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Passiv im Englischen in allen Zeitformen: Erklärung, Bildung und Übung

Weil sich die Bildung des Passivs im Englischen dafür eignet, schematisch und für alle Zeitformen gleichzeitig dargestellt zu werden, wirst du im folgenden alle Informationen finden, die du für das Passiv brauchst.

Vertiefung

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Englische Version

This sections deals with the passive in all tenses. Make sure that you have understood and mastered the formation of all tenses before you turn to this section!

The passive (or passive voice) is a very powerful verb form in English, as it enables you to display a great variety verb forms. This is particularly useful in your final exams, since you are not only supposed to make as few mistakes as humanly possible, you also need to demonstrate that you are capable of using a large variety of forms.

I take it that by now you will have worked through most of the other forms. This is why I want to deal with all the passive forms in one go; when you have grasped the underlying principle, you will see why...

Formation

Statements

Let's look at some passive examples:

  1. Arabica beans are grown mainly in Brazil, Central America, Kenya and India.
  2. Two US scientists have been awarded the chemistry prize for a discovery that has changed scientists' views about the origin of life.
  3. The role of Breathless was written for Madonna.
  4. Two people are being treated in hospital.

When you look closely, you will realise that all of these forms have two things in common. Firstly, they all contain a form of to be: Are is the present tense form of to be, have been is the present perfect, was is past, and are being is present continuous (note that being is an auxiliary here). Secondly, the verbs grown, awarded, written, and treated are all third forms (i.e. past participles). So, what this boils down to is that any passive form consists of a form of to be and the third form of a verb. It is important to understand, though, that some forms of to be consist of more than one word. Refer to the table below for the respective forms and tenses.

Tense

to be

present simple

am/is/are

present continuous

am/is/are being

past simple

was/were

past continuous

was/were being

present perfect simple

have been / has been

past perfect simple

had been

future

will be

future perfect

will have been

You can see here that the auxiliaries tell you the actual tense, not the verb. The verb always remains in its past participle form in the passive voice.

Note that not all tenses are used in the passive, e.g. you will not normally find a present perfect continuous passive form. And even if you did, I wouldn't recommend using forms that sound rather awkward.

Questions and Negatives

Like with other tenses, you have to change the word order when forming questions. Put the first auxiliary before the subject to form questions (aux in the table stands for auxiliary):

(interrogative)aux1subject(aux 2)verb(rest)
WhereareArabica beansgrown?
Havetwo US scientistsbeenawardedthe prize?
Wasthe role of Breathlesswrittenfor Madonna?
Aretwo peoplebeingtreatedin hospital?

For negatives, insert not after the first auxiliary:

subjectaux1not(aux2)verb(rest)
Arabica beansarenotgrownin Italy.
The scientistshavenotbeenawardedthe prize for physics.
The rolewasnotwrittenfor Katy Perry.
The two peoplearenotbeingtreatedat home.

Modal auxiliaries and the passive

The use of the passive in conjunction with modal auxiliaries is surprisingly simple because to be always takes the same form. Study these examples:

  1. The horrors must be stopped everywhere and once and for all.
  2. Proust took the view that writers should be judged by their work alone, rather than be interpreted through biography.
  3. Talent can be developed and trained.
  4. Once you've taken the drug, your next decision could be influenced by the drug.
  5. No part of this publication may be reproduced.
  6. The things which were there were the objects by which one might be identified.
  7. First, Marx and Engels argued that one of the reasons why capitalism would be destroyed was due to the internal contradictions of the system itself.
  8. To some extent, this will be done simply because it is felt that it is more efficient.

As I am sure you will have noticed, all of these forms follow the same pattern: The modal auxiliary is followed by the auxiliary be, which in turn is followed by the past participle.

subjectmodal auxiliarybepast participle(rest)
The horrorsmustbestoppedeverywhere and once and for all.

Read through the following list of short and simple active/passive sentences in variuos tenses a few times to consolidate what you have just learned about the passive:

Present simple: The ball hits the window. The window is hit by the ball.

Present continuous: The ball is hitting the window. The window is being hit by the ball.

Past simple: The ball hit the window. The window was hit by he ball.

Past continuous: The ball was hitting the window. The window was being hit by the ball.

Present perfect simple: The ball has hit the window. The window has been hit by the ball.

Present perfect continuous: The ball has been hitting the window. The window has been being hit by the ball.

Past perfect simple: The ball had hit the window. The window had been hit by the ball.

Past perfect continuous: The ball had been hitting the window. The window had been being hit by the window.

Will-future: The ball will hit the window. The window will be hit by the ball.

Will-future continuous: The ball will be hitting the window. The window will be being hit by the ball.

Future perfect: The ball will have hit the window. The window will have been hit by the ball.

Future perfect continuous: The ball will have been hitting the window. The window will have been being hit by the ball.

Going-to future: The ball is going to hit the window. The window is going to be hit by the ball.

Going-to future continuous: The ball is going to be hitting the window. The window is going to be being hit by the ball.

Das Passiv zu beherrschen führt nicht nur dazu, dass du in deinen Klausuren weniger Fehler machst, es ermöglicht dir auch einen vielseitigeren Ausdruck. Wie stark die Bewertung des Ausdrucks in die Endnote deiner Abschlussprüfung einfließt, wurde schon am Anfang des Kurses hervorgehoben.

Solltest du zu den aktiven Formen der jeweiligen Zeitform mehr wissen wollen, springe bitte in den entsprechenden Kursbereich, bevor du wieder hierhin zurückkehrst.

Bildung (Formation)

Aussagen

Beispiel

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Arabica beans are grown mainly in Brazil, Central America, Kenya and India.

Two US scientists have been awarded the chemistry prize for a discovery that has changed scientists' views about the origin of life.

The role of Breathless was written for Madonna.

Two people are being treated in hospital.

In den Beispielsätzen fällt auf, dass sie alle zwei Dinge miteinander gemeinsam haben: Sie enthalten erstens eine Form von to be (are, have been, was) und ein Verb in der dritten Form (past participle), was auf alle Passivkonstruktionen im Englischen zutrifft. Die Tabelle unten enthält zur Wiederholung die verschiedenen Zeitformen von to be:

Zeitfom

to be

present simple

am/is/are

present continuous

am/is/are being

past simple

was/were

past continuous

was/were being

present perfect simple

have been / has been

past perfect simple

had been

future

will be

future perfect

will have been

Im Passiv erkennst du also die Zeitform immer nur am auxiliary, weil das Vollverb immer im past participle steht.

Hinweis

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Beachte, dass manche Zeitformen im Passiv eher vermieden werden, weil sie unschön klingen:

Present perfect continuous passive: The window has been being hit by the ball.

Fragen (Questions) 

Auch im Passiv musst du zur Bildung von Fragen die Wortstellung ändern. Ziehe das erste auxiliary (aux1) an den Satzanfang. Wenn es ein Fragewort gibt, gehört es an die erste Stelle:

Fragewortaux1Subjekt(aux 2)VerbRest
WhereareArabica beansgrown?
Havetwo US scientistsbeenawardedthe prize?
Wasthe role of Breathlesswrittenfor Madonna?
Aretwo peoplebeingtreatedin hospital?

Verneinungen (Negatives)

Füge einfach not nach dem ersten Hilfsverb ein:

Subjektaux1not(aux2)VerbRest
Arabica beansarenotgrownin Italy.
The scientistshavenotbeenawardedthe prize for physics.
The rolewasnotwrittenfor Katy Perry.
The two peoplearenotbeingtreatedat home.

Modalverben im Passiv (Modal auxiliaries and the passive)

Die Verwendung von Modalverben bereitet im Passiv keine Schwierigkeiten, da sie immer in Verbindung mit to be stehen:

Beispiel

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The horrors must be stopped everywhere and once and for all.

Proust took the view that writers should be judged by their work alone, rather than be interpreted through biography.

Talent can be developed and trained.

Once you've taken the drug, your next decision could be influenced by the drug.

No part of this publication may be reproduced.

Merke

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Das Schema lautet also: auxiliary + be + past participle

SubjektHilfsverbbepast participleRest
The horrorsmustbestoppedeverywhere and once and for all.

Lies dir zur Festigung dessen, was du gerade über das Passiv gelernt hast, die folgende Liste mit einfachen Beispielsätzen ein paar Mal durch:

Present simple: The ball hits the window. The window is hit by the ball.

Present continuous: The ball is hitting the window. The window is being hit by the ball.

Past simple: The ball hit the window. The window was hit by he ball.

Past continuous: The ball was hitting the window. The window was being hit by the ball.

Present perfect simple: The ball has hit the window. The window has been hit by the ball.

Present perfect continuous: The ball has been hitting the window. The window has been being hit by the ball.

Past perfect simple: The ball had hit the window. The window had been hit by the ball.

Past perfect continuous: The ball had been hitting the window. The window had been being hit by the window.

Will-future: The ball will hit the window. The window will be hit by the ball.

Will-future continuous: The ball will be hitting the window. The window will be being hit by the ball.

Future perfect: The ball will have hit the window. The window will have been hit by the ball.

Future perfect continuous: The ball will have been hitting the window. The window will have been being hit by the ball.

Going-to future: The ball is going to hit the window. The window is going to be hit by the ball.

Going-to future continuous: The ball is going to be hitting the window. The window is going to be being hit by the ball.

Verwendung (Use)

Vertiefung

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Englische Version:

At first glance, passive and active sentences look as if they could be used interchangeably, i.e. they look as if it does not matter whether or not you use the passive. Compare these examples:

  1. The mind-body distinction as we know it was invented by Descartes. (BNC)
  2. Descartes invented the mind-body distinction as we know it.
  3. The mind-body distinction as we know it was invented in the seventeenth century.

Technically speaking, the sentences contain the same information. Only the language, the structure and the verb form, is different. Let's look at the structure of the sentence. What is the subject, verb and object. (The by-agent does not count as object, that is why there is a separate column in the table.)

SubjectVerbObjectby-agent
The mind-body distinction as we know itwas inventedby Descartes.
Descartesinventedthe mind-body distinction as we know it.

As you can see, one of the differences is that the mind-body distinction is the subject in the first sentence (the passive sentence) and the object in the second sentence (the active sentence). Descarted lived in the seventeenth century so you might as well add this as additional information and say:

SubjectVerbAdverbial
The mind-body distinction as we know itwas inventedin the seventeenth century.

In this example, I leave out the information "by Descartes". Now compare the three examples again: If you were to write a biography of Descartes, what sentence would you tend to use. And if you were to write a report about the mind-body distinction, what sentence yould you use now? (Yes, you would use sentence 2 to write about Descartes life and 1 or 3 to write about the mind-body distinction.)

This is because in English you tend to give new or crucial information toward the end of a sentence, like a punchline.

Also, the passive voice is frequently used in written and formal English. Let me give you some examples of what this might look like in an essay (The sentences are taken from an essay about tragic flaws in Shakespeare's tragedies. For those who don't know: a tragic flaw is a character fault that finally leads to the character's demise/downfall.):

  1. The characters' tragic flaws are intertwined with qualities that might not be considered bad.
  2. Othello's noble character is defined in opposition to Iago's.
  3. Othello is even depicted as sagacious, when his behaviour is compared to to that of Jesus.
  4. Macbeth's merit for the kingdom is highly appreciated.
  5. Macbeth is killed by McDuff and the divine order is restored.
  6. Caesar's true intentions are never really brought to light.
  7. The fact that these flaws are linked to more positive character traits [...] is also partly responsible for the cyclical view of history put forth in the plays.
  8. The weird sisters in 'Macbeth' inform the plot with a certain teleology, which is abided by.
  9. The inner development of the characters might be viewed in a different light.
  10. Murder (in Shakespeare) is never justified.

Some of the sentences were written in the passive purely for reasons of style. Take sentence 5, for instance. You could of course say: "McDuff kills Macbeth". However, as I mentioned above, When you write about the character of Macbeth then "McDuff" is new information and should come up later in the sentence.

SubjectVerbObject
McDuffkillsMacbeth.
Macbethis killed.

As you can see from the table, you can always form a passive sentence very easily: You take the object of the active sentence and make it the subject of the passive sentence.

Furthermore, when you look at the second part of the sentence ("The divine order is restored."), we would have to come up with a completely new subject for an active sentence, e.g.:

  • Shakespeare restores the divine order.
  • God restores the divine order.
  • McDuff restores the divine order.

All of these sound really clumsy if not ridiculous. Similarly, when you look at sentence 3, you could ask yourself: Who depicts Othello? Othello himself? The narrator? The author? To avoid confusion and redundancies, you can use the passive in cases like this.

Likewise, when you comment on possible interpretations, you can use the passive, too. Look at sentences 1 or 9. You could say:

  • One could view the inner development of the characters...
  • You could view...
  • The reader could view...
  • I could view...

The first one sounds at least OK if you do not over-use it. The second one is perhaps too informal for some teacher to cut it. The third one sounds awkward and the last one presumptuous...

Auf den ersten Blick sieht es so aus, als ob Aktiv und Passiv beliebig austauschbar wären. Wirf einen Blick auf die Beispiele:

  1. The mind-body distinction as we know it was invented by Descartes.
  2. Descartes invented the mind-body distinction as we know it.
  3. The mind-body distinction as we know it was invented in the seventeenth century.

Der Informationsgehalt der Sätze ist nahezu identisch und sie unterscheiden sich stattdessen durch Struktur und Verbform. Die Satzstruktur kannst du in der Tabelle sehen:

SubjektVerbObjektby-agent
The mind-body distinction as we know itwas inventedby Descartes.
Descartesinventedthe mind-body distinction as we know it.

Im Passiv-Satz (1) ist The mind-body distinction as we know it das Subjekt und im Aktiv-Satz ist dessen Begründer, der französische Philosoph René Descartes, das Subjekt. Descartes lebte im 17. Jahrhundert und es lässt sich mit dieser Information ein inhaltlich ganz ähnlicher Satz bilden:

SubjektVerbAdverbial
The mind-body distinction as we know itwas inventedin the seventeenth century.

In diesem Beispiel fehlt die Information by Descartes und du würdest ihn sicher nicht unbedingt in einem Text über das Leben von Descartes verwenden, sondern eher in einem Text über die mind-body distinction as we know it. Du kannst also durch die passende Verwendung der beiden genera verbi (Aktiv/Passiv) bestimmte Informationen je nach Bedarf in den Vorder- oder Hintergrund rücken lassen. Im Englischen ist es üblich, neue Informationen an das Satzende zu stellen und Aktiv/Passiv eröffnen dir hierbei jeweils eigene Möglichkeiten.

Allgemein wird das Passiv, nicht zuletzt zur Betonung/Abschwächung bestimmter Informationen, in (formellen) Texten häufiger verwendet, als in mündlicher (informeller) Kommunikation. Die Beispiele unten illustrieren, wie das in einem Essay aussehen könnte, der sich mit dem sogenannten tragic flaw eines Charakters in Tragödien von Shakespeare beschäftigt (tragic flaw= eine Charakterschwäche, die die Figur irgendwann zu Fall bringt):

  1. The characters' tragic flaws are intertwined with qualities that might not be considered bad.
  2. Othello's noble character is defined in opposition to Iago's.
  3. Othello is even depicted as sagacious, when his behaviour is compared to that of Jesus.
  4. Macbeth's merit for the kingdom is highly appreciated.
  5. Macbeth is killed by McDuff and the divine order is restored.
  6. Caesar's true intentions are never really brought to light.
  7. The fact that these flaws are linked to more positive character traits is also partly responsible for the cyclical view of history put forth in the plays.
  8. The weird sisters in 'Macbeth' inform the plot with a certain teleology, which is abided by.
  9. The inner development of the characters might be viewed in a different light.
  10. Murder (in Shakespeare) is never justified.

Manche Sätze wurden u.a.aus Stilgründen im Passiv geschrieben. Satz 5 beispielsweise könnte auch aktiv formuliert werden:

McDuff kills Macbeth and restores the devine order.

Da es im Text aber um Macbeth geht, sollte McDuff als neue Information an das Satzende gestellt werden. Außerdem wirkt sich die aktive Formulierung auch auf die devine order aus, deren Wiederherstellung nun eher als ein Ziel erscheint, dass McDuff verfolgte. Im Passiv entsteht dieser Eindruck nicht und die Wiederherstellung der Ordnung könnte eine Folge sein, die McDuff so nicht eingeplant hatte.

Ähnlich verhält es sich bei Satz 3: Wer stellt Othello so dar? Er selbst? Der Erzähler? Der Autor?. Hier eignet sich das Passiv gut zur Vermeidung von Wiederholungen und Missverständnissen. Dadurch kannst du manchmal auch eigene Unsicherheiten geschickt verdecken, indem du mit einer Passivkonstruktion in bestimmten Punkten vage bleibst.

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Englisch Grammatik Crashkurs

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  • Willkommen im Grammatik Crashkurs für dein Englisch Abitur!
    • Einleitung zu Willkommen im Grammatik Crashkurs für dein Englisch Abitur!
  • Adjektiv und Adverb im Englischen: Erklärung, Bildung und Verwendung
    • Einleitung zu Adjektiv und Adverb im Englischen: Erklärung, Bildung und Verwendung
    • Wie werden Adjektive und Adverbien im Englischen gebildet und gesteigert?
  • Nomen im Englischen - Bildung Singular und Plural
    • Einleitung zu Nomen im Englischen - Bildung Singular und Plural
    • Much, many, some, any: Erklärung und Übung
    • Few, little, fewer, less: Unterschied und Übungen
  • Gegenwartsformen im Englischen (Present tenses)
    • Einleitung zu Gegenwartsformen im Englischen (Present tenses)
    • Present Simple: Erklärung, Bildung und Übung
    • Present Continuous: Erklärung, Bildung und Übung
  • Vergangenheitsformen im Englischen (Past tenses): Erklärung, Bildung und Übung
    • Einleitung zu Vergangenheitsformen im Englischen (Past tenses): Erklärung, Bildung und Übung
    • Present perfect simple: Erklärung, Bildung und Übung
    • Present perfect continuous: Erklärung, Bildung und Übung
    • Past simple: Erklärung, Bildung und Übung
    • Past perfect simple: Erklärung, Bildung und Übung
    • Past perfect continuous: Erklärung, Bildung und Übung
  • Zukunftsformen im Englischen (Will-future): Erklärung, Bildung und Übung
    • Einleitung zu Zukunftsformen im Englischen (Will-future): Erklärung, Bildung und Übung
    • Going-to-future: Erklärung, Bildung und Übung
    • Future perfect: Erklärung, Bildung und Übung
    • Future (perfect) continuous: Erklärung, Bildung und Übung
  • Passiv im Englischen in allen Zeitformen: Erklärung, Bildung und Übung
    • Einleitung zu Passiv im Englischen in allen Zeitformen: Erklärung, Bildung und Übung
  • Defining Relative Clauses: Beispiele und Übungen
    • Einleitung zu Defining Relative Clauses: Beispiele und Übungen
    • Non-Defining Relative Clauses Erklärung und Übungen
  • Konditionalsätze Im Englischen (If-Clauses): Erkärung, Bildung und Übung
    • Einleitung zu Konditionalsätze Im Englischen (If-Clauses): Erkärung, Bildung und Übung
    • If-Sätze: Typ 1 (Erkärung, Bildung und Übung)
    • If-Sätze: Typ 2 (Erkärung, Bildung und Übung)
    • If-Sätze: Typ 3 (Erkärung, Bildung und Übung)
  • Indirekte Rede im Englischen: Regeln und Übungen
    • Einleitung zu Indirekte Rede im Englischen: Regeln und Übungen
  • Partizip im Englischen: Erklärung und Übungen
    • Einleitung zu Partizip im Englischen: Erklärung und Übungen
    • Gerundium: Erklärung und Übungen
  • Wortarbeit
    • Einleitung zu Wortarbeit
    • Wortwiederholungen: Vermeidung im Englischen
    • False Friends im Englischen
    • Phrasal Verbs: Liste und Übungen
    • Modalverben im Englischen (Modal verbs): Erklärung und Ersatzformen
  • Kollokationen im Englischen
    • Einleitung zu Kollokationen im Englischen
    • Kollokationen mit take
    • Kollokationen mit put
    • Kollokationen mit get
    • Kollokationen mit Verb und Präposition
    • Kollokationen mit Adjektiv und Nomen
  • Präpositionen im Englischen
    • Einleitung zu Präpositionen im Englischen
    • Präpositionen des Ortes und der Richtung im Englischen
    • Präpositionen der Zeit im Englischen
    • Weitere Präpositionen, Stellung der Präpositionen und feststehende Ausdrücke im Englischen
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