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How does one know when to use wurde vs war in forming sentences like the following?

My book gave an example for I was robbed as being

Ich wurde ausgeraubt

but wouldn't that translate to I became robbed with the verb of werden?

Why didn't they use Ich war ausgeraubt in that context?

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    maybe ausgeraubt is a bad example.. I think enttäuscht makes things much easier to understand, as there is no english equivalent of the "state of having been robbed"
    – Vogel612
    Feb 7, 2014 at 10:53
  • What are you trying to stress in your narrative? I feel like "war“ is statement of the fact. If you plan to give follow on details regarding the incident use "wurde".
    – Bill
    May 5, 2022 at 14:04

6 Answers 6

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I don't quite agree with the other two answers.

Even in English, "I was robbed" is usually not the past tense of the state of "being robbed", but rather understood to mean that someone robbed you. That is, "I was robbed" is the passive voice (in the past tense) of "to rob".

Same in German. "Ich wurde ausgeraubt" is the correct passive construction (in the Präteritum/simple past) of "ausrauben". The Perfekt/perfect tense construction would be "Ich bin ausgeraubt worden".

Compare the Perfekt/perfect tense of the "wrong" interpretation: "Ich bin ausgeraubt gewesen".

English conflates the two, both in the past and perfect tenses. I.e. you only have "I was robbed" and "I have been robbed".

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  • I found this answer very helpful except that it does not directly address the part of the original question where it asks “Why didn't they use ‘Ich war ausgeraubt’” — I think the implication is that ”Ich war ausgeraubt” is simply wrong, but I’m not sure.
    – Tony M
    Sep 25, 2019 at 12:22
  • @TonyM Exactly, "Ich war ausgeraubt" is simply not correct.
    – Earthliŋ
    Sep 27, 2019 at 0:14
  • Is the rule dependent on the verb? I saw two sentences both valid: "Sarah wurde drei Montate lang eingearbeitet." und "Als Ingo in die Firma kam, war Sarah schon eingearbeitet."
    – YNG
    Jan 8, 2020 at 11:18
  • @YNG For the second example you give, the verb eingearbeitet sein can be used to describe the state of having been trained (cf. "to be acquainted with sth."). But there are also verbs jmd. einarbeiten (cf. "to acquaint so. with sth."), which was used in the first example, and the reflexive sich einarbeiten (cf. "to acquaint oneself with sth."). I don't know if there is any good rule to determine when [Partizip] + sein (engl. [participle] + "to be") is natural or unnatural...
    – Earthliŋ
    Jan 8, 2020 at 20:54
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While "werden" has the meaning become,

Ich werde rot, wenn ich mich schäme. (I blush [turn red] when I feel ashamed)

it is also the auxiliary that is used to express passive voice (Partizip perfekt + werden), while the construction in English is to be + past participle.

Ich werde ausgeraubt. (I am being robbed)

There is no semantic relation between this construction with the full verb werden (to become) (other than the state change by being the object of an action, as Tom Au expressed in his answer), just as there is no such relation between haben + Partizip perfekt for perfect tense and the full verb haben that expresses ownership (same in English).

While we are at it, you probably already learned that some verbs build their perfect tense with sein instead of haben ("ich habe geschlafen", but "ich bin eingeschlafen"). And finally you may sometimes see forms of sein + Partizip perfekt (e.g. "ich bin gespannt, was jetzt passiert") that do not express perfect tense (nor passive voice), but rather the participle is understood as an adjective. (unless of

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    Unless of what?
    – Vogel612
    Feb 6, 2014 at 23:18
  • 2
    werden ist in diesem Zusammenhang nicht "to become", es ist Passiv.
    – Robert
    Feb 6, 2014 at 23:28
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Der Vorgang, der in der Vergangenheit stattfand:

Ich wurde ausgeraubt.

Der Zustand danach:

Ich war ausgeraubt.

Beispiel:

Nach dem Drink verlor ich das Bewusstsein. Auf einem verschmutzten Parkplatz kam ich zu mir. Die Geldbörse fehlte, der Autoschlüssel, die goldene Uhr - ich war ausgeraubt. Ich schleppte mich zur nächsten Wache und betrat sie mit einem "Guten Abend, ich wurde ausgeraubt!".

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    Ich denke, man sollte schon erwähnen, dass Ich wurde ausgeraubt.Passiv ist. Daher gebe ich hier -1.
    – Jonathan Scholbach ♦
    Sep 30, 2018 at 22:52
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„Wurde“ is the past tense of „werden“ and is used whenever the subject has something done to it. In simpler terms it is the passive voice and the auxiliary verb „werden“ is used when someone expresses an idea in the passive voice.

The book was written by me - Das Buch wurde von mir geschrieben (passive voice) instead of: I wrote the book- ich habe das Buch geschrieben. (This is active, not passive)

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"Wurde" is a "change of state" verb. That is, you went from being "not robbed," to being "robbed."

So your understanding of "Ich wurde ausgeraubt

[ translating to] I became robbed with the verb of werden?" appears correct.

Some more examples:

Ich wurde alt. I became old.

But, Ich war jung. I WAS young (originally).

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    Thanks, but I still don't understand how it can't be "Ich war ausgeraubt"? Does it mean it happened in the past, ie "many years ago I was robbed"? versus the use of werden as in "help, police, I was just robbed"?
    – user5105
    Feb 6, 2014 at 20:57
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    @user5105: In your "virgin" state, you have never been robbed. Once you have been robbed, you're no longer a "virgin" (in regards to this matter).
    – Tom Au
    Feb 6, 2014 at 21:00
  • Here "wurde" doesn't mean a change of state of "being robbed" and "I became robbed" is not a valid translation.
    – Earthliŋ
    Feb 7, 2014 at 0:26
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Ich wurde ausgeraubt -> I got robbed. Ich war ausgeraubt -> I've been robbed earlier (and still don't have my stuff back).

Beispiele: Wenn man den Raub auf der Polizeiwache meldet, sagt man "ich wurde (gerade eben) ausgeraubt". Wenn man etwas anderes erzählt und erwähnt, dass man ausgeraubt war, könnte man sagen "ich war schon 5 Minuten vorher ausgeraubt, aber hinter der nächsten Ecke stand schon wieder einer mit einem Messer". Die meisten Leute würden wahrscheinlich (erst recht im Gesprochenen) sagen "ich bin vor 5 Minuten schon ausgeraubt worden..."

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    "ich war ausgeraubt" ist meiner Meinung nach kein korrektes deutsch, da muss doch "worden" hinter..? also, wenn man "war" überhaupt mit "ausgeraubt" benutzen will, das ist ja ein rein passives Wort..
    – christian.s
    Feb 7, 2014 at 7:13
  • "Ich bin ausgeraubt" wäre es, wenn man sein Zeug noch nicht zurück hat. Bei "ich war" kann es anders sein.
    – user unknown
    Feb 19, 2015 at 15:25

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