German “Werden” Explained: 7 Uses of the Verb

Sometime at the beginning of B-levels, you’ll start to see the word werden cropping up everywhere.

You’ll learn that it’s used for passive constructions. Then you’ll learn it’s used for future tense. And subjunctive. And…the list goes on.

But never fear! Master the seven distinct uses of werden below, and you’ll open the door to seven brand new grammatical forms and seven new methods of self-expression in German.

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How Do You Conjugate Werden?

Let’s start with the basics: conjugation. Werden is used in various tenses, depending on its grammatical function, and it’s important to get those straight before we go any farther.

7 Key Ways to Use the German Verb Werden

Werden has many different roles in German, so be sure to get a grasp on its various functions in the language.

1. Werden as the present tense verb “to become”

What does werden mean when you use it in its normal, present tense form? Werden means “to become.”

The incautious German student might think that bekommen means “to become,” but be careful making assumptions, because bekommen is a falscher Freund (false friend). It actually means “to receive.”

If you want to indicate that something’s in the process of becoming something else, werden is the word for you. If you want to say you’re getting sick, use werden.

Ich werde Krank.
I’m getting sick.

If you want to say someone’s starting a new career, say, becoming a doctor, use werden:

Er wird Arzt.
He’s becoming a doctor.

If you want to talk about something that became something else in the near past, you can use the Particip II of werden to create the present perfect tense (Perfekt): geworden.

Ich bin Journalistin geworden.
I became a journalist.

Since werden is a word that involves a change, make sure to use sein, not haben to form the present perfect tense.

If you want to talk about something that became something else in the simple past (which is often used in literary forms or history books), use the Präteritum forms above.

Goethe wurde Schriftsteller.
Goethe became a writer.

2. Passive constructions of werden

Have you figured out how to use werden to mean become or became? Good. Now let’s move on to using werden to construct passive sentences.

Remember, a passive construction is a construction where the subject of the sentence is acted upon by something else, rather than the subject of the sentence performing an action. An English example: The house was built.

To form a present tense passive construction in German, use the present tense of werden plus the Particip II version of a verb. For example:

Das Haus wird gebaut.
The house is being built.

To form a past passive construction in German, you could use either Perfekt (perfect) or Präteritum (past). In Perfekt, use the Particip II (participle) of the verb plus worden. For example:

Das Haus ist gebaut worden.
The house was being built.

In Präteritum, or literary past tense, you would use the Präteritum version of werden plus the Particip II. For example:

Der Song wurde von den Beatles gesungen.
The song was sung by the Beatles.

3. Werden in konjunktiv II (subjunctive) form

Now let’s talk about how you can use werden to express subjunctive, or conditional, forms.

This is used to express something that isn’t real: a wish, a hope or an unreal situation. How do you form these constructions? There are eight verbs that have their own Konjunctiv II forms, but the rest of the time you use the Konjunctiv II form of werden, plus the infinitive of a verb. (You can read more about those verbs with their own Konjuntiv II forms them here.) Here are some examples:

Wenn ich das machen würde…
If I did that…

Ich würde Sie ja gerne mitnehmen, wenn Sie Zeit hätten.
I would gladly take you with me, if you had time.

Wenn ich Geld hätte, würde ich einen Kaffee trinken.
If I had money, I would drink a coffee.

To remember these different forms of werden, I recommend listening to the word in use in authentic, natural context, such as on FluentU. 

Werden can also be used with the infinitive form of a verb to create four different structures. The first is not very important:

4. Talking about the future with werden

To talk about the future (Zukunft), Germans use werden plus the infinitive form of a verb.

Im August werde ich in den USA Urlaub machen.
In August, I am going to the USA for a vacation.

Why is the future tense the least important use of werden plus infinitive? Because Germans don’t actually use the future tense all that often. It’s much more common for Germans to simply use present tense and imply future using context clues, such as in the following example:

Morgen koche ich etwas.
Tomorrow, I’m cooking something.

But it’s still important to know the future tense and to know how to differentiate it from the other forms of werden plus infinitive.

5. Implying attitudes about certainty with werden

Werden plus infinitive can also be used to talk about guarantees—also known as Sicherheit (security).

Sie wird garantiert krank sein.
She’s definitely sick.

So how do you distinguish a sentence that’s talking about a certainty from a sentence that’s talking about the future? It’s all about the context words, words that mean “definitely” or “for sure.” Look for the following words as indicators of certainty:

sicher
surely

bestimmt
definitely

sicherlich
certainly

gewiss
assuredly

mit Sicherheit
with certainty

garantiert
guaranteed

auf jeden Fall
absolutely

6. Implying probability with werden

Just as you can use werden plus infinitive to talk about guarantees, you can also use it to talk about probabilities. For example, if you wanted to say,

Maria wird gerade am Strand liegen.
Maria is probably lying on the beach right now.

A sentence construction that’s used for probabilities and certainties. Sounds confusing, right? But don’t panic! Look for these context words that mean probably, and you’ll be able to spot a sentence like this in no time.

vermutlich
presumably

wahrscheinlich
probably

vielleicht
maybe

möglicherweise
possibly

wohl
surely

7. Giving commands with werden

Finally, werden plus infinitive constructions can be used to give someone a command.

Du wirst jetzt sofort kommen!
You need to come now!

This form of command is stricter and more official than an Imperativ command.

Now you’re ready to go!

Werden has a lot of uses, and it can be confusing to try to figure them out. But with some studying and a lot of practice, you’ll be well on your way to knowing all these different forms.

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)