Passive sentences

1. What is a passive sentence in Dutch?

In an active sentence, the subject does the action.

• Jan start het videogesprek. – Jan does the action.

In a passive sentence, the focus is on what happens to something.

• Het videogesprek wordt gestart (door Jan). – The videocall is central, not Jan.

So you often use the passive when:

• the person who acts is not important, or
• you do not know who does the action, or
• you want to sound more formal / neutral (reports, emails, rules).

2. How do you build the passive? (Basic pattern)

Every passive sentence has two important parts:

• a form of the auxiliary verb worden or zijn
• a past participle (voltooid deelwoord), usually with ge- or ending in -d / -t

Typical sentence order in main clauses:

• [subject] + [worden/zijn] + ... + [past participle]

Example:

• De regels worden morgen aangepast.

3. When do you use worden and when zijn?

This is a common question. Think about process vs. result.

• worden = the process is going on (present or past, not finished)
• zijn = the result is there (already finished)

Quick check:

• Ask: “Do I talk about the action happening?” → use worden.
• Ask: “Do I talk about the state/result after the action?” → use zijn.

4. Step-by-step: turn an active sentence into a passive one

1. Find the object (who/what gets the action?).

   • De manager start het videogesprek.

2. Make that object the subject of the passive sentence.

   • Het videogesprek ...

3. Choose the correct tense of worden or zijn.

   • Present → wordt / worden
   • Past → werd / werden
   • Present perfect → is / zijn
   • Past perfect → was / waren

4. Put the past participle at the end.

   • gestart, gebruikt, verstuurd, aangepast, ...

5. Optionally add ‘door + person’ if you need the agent.

   • (door de manager), (door Anna) …

Example in 4 tenses:

5. Using (or omitting) door + persoon

In Dutch, the person who does the action in a passive sentence is usually introduced with door.

• Het verslag wordt bijgewerkt door de assistent.

Often you can leave it out:

• Het verslag wordt elke dag bijgewerkt.

You normally include “door …” when:

• who does the action is important information, or
• there could be confusion without it.

Be careful:

• De e-mails zijn verstuurd door. → wrong: door must be followed by a person / agent.
• Correct: De e-mails zijn verstuurd door de secretaresse.

6. Word order: where do I put everything?

In simple main clauses, the pattern is:

• 1. Subject – 2. Finite verb – 3. Time / other info – 4. Past participle

Examples:

• Het videogesprek wordt morgen om negen uur gestart.
• De regels zijn al aangepast.

With adverbials at the beginning, the finite verb still comes in second place:

• Morgen wordt het videogesprek gestart.
• Voor de vergadering was de webcam al aangezet.

Self-check:

• There is only one finite verb (wordt / werd / is / was / zijn / waren).
• The past participle is at the end of the clause.

7. Typical mistakes and how to avoid them

• 1. Double auxiliary

  • Het verslag wordt elke dag wordt bijgewerkt.
  • Correct: Het verslag wordt elke dag bijgewerkt.

• 2. Mixing tenses

  • De documenten worden gehaald door de medewerker waren.
  • Pick one time: present or past.
  • Present: De documenten worden gehaald door de medewerker.
  • Past: De documenten werden gehaald door de medewerker.

• 3. Using zijn instead of worden for ongoing actions

  • Het videogesprek is morgen door de manager gestart.
  • Correct: Het videogesprek wordt morgen door de manager gestart.

• 4. Forgetting the past participle

  • De e-mails zijn versturen.
  • Correct: De e-mails zijn verstuurd.

8. Quick self-check: do I have a correct passive?

Look at your sentence and ask yourself:

1. Do I see an auxiliary verb?

   • wordt / worden / werd / werden / is / zijn / was / waren

2. Do I see a past participle at the end?

   • gebruikt, gestart, verstuurd, aangepast, aangezet, ingevuld, ...

3. Is there only one finite verb?

   • If you have two (e.g. two times wordt or is), something is wrong.

4. Is ‘door + persoon’ complete, or omitted?

   • No lonely door at the end of the sentence.

5. Does the tense match the meaning (now, past, result)?

   • Ongoing process → a form of worden.
   • Finished result → a form of zijn.

9. What should you pay special attention to?

• Focus on which element you want to highlight (often the object in the active sentence).
• Choose between worden (process) and zijn (result) consciously.
• Keep the past participle at the end of the clause.
• Use door + person only when needed, and always with an agent.
• In spoken Dutch and in office communication, the passive is very common in rules, emails, procedures.

If you can:

• change an active sentence into a passive one
• choose correctly between wordt/werd and is/was
• and place the past participle at the end

…then you are ready to use the Dutch passive confidently in conversations and in your professional writing.