I see no subject in that sentence

Question

I saw that sentence in IX magazine, an IT magazine :

Auf das erste Subnetz kann demnach mit "module-subnetz" zugegriffen werden.

Where "module-subnetz" is the name of an IT component (The article is about a software called Terraform).

That I try to understand as:

In consequence, anything on the first subnet can be accessed with "module-subnet"

But I do not see any subject in the sentence, which could be the equivalent of the "anything" I added. Is it in general correct to say:

Auf der Strasse kann überfahren werden

Instead of :

Auf der Strasse kann man überfahren werden.

Note that "Auf der Straße kann [man] überfahren werden." is a different case, as "auf der Straße" is not an object of the verb (überfahren), as opposed to "auf das erste Subnetz" for "zugreifen". — O. R. Mapper, May 15 '22 at 09:52
Not every sentence has a subject. You stumbled across one. To me, tt is not clear what your question is. — Jonathan Scholbach, May 16 '22 at 09:37

Carsten S · Accepted Answer · 2022-05-15T19:59:29.867

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You do not even need to insert “anything” in the English version. The key here is to notice that “to access sth” is “auf etwas zugreifen”.

We access the subnet.

would become the passive construction

The subnet is accessed.

The direct object became the subject.

However,

Wir greifen auf das Subnetz zu.

does not have an accusative object, i.e. “zugreifen” is not a transitive verb. In German, this can still be turned into a passive construction, which then simply has no subject:

Auf das Subnetz wird zugegriffen.

On the other hand, this does not apply to “überfahren”, which takes an accusative object (I had to change “man” to “einer”, because “man” does not have an accusative form):

Auf der Straße können Autofahrer einen überfahren.

This accusative object then becomes the subject in the passive construction:

Auf der Straße kann man überfahren werden.

Again, it is different for verbs without an accusative object:

Auf der Straße kann getanzt werden.

edited May 15 '22 at 19:59

answered May 15 '22 at 10:10

Carsten S

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See my comment above. – RDBury May 15 '22 at 10:43
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@RDBury, you start from the wrong assumption that a German sentence must have a subject. You can read the answer that I have linked for more detail. – Carsten S May 15 '22 at 10:47
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@RDBury, you can have even shorter examples: Jetzt wird getanzt. – Carsten S May 15 '22 at 10:50
Carsten S: Okay, the linked answer was more clear on this point. Every so often my understanding of German is severely hindered by my ability to understand English. – RDBury May 15 '22 at 10:55
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@RDBury :) I am sure that knowing English is a net positive when learning German, though. And understanding the differences between the two languages can probably make it more entertaining to listen to Germans speaking English ;) – Carsten S May 15 '22 at 11:01
Maybe I made it a bit clearer now. – Carsten S May 15 '22 at 11:10
Carsten S: Yes, the answer is clear now. Knowing English is a big help... most of time. There are all those cognates for one thing. But you can misled, thinking you can infer something that's totally wrong. While Apfel is "apple", Gift is not "gift". – RDBury May 15 '22 at 11:51
Let us continue this discussion in chat. – Carsten S May 15 '22 at 12:04
Verbs with an accusative object are called transitive verbs. – RHa May 15 '22 at 19:05
@RHa, good point. – Carsten S May 15 '22 at 19:55

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered May 16 '22 at 06:27

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In the school, our German teacher asked us exactly the same question about a similar sentence in passive and none of us knew the answer.

The teacher explained us that the sentence in your example is an abbreviation of:

Es kann demnach auf das erste Subnetz mit "module-subnetz" zugegriffen werden.

(Most native speakers would not use this "long" form of the sentence.)

And that the word "es" is the subject here.

She also told us that in the "abbreviated" sentence the subject is also the (implicit) word "es" although it is left out.

answered May 16 '22 at 06:27

Martin Rosenau

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I already accepted the other answer, but this one is great and concise too. It works also well along Carsten S comment "Heute wird getantzt", wich I guess implies "Heute wird es getantzt" – Vulpo May 16 '22 at 06:36
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That is a poorly trained teacher. The es you introduced is not a subject. For instance, it cannot appear in subordinate clauses: **damit es auf das Subnetz zugegriffen werden kann. This type of es* is called expletive. It can also co-occur with a subject: es werden Mitarbeiter gesucht. – David Vogt May 16 '22 at 06:40
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@Vulpo "Es wird heute getanzt." – rexkogitans May 16 '22 at 07:44

I see no subject in that sentence

2 Answers2