Voice

In the German language, there are two verb voices, the active and the passive. The passive voice, compared to the active, is more rarely used.

There are two types of passive voice, the Vorgangspassiv (werden-passive) and the Zustandspassiv (sein-passive), which is rarely used and will be further explained. When referring to the passive voice from this point on, we will be referring to the first type i.e. the Vorgangspassiv.

The differences between the active and the passive voice lie not only in the way they are formed but also in the way the action of the verb and the "agent" are presented.

* The agent of the action is possibly, yet rarely, mentioned in the passive voice, because importance lies in the action and not in the agent. If the agent is important, the active voice is used.

The passive voice is formed with the auxiliary verb werden and the past participle (Partizip II). The Zustandspassiv is formed with the auxiliary verb sein and the past participle (Partizip II).

When converting a sentence from the active to the passive voice, the syntactic structure of the active sentence is important. If there is an accusative object, the conversion takes place according to the rules of the personal passive; otherwise, it follows the rules of the impersonal passive.

The same rules of the personal and the impersonal passive apply for the conversion from the active to the passive voice of sentences that contain a modal verb. Modal verbs do not form a passive voice, they can, however, govern a passive infinitive.

Here are two examples:

Besides the passive (werden + past participle) there are other structures that can convey a passive meaning, the so-called alternative ways of passive formation.

These alternative structures are classified in two categories. The first includes the use of structures that denote modality, while the other does not. 

A summary of these structures is presented below: