Koalas are protected. The Sydney Opera House was designed by Jørn Utzon. Learn how the passive works with words from Australia, try it out and practise it.
Three passive sentences about Australia:
am / is / are + V3
Present simple
“Koalas are protected by law.”
Use it for facts and things that happen again and again.
See how it workswas / were + V3
Past simple
“The Sydney Opera House was designed by Jørn Utzon.”
Use it for things that happened at a certain time in the past.
See all tenseshas / have been + V3
Present perfect
“Uluru has been visited by many tourists.”
Use it when the result or the time up to now is important.
See all tensesHow to work with this page: start with the words, try the passive machine, then do the exercises in “Practise”.
Erklärungen auf Deutsch findest du in den gelben Kästen „Auf Deutsch“.
Here are words from the topic “Australia”. Every word comes with a passive sentence. You will meet these words again in the exercises.
| English | Deutsch | Example sentence (passive) |
|---|
The passive always uses the past participle (V3). For regular verbs it ends in -ed. Learn the irregular ones by heart.
| Infinitive | Past simple | Past participle (V3) | Deutsch |
|---|
In an active sentence, the subject does something: Tourists visit Uluru. In a passive sentence, the important thing is what happens to Uluru: Uluru is visited by tourists.
Remember: Only verbs that can have an object can form a passive. “Koalas sleep” has no object, so there is no passive.
Auf Deutsch
Im Passiv (Leideform) steht nicht der Handelnde im Mittelpunkt, sondern das, was mit einer Sache oder Person geschieht. Im Deutschen bildest du das Passiv mit werden + Partizip II („Uluru wird besucht“). Im Englischen brauchst du dafür be + Partizip Perfekt (past participle, V3): „Uluru is visited“.
Beispiel: Tourists visit Uluru. (Touristen besuchen Uluru.)
| Baustein | Deutsch | Englisch |
|---|---|---|
| Hilfsverb | werden (wird, wurde, ist … worden) | be (is / are, was / were, has / have been) |
| Verb | Partizip II: besucht, gebaut, geschützt | Past participle (V3): visited, built, protected |
| Handelnder | von / durch … | by … |
| Beispiel | Uluru wird von Touristen besucht. | Uluru is visited by tourists. |
Achtung: Das deutsche „werden“ im Passiv heißt im Englischen nie become. Become bedeutet „werden“ im Sinne von „zu etwas werden“ (He became a doctor.). Für das Passiv nimmst du immer be.
Nicht jedes Verb hat ein Passiv: Nur Verben, nach denen man mit „Wen oder was?“ fragen kann, bilden ein Passiv. „Koalas sleep“ (Koalas schlafen) hat kein Objekt, also gibt es kein Passiv.
Choose a sentence and a tense. Then click “Next step” and build the passive sentence step by step.
Active
Passive
The main verb is always the past participle. Only the form of be changes.
| Tense | Active | Passive | Form |
|---|---|---|---|
| Present simple | Rangers protect koalas. | Koalas are protected by rangers. | am / is / are + V3 |
| Past simple | Rangers protected koalas. | Koalas were protected by rangers. | was / were + V3 |
| Present perfect | Rangers have protected koalas. | Koalas have been protected by rangers. | has / have been + V3 |
| will-future | Rangers will protect koalas. | Koalas will be protected by rangers. | will be + V3 |
| Modal verbs | Rangers must protect koalas. | Koalas must be protected by rangers. | modal + be + V3 |
Remember: Look at the form of be to find the tense. “Are protected” is present, “were protected” is past, “have been protected” is present perfect.
Auf Deutsch
Das Partizip Perfekt bleibt immer gleich. Nur das Hilfsverb be verändert sich: Es zeigt die Zeitform (is, was, has been, will be) und passt sich dem Subjekt an (is – are, was – were, has – have).
| Zeitform | Deutsches Passiv | Englisches Passiv | Bildung |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gegenwart (Present simple) | Koalas werden geschützt. | Koalas are protected. | am / is / are + V3 |
| Vergangenheit (Past simple) | Koalas wurden geschützt. | Koalas were protected. | was / were + V3 |
| Perfekt (Present perfect) | Koalas sind geschützt worden. | Koalas have been protected. | has / have been + V3 |
| Zukunft (will-future) | Koalas werden geschützt werden. | Koalas will be protected. | will be + V3 |
| Modalverb | Koalas müssen geschützt werden. | Koalas must be protected. | Modalverb + be + V3 |
So gehst du vor: Setze zuerst be in die Zeitform, die du brauchst, und hänge dann das Partizip Perfekt an. Beispiel Present perfect: Das Present perfect von be ist has / have been, dazu kommt protected: „have been protected“.
| Type | Example | What changes? |
|---|---|---|
| Statement | The Sydney Opera House was opened in 1973. | was + V3 |
| Negative | The Sydney Opera House wasn’t opened in 1970. | Add not to be. |
| Yes/no question | Was the Sydney Opera House opened in 1973? | Be moves to the front. |
| Question word | When was the Sydney Opera House opened? | Question word + be + subject + V3 |
Auf Deutsch
Im Passiv bildest du Verneinung und Frage immer mit be, nie mit do / does / did.
We do not say who does the action because it is clear or not interesting.
English is spoken all over Australia.
We want to say what happened, not who did it.
The Sydney Harbour Bridge was opened in 1932.
Reports and texts about facts often use the passive.
Large areas of land were destroyed by the bushfires of 2019 and 2020.
by or no by? Use by + agent only if the agent is new or important information: The Sydney Opera House was designed by Jørn Utzon. If everybody knows the agent, leave it out: Uluru is visited every day.
In everyday speaking the active is often more natural. The passive is typical of written and formal texts.
Auf Deutsch
Vergleich mit dem Deutschen: Wo im Deutschen oft „man“ steht, nutzt das Englische gern das Passiv: „Man spricht Englisch.“ wird zu „English is spoken.“
by oder kein by? Den Handelnden nennst du mit by („von“ oder „durch“) nur, wenn er neu oder wichtig ist: „The Sydney Opera House was designed by Jørn Utzon.“ Weiß jeder, wer handelt, lässt du „by …“ weg.
Auf Deutsch
| Falsch | Richtig | Warum? |
|---|---|---|
| Uluru is visit by tourists. | Uluru is visited by tourists. | Es fehlt die Endung des Partizips (V3). |
| Koalas protected by law. | Koalas are protected by law. | Das Hilfsverb be fehlt. |
| Koalas is protected. | Koalas are protected. | be passt sich dem Subjekt an: Plural, also are. |
| The bridge was build in 1932. | The bridge was built in 1932. | build ist unregelmäßig: build – built – built. |
| The Opera House was designed from Jørn Utzon. | The Opera House was designed by Jørn Utzon. | „von“ oder „durch“ heißt im Passiv by, nicht from. |
| Do koalas protected by law? | Are koalas protected by law? | Die Frage im Passiv bildest du mit be, nicht mit do. |
Work through the exercises in any order. Every answer comes with a short explanation. Your results stay in this window and are not saved anywhere.
Decide whether the sentence is active or passive.
Click the form that completes the sentence. Look for time words and for singular or plural.
Write the verb in the passive. Use the tense that fits the sentence. Press Enter or click “Check”.
Click the words in the right order to build a passive sentence.
Choose the correct form in every gap. Then click “Check”.
Decide whether the by-phrase should be added.
Think about your answer first and then compare it with the model answer. It is a suggestion, not the only correct answer.
Rewrite in the passive: Rangers have rescued injured koalas.
Rewrite in the passive: Farmers will build a new well.
Rewrite in the passive: Aboriginal people painted these pictures thousands of years ago.
Rewrite in the passive and leave out the agent: You can see kangaroos at sunset.
Write three passive sentences about Australia. Use words from the list at the top of this page and three different tenses.