts of verbs that were sent to the end by largerscale<br />
changes such as perfect tenses or subord<strong>in</strong>at<strong>in</strong>g conjunctions).<br />
3. worden corresponds to English “been”: Almost without exception when you see<br />
worden you are deal<strong>in</strong>g with the passive voice <strong>in</strong> one of the perfect tenses<br />
(present or past or future). The exception is <strong>in</strong> older poetry, where worden<br />
may also appear as an alternative form of geworden generally, not just <strong>in</strong><br />
passive voice.<br />
4. The prepositions von, durch and mit are translated <strong>in</strong> the passive voice to<br />
English “by” or “with.” Von is used to refer to agents (people, companies),<br />
durch to refer to means, e.g. Das Haus wurde durch e<strong>in</strong>e Bombe zerstört (The<br />
house was destroyed by a bomb) and mit for <strong>in</strong>struments, e.g., Spaghetti wird<br />
oft mit Gabel und Löffel gegessen (Spaghetti is often eaten with a fork and<br />
spoon).<br />
5. Passive voice, as you’ll be able to tell from context, is occasionally used to<br />
express an unfriendly, command<strong>in</strong>g tone or an impersonal, bureaucratic tone.<br />
Examples:<br />
Stille! Hier wird jetzt gearbeitet!<br />
Silence! Get to work now (everyone)!
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