Modern German Grammar: A Practical Guide, Second Edition

Wenn er mir morgen die CD gibt, sage ich euch Bescheid.

If he gives me the CD tomorrow, I’ll let you know.

 See also 34.2c (p. 71) and 89.3 (p. 323).

(b) Note that it is possible to have conditional expressions without wenn. In this case

the verb in the subordinate clause comes at the beginning of the clause (see 8.5). The

main clause can be introduced by dann or so, but this is not essential:

Habe ich morgen Zeit, (dann) komme ich.

If I have time tomorrow I will come.

Hätte ich morgen Zeit, (dann) käme ich.

If I had time tomorrow I would come.

Gibt er mir morgen die CD, (so) sage ich dir Bescheid.

If he gives me the book tomorrow I will let you know.

40 The passive

 See^77 (p. 267).

40.1 Active and passive sentences

The subject of a passive construction is not the doer of the action but the object of

the action:

Active:

Jeden Tag bauen wir zehn neue Häuser.

Every day we build ten new houses.

Passive:

Jeden Tag werden zehn neue Häuser (von uns) gebaut.

Every day ten new houses are built (by us).

In German, only transitive verbs (33.8a) which can have an accusative object (see

18.1 and 18.8) can be used in this kind of passive sentence.

40.2 The passive with werden

(a) The most common passive construction uses werden as an auxiliary (where English

uses the verb ‘to be’). The forms of werden are given in section 33.7a. Note the special

past participle worden, which is used only for passive constructions:

Present: a present tense form of werden + past participle (see 33.1)

Es wird gemacht.

It is (being) done.

Simple past: a simple past tense form of werden + past participle

Es wurde gemacht.

It was (being) done.

40

VERBS