The Dutch passive voice: worden, zijn and er wordt

"The house is being sold", "the letter was sent", "the bike has been stolen". In the passive voice, the focus moves from who does something to what happens. Dutch uses the passive a lot, in news reports, instructions, signs and everyday speech. The good news: you only need two auxiliary verbs, worden and zijn, plus a past participle you already know from the perfect tense.

Present and simple past: worden + participle

In the present tense, the passive is worden + past participle. The participle goes to the end of the sentence.

For the simple past, use werd (singular) and werden (plural):

• De brief werd gisteren verstuurd. — The letter was sent yesterday.
• De winkels werden om zes uur gesloten. — The shops were closed at six.
• Amsterdam werd in de dertiende eeuw gesticht. — Amsterdam was founded in the thirteenth century.

Notice that English "is being sold" and "is sold" are both wordt verkocht in Dutch. There's no separate "-ing" form.

Perfect tenses: zijn + participle, no geworden

This is the part learners most often get wrong. In the perfect tense, the passive uses zijn + participle, and geworden disappears completely.

• Het huis is verkocht. — The house has been sold.
• Mijn fiets is gestolen. — My bike has been stolen.
• De rekeningen zijn betaald. — The bills have been paid.

So don't say Het huis is verkocht geworden. You may come across it in older texts and in Belgian Dutch, but in the Netherlands it sounds wrong, so leave geworden out.

The past perfect works the same way, with was or waren:

• Het huis was al verkocht. — The house had already been sold.
• Toen we aankwamen, waren alle kaartjes al verkocht. — When we arrived, all the tickets had already been sold.

Here's the full picture with bouwen (to build):

In a subordinate clause, the verbs go to the end. Both orders are correct: omdat het huis verkocht wordt or omdat het huis wordt verkocht.

Saying who did it: door

To mention the person or thing that performs the action, use door (by):

• Het boek is geschreven door een Nederlandse schrijver. — The book was written by a Dutch writer.
• De patiënt wordt door de dokter onderzocht. — The patient is being examined by the doctor.
• Hij werd door een hond gebeten. — He was bitten by a dog.

Door can come before the participle or after it, as the first two examples show. Often, though, you'll leave the door part out entirely, because the whole point of the passive is that the doer isn't important or isn't known.

Er wordt gedanst: the passive without a subject

Dutch has a passive that English doesn't: one without any subject at all. It describes an activity that is going on, without saying who's doing it. The sentence starts with er, and the verb is always singular wordt or werd.

• Er wordt gedanst. — People are dancing.
• Er wordt hier veel gelachen. — There's a lot of laughing here.
• Er wordt gebeld. — Someone is at the door. (Literally: there is ringing.)
• Er werd de hele nacht gefeest. — There was partying all night.

This works with verbs that have no object, like dansen, lachen, werken and roken, as long as people are doing the activity. You can't say it about rain or things breaking.

When another word starts the sentence, er often moves after the verb, and it can sometimes be dropped:

• In dit restaurant wordt (er) niet gerookt. — There's no smoking in this restaurant.
• Op zondag wordt er niet gewerkt. — People don't work on Sundays.

Er is also used when the subject is indefinite, with een or no article. The verb then agrees with that subject:

• Er wordt een nieuwe school gebouwd. — A new school is being built.
• Er worden veel fietsen gestolen in Amsterdam. — A lot of bikes get stolen in Amsterdam.

See the word er for all the other jobs er does.

The passive with modal verbs

With a modal verb, the modal is conjugated and worden goes to the end as an infinitive, next to the participle. Both orders are fine:

• Dit moet vandaag gedaan worden. — This has to be done today.
• Dit moet vandaag worden gedaan. — This has to be done today.
• De auto kan niet meer gerepareerd worden. — The car can't be repaired any more.
• Het raam mag niet geopend worden. — The window must not be opened.
• Het moest snel opgelost worden. — It had to be solved quickly.

The subjectless passive works with modals too: Er mag hier niet gefietst worden. — Cycling isn't allowed here.

For a past "should have been", Dutch uses had + participle + moeten worden:

• Dat had gisteren gedaan moeten worden. — That should have been done yesterday.

That last pattern is advanced, so don't worry if it takes a while. More on modals in modal verbs.

When Dutch prefers the passive

Dutch uses the passive in many places where English would use "you", "they" or "people".

• Signs and rules: Hier wordt niet gerookt. — No smoking here. Fietsen worden verwijderd. — Bikes will be removed.
• Instructions and recipes: De soep wordt tien minuten gekookt. — The soup is boiled for ten minutes.
• News: Er is vannacht ingebroken bij een juwelier. — A jeweller's was broken into last night.
• Unknown or obvious doers: Mijn portemonnee is gestolen. — My wallet has been stolen.
• Describing an atmosphere: Er werd veel gepraat en gelachen. — There was a lot of talking and laughing.

In speech, an active sentence with ze or je is a common alternative: Ze hebben mijn fiets gestolen. — They've stolen my bike. Men (one) also exists, but it sounds formal.

Tip: Only verbs that take a direct object can form a normal passive. Ik help hem becomes Hij wordt geholpen, but slapen can't become passive at all.

Quick summary

• Present: wordt/worden + participle: Het huis wordt verkocht.
• Simple past: werd/werden + participle: De brief werd verstuurd.
• Perfect: is/zijn + participle, without geworden: Mijn fiets is gestolen.
• Past perfect: was/waren + participle.
• The doer comes after door, but is often left out.
• Er wordt gedanst: an activity with no subject, always singular.
• With modals: Dit moet gedaan worden.
• Common in signs, instructions, news and when the doer doesn't matter.

Practise it

Work through all the tenses in The passive, and if the participles still trip you up, review the perfect tense and the imperfect.