Impersonal Passive Construction

Usually, passive voice turns an object into a subject. "I eat the apple" becomes "The apple is eaten." But what if the verb doesn't have an object? Think about verbs like tanzen (to dance) or lachen (to laugh). You can't "dance an object" usually. These are intransitive verbs. In German, you can still make these passive! Since there is no object to become the subject, the sentence ends up with no real subject at all. This is why we use a placeholder: the word es. However, this es is a bit of a shy ghost. It only appears if nothing else is at the start of the sentence. If you start with a word like hier (here) or heute (today), the es simply vanishes into thin air. It’s a bit like a grammar traffic light. It tells you the action is green, but it doesn't care who is driving the car. You are focusing on the "what" of the activity, not the "who."

1. 1Building this is like assembling a Lego set with very few pieces.
2. 2Start with the placeholder es if you have no other information to put first.
3. 3Add the conjugated form of werden in the third person singular (wird, wurde, ist ... worden).
4. 4Put any extra info, like location or manner, in the middle.
5. 5Place the Partizip II (past participle) at the very end of the sentence.
6. 6Example: Es + wird + getanzt.
7. 7If you move something else to the front, the es dies a silent death: Heute wird getanzt. Notice that wird stays in the third person singular. It doesn't matter if one person is dancing or a thousand. The "subject" is the concept of dancing itself, which is always singular. If you use a verb that takes the dative, like helfen, the person being helped stays in the dative: Ihm wird geholfen. The verb still doesn't care about the person; it stays singular and passive.

Use this when the "who" is totally irrelevant or obvious.

• Atmosphere: "At the wedding, there was a lot of laughing." (Auf der Hochzeit wurde viel gelacht).
• General Rules: "No smoking here!" (Hier wird nicht geraucht!). This sounds more official than "Don't smoke."
• Group Actions: You are at a meeting and everyone is working hard. "It is being worked hard today." (Heute wird hart gearbeitet).
• Announcements: In a hospital or library. "Silence is requested." (Um Ruhe wird gebeten).
• Ordering Food: Sometimes used to describe what is being served or eaten in general. "Tonight, we feast!" (Heute Abend wird geschlemmt!).

It’s perfect for job interviews when describing company culture or for writing reports where you want to sound objective. It makes you sound like a sophisticated observer of the world.

Don't use this for transitive verbs where you have a clear direct object. If you want to say "The book is being read," use the standard passive: Das Buch wird gelesen. The impersonal passive is strictly for verbs that don't have an accusative object. Also, avoid it when the specific person doing the action is important. If you want to praise your friend for dancing, don't say Es wird gut getanzt. Say Du tanzt gut. Using the impersonal passive there would make you sound like a weird robot. Finally, don't use it with verbs of state or being, like sein or bleiben. You can't "be passived" into being. It needs to be an action verb, even if it’s a small one like warten (to wait).

• The Ghost "Es": The biggest mistake is keeping the es inside the sentence. Wrong: Hier wird es getanzt. Correct: Hier wird getanzt. The es only exists to fill the first position. Once something else takes that spot, the es is fired.
• Wrong Conjugation: People often try to make werden plural if they think about many people. Wrong: Hier werden getanzt. Correct: Hier wird getanzt. Always keep it singular.
• Confusing with 'Man': Man tanzt is active. Es wird getanzt is passive. Both mean "people dance," but the passive one is more about the event than the people.
• Using Accusative Objects: If there's an object, it's not subjectless anymore. Don't try to force it. Yes, even native speakers mess this up sometimes when they are tired, but you're at B2 now, so keep it clean!

Compare this to using man. If you say Man arbeitet hier viel, you are talking about the people. It feels a bit more personal. If you say Hier wird viel gearbeitet, it feels like a fact about the place. It’s the difference between saying "People work here" and "Work happens here." Another contrast is with the Zustandspassiv (state passive). Die Tür ist geschlossen describes a state. Hier wird gearbeitet describes a process. If you find yourself wanting to say "There is [Action]-ing going on," the impersonal passive is your best friend. In English, we often use the "there is" construction or a gerund like "There was much cheering." German just cuts to the chase with the verb.