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It is my understanding that German has three passive past tenses and (I'm not sure about this) English has only two:

Imperfekt: Der Euro wurde eingeführt.
The Euro was introduced.

Perfekt: Der Euro ist eingeführt worden.
The Euro has been introduced.

Plusquamperfekt: Der Euro war eingeführt worden.

Would this be translated any differently than "The Euro has been introduced"? It seems German has a sense of "recently," "in the past," and "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away" whereas English only has recently and in the past. Is this correct?

Em1
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mbmast
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  • You forgot Präsens: Der Euro ist eingeführt. Präsens can describe things that happened in the past. Im Jahr 2002 führt Deutschland den Euro ein. – dusky Jan 14 '15 at 22:18
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    Wouldn't Präsens (passive) be: Der Euro wird eingeführt. ? – mbmast Jan 14 '15 at 22:21
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    Even in English there is the form "The Euro had been introduced" - and please note that the first two forms you mention are not one-to-one equivalent in use between German and English. – Gerhard Jan 14 '15 at 22:22
  • @Gerhard, could you please explain how the first two forms are not one-to-one equivalent in use between German and English? – mbmast Jan 14 '15 at 22:29
  • In brief: in German, Perfekt and Imperfekt are primarily a matter of style, the former mostly used in spoken language, while the latter is used for written texts. In English, the "present perfect" always has a reference to the present (I have known the man for 5 years), while the "simple past" refers to something that ended in the past (I knew the man for 5 years = but we lost touch). The same goes of course also for the passive forms you mention. Note: This is a crude oversimplification in a comment, there is a lot more to it, but probably a lot better explained in a grammar book. – Gerhard Jan 15 '15 at 08:36
  • and finally one thing to add to you original question: There are regions in Germany (in particular around the Rhine), which use the Plusquamperfekt analogously to the past in spoken language. Occasionally, you can even hear forms like "Der Euro war eingeführt worden gewesen". – Gerhard Jan 15 '15 at 08:40
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    English has also three: was introduced, has been introduced, had been introduced. So the number of tenses and the way they are formed are the same. However, in German, tenses are used differently (no matter if active or passive). Also, German has two ways to form the passive voice: Vorgangspassiv (using "haben") and Zustandspassiv (using "sein"). Again, this applies to all tenses. – dirkt Jan 15 '15 at 09:38
  • @mbmast: Das Deutsche kennt zwei verschiedene Passivformen, die beide korrekt sind, aber etwas anderes aussagen: Vorgangspassiv: »Das Buffet wird eröffnet.« Beschreibt einen Vorgang, der jetzt gerade (also in der Gegenwart) geschieht, und daher noch keine unmittelbaren Auswirkungen hat. - Zustandspassiv: »Das Buffet ist eröffnet.« Beschreibt einen Zustand, der jetzt gerade (also in der Gegenwart) der Fall ist. Dieser aktuelle Zustand ist die Auswirkung eines Vorganges, der in der Vergangenheit stattgefunden hat. Daher beschreibt der Zustandspassiv im Präsens auch etwas aus der Vergangenheit. – Hubert Schölnast Jan 22 '15 at 09:19

1 Answers1

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The standard reading is that German has two passive forms and 3 past tenses. Here they are:

  1. Die Käse wird geschnitten. (focus on process)
  2. Der Käse ist geschnitten. (focus on result)

Ich habe den Käse geschnitten.
Ich schnitt den Käse.
Ich hatte den Käse geschnitten.

If we combine that we get 6 options. Simple math.

1)

Der Käse ist geschnitten worden.
Der Käse wurde gschnitten.
Der Käse war geschnitten worden.

2)

Der Käse ist geschnitten gewesen.
Der Käse war geschnitten.
Der Käse war geschnitten gewesen.

Commonly the 3 options under 1) are commonly considered the options for past in passive and but that's just random.
If one really wants to distinguish between "Zustandspassiv" and "Vorgangspassiv" (and books fancy that approach very much) then all these six forms should be called passive because they directly derive from the present tense versions.

As for English... English has one passive, three past tenses and the option of progressive aspect. Mathematically that should also give 6 versions for a passive in the past. But the strong perfective aspect of the English perfect tense collides with the progressive aspect. You cannot express both at the same time and expect it to make much sense. So in practice we have only 4.

It has been cut.
It was cut.
It had been cut.

Is has been being cut. (rare, if at all)
It was being cut. (common)
It had been being cut. (rare, if at all)

The English six and the German six correspond about as much as I do with the Finanzamt. Next to none.

Emanuel
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