The passive voice in German is not a new tense — it slots into the tense ladder you already know. Vorgangspassiv uses werden + Partizip II to describe an action in progress. Zustandspassiv uses sein + Partizip II to describe the resulting state. The object of the active sentence becomes the grammatical subject of the passive.
The Vorgangspassiv describes something being done. It uses werden as the frame verb (position 2 or end) plus the Partizip II of the main verb at the end. werden is conjugated for each tense — the main verb stays as a fixed Partizip II.
| Präsens | Das Haus wird gebaut. | The house is being built. |
| Präteritum | Das Haus wurde gebaut. | The house was being built. |
| Perfekt | Das Haus ist gebaut worden. | The house has been built. |
| Plusquamperfekt | Das Haus war gebaut worden. | The house had been built. |
| Futur I | Das Haus wird gebaut werden. | The house will be built. |
| Konjunktiv II | Das Haus würde gebaut werden. | The house would be built. |
The object (das Haus) becomes the subject. The agent appears with von + dative.
Modal verbs combine with the passive the same way they combine with active infinitives. The modal sits in position 2, the Partizip II + werden cluster stacks at the end. In a Nebensatz the modal moves to the very end, after the passive cluster.
Modal + passive: muss (P2) · gebaut werden (END).
Nebensatz: the entire verb cluster — gebaut werden muss — stacks at the end.
The Zustandspassiv describes the condition that results from a completed action. It uses sein (not werden) + Partizip II. The key distinction: werden = action happening now · sein = state that exists now.
Vorgangspassiv — the action is in progress right now.
Zustandspassiv — the house exists in a completed/built state.
lassen is not true passive, but it fills a similar role — expressing that the subject causes something to be done (by someone else). It follows the same Verbklammer pattern as modal verbs.
I am having my car repaired. (someone else does the repair)
He has it explained to himself. (reflexive lassen)