The Passive with worden
The Passive with worden
English builds every passive with 'to be': 'the letter is written'. Dutch splits the job between two verbs — worden for the action happening and zijn for the finished result — so a single English passive corresponds to two different Dutch sentences with different meanings.
Grammar Comparison
Grammar Comparison
worden + participle describes the action in progress
De brief wordt geschreven. De deur werd gesloten.
The letter is being written. The door was closed.
worden means 'to become', and as a passive auxiliary it presents the event as unfolding: De brief wordt geschreven is 'the letter is being written'. Its simple past werd covers 'was being written'. Because English 'is written' is ambiguous between process and result, you have to decide which you mean before you can translate it into Dutch at all.
The agent is introduced with door
De brief wordt door mijn moeder geschreven.
The letter is being written by my mother.
Where English uses 'by', Dutch uses door, and the phrase normally sits just before the participle rather than after it. Note that door also means 'through', so context does the disambiguating. If the agent is a means rather than a person, Dutch prefers met or door middel van: Het werd met een machine gemaakt.
Impersonal passives with er have no English equivalent
Er wordt gebeld. Er werd gedanst.
Someone's at the door. There was dancing.
Dutch can form a passive with no subject at all, using er as a placeholder: Er wordt gebeld literally reads 'there is being rung'. English has to supply a subject — 'someone is ringing' — or rephrase entirely. This construction is extremely common for announcements and general statements: Er wordt hier niet gerookt ('no smoking here'), Er wordt hard gewerkt ('people are working hard').
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
- English
- to become / to be (passive)
- English
- is being
- English
- was being
- English
- were being
- English
- by
- English
- Someone's at the door
- English
- built
- English
- opened
- English
- closed
- English
- sold
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