Perfect: ist + past participle + worden
Es ist gemacht worden.
It has been done.Pluperfect: war + past participle + worden
Es war gemacht worden.
It had been done.Future: wird + infinitive + werden
Es wird gemacht werden.
It will be done.But see 34.2c for the common use of the present tense in obvious contexts:
Das wird morgen gemacht.
That will be done tomorrow.Future Perfect: wird + past participle + worden sein
Es wird gemacht worden sein.
It will have been done.(b) German can distinguish between the process of an action, using the passive with
werden, and the resulting state on completion of an action, using sein + past participle,
a structure which is sometimes called the ‘statal passive’:
Der Flug wird gebucht.
The flight is (being) booked. (focus on the process)Der Flug ist gebucht worden.
The flight has been/was booked. (focus on the process)Der Flug ist gebucht.
The flight is booked. (focus on the resulting state)The focus in the last example is on the status of the flight: is it or is it not booked?
Because English uses the verb ‘to be’ as an auxiliary for both senses, English-speaking
learners of German may tend to use the ‘statal’ construction with sein + past participle
when they mean to focus on the process of the action. The following example shows
how failing to distinguish between these constructions could lead to
misunderstandings:
Diese Frage wird beantwortet.
This question is (being) answered.Diese Frage ist beantwortet.
This question is (has been) answered.The second of these sentences has a finality about it. It asserts, as an indisputable fact,
that the matter is settled, and there is nothing more to discuss.
(c) Verbs with a dative or genitive object (see 19 and 20 ) behave in a special way in the
passive. An impersonal subject, es, is introduced. Note that es is singular (so that
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Passive