The pattern
Start with er, put a singular form of worden in second place and the past participle at the end: Er wordt hard gewerkt.
- Present: Er wordt hard gewerkt. Simple past: Er werd veel gelachen.
- It works with verbs that have no object (dansen, lachen, werken) and with verbs whose object is not important (betalen, eten, bellen).
- With a modal verb (a helper like moeten, mogen or kunnen), the modal takes second place and worden goes to the end as an infinitive: Er moet nog betaald worden. The order worden betaald is also correct.
- In the perfect, worden drops out and zijn takes over: Er is hard gewerkt (see The passive in the perfect).
- When another phrase starts the sentence, er comes after the verb, and you can often leave it out: Hier wordt (er) niet gerookt.
Examples
| Er wordt bij ons op de afdeling hard gewerkt. | People work hard in our department. |
| Op de verjaardag van Daan werd er veel gelachen. | There was a lot of laughing at Daan's birthday. |
| Er wordt aangebeld. Verwacht jij een pakketje? | Someone's ringing the bell. Are you expecting a parcel? |
| Er moet nog betaald worden. Wie regelt dat? | Someone still has to pay. Who's taking care of it? |
| Er mag in de stiltecoupé niet gebeld worden. | You aren't allowed to make phone calls in the quiet carriage. |
| Hier wordt niet gerookt. | No smoking here. |
| In de kantine wordt vooral over het weer gepraat. | In the canteen, people mostly talk about the weather. |
| Op Schiphol wordt vandaag gestaakt. | There is a strike at Schiphol today. |
| Ik hoorde dat er bij de buren tot laat gefeest werd. | I heard the neighbours were partying until late. |
Why it works this way
Dutch sentences like to have something in the subject's position. In an ordinary passive, the thing the action happens to is the subject: De brug wordt gerepareerd. With dansen or lachen there is no such thing, and you are deliberately not naming the people. So er fills the empty slot. It has no meaning of its own, a bit like "there" in "there is": it simply keeps the sentence in shape.
That explains the details. With no real subject, worden stays singular: wordt, werd. And when a phrase like hier or op Schiphol already stands in front of the verb, the sentence already feels complete, so er is often dropped.
English has no direct match, so translations use "people", "someone" or "there is". Dutch could also say ze staken or use men (see people in general), but the passive keeps the spotlight on the activity. That neutral tone makes it popular on signs, in notices and in emails: Priya's IT department might write Er wordt gewerkt aan een oplossing when the system is down. In the present it can also sound like a firm order. A parent who says En nu wordt er geslapen! is not describing the bedroom.
Remember: er is an empty chair at the table. The activity is clearly going on, but nobody sits in the chair, so nobody gets named and worden stays singular.
Watch out
FoutHet wordt hier hard gewerkt
GoedEr wordt hier hard gewerkt
the placeholder is er, not het, even though German uses es
FoutEr wordt gewerkt hard
GoedEr wordt hard gewerkt
the participle goes to the end
FoutEr moet nog betaald wordt
GoedEr moet nog betaald worden
after a modal, worden is an infinitive
FoutEr wordde veel gelachen
GoedEr werd veel gelachen
the past of worden is irregular
Quick check
- Fill in the simple past of worden: Gisteren ... er op het feest van Sanne tot drie uur 's nachts gedanst.
- Choose Er or Het: ... wordt in de stiltecoupé niet gebeld.
- Fix the sentence by changing one word: Er mag op het perron niet gefietst wordt.
- Fill in the past participle of vergaderen: Bij het team van Fatima wordt er op dinsdag altijd lang ...
Toon de antwoorden
- werd (the simple past of worden is irregular)
- Er (this pattern uses er as the placeholder, never het)
- Er mag op het perron niet gefietst worden. (after a modal, worden stays an infinitive)
- vergaderd (no ge- because of the unstressed prefix ver-, and -d because the stem ends in r)
Use it today
Describe a place you know without naming anyone: write three sentences about your office, your street or your gym with er wordt or er werd, such as In de sportschool wordt er veel gezweet. Then add one house rule with a modal, for example Er mag hier niet gerookt worden.