Short The Passive Voice in Dutch

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Short The Passive Voice - (de) lijdende vorm

'suffering mode'

In the Passive Voice the object of a 'regular, active' sentence becomes the subject, and is subjected to some activity.

Regular, active: Hij schopt de bal

He kicks the ball
Passive: De bal wordt geschopt

The ball is kicked
You can add the subject of teh 'active' sentence, now the 'agent' of the 'passive' sentence, with English 'by,' Dutch door

‑>>
Ik word geschopt door Jan

I am kicked by Jan

Dutch and English both use a past participle in the passive voice, but Dutch uses the auxiliary verb worden

2 - while English uses the auxiliary verb 'to be'

worden -
~to be

ik word -
~I am

wij worden -
~we are

ik werd -
~I was

wij werden -
~we were

ik ben geworden

~I have been ‑>> 2

Wordt er regen verwacht?

2 Is rain expected?
Ik werd afgeleid

2 I was distracted
Hij werd gemarteld

2 He was tortured

In English, 'to be' is the auxiliary verb of the passive voice, while Dutch has worden 2 as the auxiliary verb of the passive voice
'Worden' is one of a small number of Dutch verbs that use zijn (otherwise translated as 'to be') as the auxiliary verb for the perfect tenses ‑>>
Dutch drops the past participle '~~geworden~~' in the perfect tenses

This all can be confusing for English-speakers learning Dutch, and also for Dutch people speaking or writing English.

Hij wordt door een wesp gestoken!

'He is being stung by a wasp!' - right this moment Hij is door een wesp gestoken ~~geworden~~

'He has been stung by a wasp' - some time ago geboren worden

2 to be born
Hij werd geboren in Rotterdam

2 3 He was born in Rotterdam Ze is op Kerstdag geboren ~~geworden~~

2 She [has been] was born on Christmas Day Ik ben in Nederland geboren ~~geworden~~

I [have been] was born in Holland

'Worden' as 'to Become'

Dutch 'worden

2 can also mean 'to become' - a development, turning into, or as my dictionary so nicely says: 'begin to be.' Colloquially, English sometimes says 'to get' or uses other verbs.
In the 'to become' meaning, the past participle 'geworden'

2 is not dropped

Op den duur wordt 't makkelijker

In the long run, after a while it will be easier Op den duur wordt 't makkelijker

In the long run, after a while it will be easier Laat je thee niet koud worden

2 3 Don't let your tea get cold Mannen die lui worden

2 3 Men becoming lazy Hij is leraar geworden

2 3 4 He's become a teacher

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