Subjectless & Impersonal Passive
In German, the passive voice can describe an activity without naming who performs it — and sometimes without a real subject at all. This construction, called the impersonal passive, appears everywhere: on signs, in news reports, and in everyday speech.
Once you understand it, you will notice it all around you in German. The key skill is knowing when the placeholder es can be dropped — and that is exactly what this lesson covers.
What Is the Impersonal Passive?
The impersonal passive describes an activity without specifying who performs it. Like all German passives, it uses werden + past participle. The difference is that there is no real subject — only the meaningless placeholder es.
Compare these examples:
| Type | Example | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| Active | Die Leute tanzen hier viel. | People dance a lot here. |
| Personal passive | Das Lied wird gesungen. | The song is being sung. |
| Impersonal passive | Es wird hier viel getanzt. | A lot of dancing is done here. |
In the impersonal passive, es is not a pronoun referring to anything — it is simply a grammatical placeholder that fills Position 1.
How to Form the Impersonal Passive
The formula is: es + conjugated werden + (rest of sentence) + past participle.
| Tense | Formula | Example | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Present | wird + PP | Es wird gefeiert. | There is celebrating. |
| Simple Past | wurde + PP | Es wurde viel gearbeitet. | A lot of work was done. |
| Present Perfect | ist + PP + worden | Es ist viel gelacht worden. | There was a lot of laughter. |
| Future I | wird + PP + werden | Es wird früh aufgestanden werden. | People will get up early. |
The impersonal passive works best with activity verbs — especially intransitive verbs (arbeiten, tanzen, lachen) and transitive verbs used without a stated object (lesen, trinken, rauchen).
When 'es' Disappears: The Subjectless Passive
German requires exactly one element in Position 1 (before the conjugated verb). When an adverb, time expression, or prepositional phrase takes Position 1, the placeholder es is simply dropped.
| Position 1 | Example | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| es (default) | Es wird hier viel getanzt. | A lot of dancing is done here. |
| Adverb → es drops | Hier wird viel getanzt. | A lot of dancing is done here. |
| Time phrase → es drops | Gestern wurde viel gearbeitet. | A lot of work was done yesterday. |
| Verb-first question | Wird heute gefeiert? | Is there celebrating today? |
Important: The verb always stays in Position 2. Only es vanishes. Never write Hier es wird getanzt.
Where You Will See This Construction
The impersonal passive appears in several everyday contexts:
Signs and rules:
- Hier wird nicht geraucht. — No smoking.
- Es wird um Ruhe gebeten. — Silence is requested.
Describing customs or habits:
- Sonntags wird ausgeschlafen. — People sleep in on Sundays.
- In dieser Stadt wird viel Fahrrad gefahren. — A lot of cycling is done in this city.
Activities with an unknown or unimportant agent:
- Es wird an der Tür geklopft. — Someone is knocking at the door.
- Es wird noch darüber diskutiert. — It is still being discussed.
This construction shifts focus entirely to the activity, making it ideal for formal rules, cultural observations, and impersonal announcements.
📖 Examples
Es wird hier viel getanzt.
A lot of dancing is done here.
Gestern wurde viel gearbeitet.
A lot of work was done yesterday.
Hier wird nicht geraucht.
Smoking is not done here. (No smoking.)
Es wird an der Tür geklopft.
Someone is knocking at the door.
Heute wird gefeiert!
There will be celebrating today!
Es ist viel gelacht worden.
There was a lot of laughter. (present perfect)
Morgen wird früh aufgestanden.
Tomorrow people will get up early.
In dieser Stadt wird viel Fahrrad gefahren.
A lot of cycling is done in this city.
⚠️ Common Mistakes
Hier es wird viel getanzt.Hier wird viel getanzt.
When 'hier' (or any other element) occupies Position 1, the placeholder 'es' must be dropped. Position 1 can hold only one element, and 'es' is deleted when something else fills it.
Es ist hier viel getanzt.Es wird hier viel getanzt.
The impersonal passive uses 'werden' as its auxiliary — not 'sein'. Use the correct tense of 'werden': wird (present), wurde (simple past), ist...worden (perfect).
Es werden hier viel getanzt.Es wird hier viel getanzt.
The placeholder 'es' is always singular, so 'werden' is always conjugated in the 3rd person singular. Use 'wird' in the present tense, never the plural 'werden'.
Es wurde gestern viel gearbeitet worden.Es wurde gestern viel gearbeitet.
The simple past passive already uses 'wurde' as the auxiliary. Adding 'worden' creates a double-auxiliary error. 'Worden' only appears in the present perfect: 'Es ist gearbeitet worden.'
✏️ Exercises
Test your understanding. Click an option or type your answer, then check.
Which sentence correctly uses the impersonal passive in the present tense?
You want to say 'A lot of work was done yesterday.' Which sentence is correct?
Which sentence is the correct German equivalent of a 'No smoking' sign?
How do you say 'Someone is knocking at the door' using the impersonal passive?
Which sentence contains a word-order error?
What is the present perfect form of 'Es wird viel gesungen'?
Hier ___ viel Kaffee ___. (trinken)
Gestern ___ bis spät in die Nacht ___. (feiern)
___ wird in diesem Restaurant nicht ___. (rauchen)
In dieser Stadt ___ viel Fahrrad ___. (fahren)