Er wordt gewerkt: the Dutch passive with no subject

A notice saying Er wordt hier gewerkt (Work is being done here) describes an activity without making the workers the subject; this is the Dutch onpersoonlijk passief (impersonal passive), a passive clause with no grammatical subject. It is especially useful for rules, reports, signs, and descriptions of what people do in a place.

Use a singular form of worden plus the past participle. In the neutral pattern, put non-referring er in the first position: Er wordt + past participle.

The ordinary personal passive promotes a direct object: De commissie bespreekt het plan → Het plan wordt besproken. The verbs overleggen, lachen, and spreken over in the table have no direct object to promote in these uses. The impersonal passive therefore has no grammatical subject at all.

Remember: no subject means singular worden. Always use third-person singular wordt, werd, or is in this construction. A plural noun inside a prepositional phrase is not the subject: Over de nieuwe regels wordt gesproken, not worden gesproken.

Initial er fills the first position of a main clause; it does not refer to a place or thing. If you put a time, place, or other phrase first, the finite verb remains second and er can often disappear.

This is presentative er, related to the non-referring use introduced under existential er. It is not a replacement for over beide aanvragen. Do not turn the sentence into erover wordt gesproken unless erover itself refers back to an already mentioned topic; that is the separate er + preposition pattern.

The productive pattern uses an activity that can be understood as performed by people or other deliberate actors. It works with intransitive activities and with verbs whose selected complement begins with a preposition.

An event without a deliberate performer normally does not fit. Rain cannot choose to act, so Er wordt geregend is excluded in the ordinary meaning. An animal sound is also not automatically recast as a human activity: Er wordt geblaat cannot simply mean that sheep are bleating. Context can create marked theatrical, humorous, or command-like readings, but those exceptions are not the productive learner rule.

Many intransitive verbs that form the active perfect with zijn describe a change of state or movement toward an endpoint rather than an ongoing controlled activity. Their ordinary uses therefore resist the impersonal passive.

This is a strong tendency, not a ban on every verb that ever takes zijn. A speaker can force an activity reading in an order such as En nu wordt er vertrokken! (Right, now we are leaving!), and verbs such as beginnen met and stoppen met occur naturally in impersonal passives: Er wordt met de renovatie begonnen. Learn established uses rather than applying the auxiliary test as an absolute formula.

A modal adds permission, obligation, or possibility while the passive infinitive stays at the end. Keep the finite modal singular and close the clause with the participle plus worden.

Negation follows the ordinary middle-field rules. On a sign, Hier mag niet geparkeerd worden negates the permitted activity. The dedicated page on the position of niet explains how a different placement can change what is denied.

• Rules and signs: In de wachtruimte wordt niet gebeld.
• Minutes and reports: Er werd uitgebreid over de begroting gesproken.
• Descriptions of activity: Op het plein werd tot middernacht gedanst.
• Instructions without naming the actor: Er moet eerst gecontroleerd worden.

Use an active sentence when the actor is important: De inspecteur controleert de documenten. Use a personal passive when an object should become the subject: De documenten worden gecontroleerd. Choose the impersonal passive when the activity itself is central and no direct object becomes the subject: Er wordt gecontroleerd.

• Do not make worden agree with a noun inside a prepositional phrase: Over drie voorstellen wordt gestemd.
• Do not keep initial er before the finite verb after fronting: write In de zaal wordt gedanst, not In de zaal er wordt gedanst.
• Do not promote a prepositional complement as though it were a direct object. Over het plan wordt gesproken has no grammatical subject.
• Do not form a neutral impersonal passive from every intransitive verb. Check for a plausible activity by a deliberate performer and remember the resistance of many zijn-perfect verbs.

Review the ordinary passive voice, presentational er, and prepositional er. The position of niet applies inside these passive clauses too.