Passive with Modal Verbs
Passive with Modal Verbs
Combine the passive you learned in B1 with a modal verb and German stacks three verb elements at once: the modal stays in position two while the past participle and the infinitive werden both get pushed to the very end of the clause.
Grammar Comparison
Grammar Comparison
Formation: modal in position 2, participle + werden at the end
Das muss gemacht werden. (This must be done.)
This must be done.
The modal verb (muss, kann, soll, darf) is conjugated normally and sits in position two, exactly as it would with any infinitive. But instead of a single infinitive at the end, the passive adds two elements there, in a fixed order: past participle, then the bare infinitive werden. English keeps its passive infinitive as one tight unit right after the modal ('must be done'), so it feels natural to want gemacht and werden to sit together right after muss too — but German insists on holding werden until after the participle, and both wait until the very end of the clause.
Meaning nuances carried by the modal
Der Fehler kann repariert werden. Das Rauchen darf hier nicht getan werden.
The mistake can be repaired. Smoking may not be done here.
Because the modal is doing the same job it always does, the passive simply inherits its meaning: müssen adds necessity ('must be done'), können adds possibility ('can be done'), sollen adds obligation/recommendation ('should be done'), and dürfen (usually negated) adds permission ('may/must not be done'). This is identical to how these modals work with active infinitives — nothing new to learn about the modals themselves, only about where werden goes.
Talking about the past: use the modal's Präteritum, not a second auxiliary
Das Formular musste ausgefüllt werden. (The form had to be filled out.)
The form had to be filled out.
To put a modal passive in the past, German simply conjugates the modal in the Präteritum (musste, konnte, sollte, durfte) and leaves the rest of the sentence exactly as in the present-tense version. It does NOT build a Perfekt tense here, because that would stack three infinitives at the end (gemacht werden müssen) — grammatically possible but clunky, and avoided in normal writing in favor of the simpler Präteritum. English speakers, who are used to 'had to be done' feeling like a compound form, should resist the urge to add a second auxiliary in German; the Präteritum modal alone carries the past meaning.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
| German | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| muss gemacht werden | moos geh-MAHKHT VAIR-den | must be done |
| kann repariert werden | kahn reh-pah-REERT VAIR-den | can be repaired |
| soll gebaut werden | zol geh-BOWT VAIR-den | should be built |
| darf nicht geraucht werden | dahrf nikht geh-ROWKHT VAIR-den | smoking is not allowed |
| muss bezahlt werden | moos beh-TSAHLT VAIR-den | must be paid |
| konnte nicht gefunden werden | KON-teh nikht geh-FOON-den VAIR-den | could not be found |
| sollte erledigt werden | ZOL-teh air-LAY-dikht VAIR-den | should be taken care of |
| darf nicht vergessen werden | dahrf nikht fair-GEH-sen VAIR-den | must not be forgotten |
| musste abgesagt werden | MOOS-teh AHP-geh-zahkt VAIR-den | had to be canceled |
| kann verwendet werden | kahn fair-VEN-det VAIR-den | can be used |
| muss beachtet werden | moos beh-AHKH-tet VAIR-den | must be observed/heeded |
| sollte vermieden werden | ZOL-teh fair-MEE-den VAIR-den | should be avoided |