Study Resource: German passive voice reference sheet

By: Mareen Fuchs

Rules for passive voice in different German tenses


Tenses	Active voice	Passive voice
Present tense	Ich parke mein Auto. Translation: I park my car.	Mein Auto wird geparkt. Translation: My car is parked.
Present perfect	Ich habe mein Auto geparkt. Translation: I have parked my car.	Mein Auto ist geparkt worden. Translation: My car has been parked.
Simple past	Ich parkte mein Auto. Translation: I parked my car.	Mein Auto wurde geparkt. Translation: My car was parked.
Past perfect	Ich hatte mein Auto geparkt. Translation: I had parked my car.	Mein Auto war geparkt worden. Translation: My car had been parked.
Future I	Ich werde mein Auto parken. Translation: I will park my car.	Mein Auto wird geparkt werden. Translation: My car will be parked.
Future II	Ich werde mein Auto geparkt haben. Translation: I will have parked my car.	Mein Auto wird geparkt worden sein. Translation: My car will have been parked.


Tenses	Active voice	Passive voice
Present tense	Ich muss das Bett machen. Translation: I have to make the bed.	Das Bett muss gemacht werden. Translation: The bed has to be made.
Present perfect	Ich habe das Bett machen müssen. Translation: I had to make the bed.	Das Bett hat gemacht werden müssen. Translation: The bed had to be made.
Simple past	Ich musste das Bett machen. Translation: I had to make the bed.	Das Bett musste gemacht werden. Translation: The bed had to be made.
Past perfect	Ich hatte das Bett machen müssen. Translation: I had to make the bed.	Das Bett hatte gemacht werden müssen. Translation: The bed had to be made.
Future I	Ich werde mein Auto parken. Translation: I will have to make the bed.	Das Bett wird gemacht werden müssen. Translation: The bed will have to be made.
Future II This tense is very rarely used in German.	Ich werde das Bett haben machen müssen. Translation: I will have made the bed.	Das Bett wird haben gemacht werden müssen. Translation: The bed will have had to be made.