In the first sentence, the subject is Alan, and the object is Hanna. This is an active sentence, because the person carrying out the activity described by the verb (Alan), is the subject.

In the corresponding passive sentence, the subject is Hanna. In other words, the object in the active sentence is the subject in the corresponding passive sentence. The subject of the active sentence (Alan) is still present in the passive sentence and indicated by the preposition door. It is possible to omit the 'do-er' (or agent) of the action without making the sentence ungrammatical.

Hanna wordt uitgenodigd.

Hanna is invited.

If we consider examples 1 and 2, it is obvious that both sentences refer to the same event in which an invitation is issued by Alan to Hanna. The difference lies in the way in which that event is described: in both types of sentence, it is the subject that plays the central role. In the active sentence, this is the agent (the do-er of the action), but in the passive sentence it is the person or thing undergoing the action that plays the central role. In other words: there is a different perspective.

Note that the English passive is invited is translated into Dutch wordt uitgenodigd, and not is uitgenodigd. The passive auxiliary for the present tense in Dutch is worden. Is uitgenodigd is a perfect passive tense in Dutch, because zijn is the passive auxiliary for the perfect tense in Dutch.

The subject of the active sentence is still present in the passive sentence and indicated by the preposition door (in the example below Zwarte Piet). However, it is also possible to omit the agent:

De cadeautjes worden uitgedeeld door Zwarte Piet.

The presents are handed out by 'Black Peter'.

De cadeautjes worden uitgedeeld.

The presents are handed out.

This is in fact a very significant characteristic of the passive voice, because it provides us with the opportunity to talk about actions where it is either (a) unnecessary to report who the agent is, or where it is (b) obvious, (c) unclear or (d) undesirable to know who the agent is:

(a)

Op oudejaarsavond wordt er om twaalf uur vuurwerk afgestoken.

On New Year's Eve fireworks are lit at twelve o'clock.

In this example it is not necessary to spell out who the people are who light the fireworks: it is more important to describe the activity.

(b)

De terrorist werd vrijdag gearresteerd.

The terrorist was arrested on Friday.

In this example it is not necessary to say who arrested the terrorist as this job is usually carried out by police officers.

(c)

Mijn fiets is alweer gestolen!

My bicycle has been stolen again!

Here, the speaker does not know who has stolen the bicycle, and is therefore not able to mention the agent.

(d)
De pedofiel werd vorig jaar vrijgelaten.
The paedophile was released last year.

In this case, keeping the agent vague has the effect that not one person is blamed in particular (i.e. a government minister or judge responsible for releasing prisoners).

Note that in all cases (a), (b), (c) and (d), the focus of the sentence is not on the people undertaking the action, but on the recipient of the action. It shows that the passive voice is indeed used when a different perspective is needed.

Have a look at the following active sentence. The subject is underlined, the finite verb is red, and the object is bold:

Marieke wast de auto.

Marieke washes the car.

To turn this into a passive sentence, you undertake the following steps:

1. Find the object, because this becomes the subject in the passive sentence.

(de auto)

2. Find the finite verb and determine the past participle of the infinitive (here: wassen).

(gewassen)

3. Decide on the form of the auxiliary worden: it has to match the subject in number (here: third person singular).

(wordt)

4. Find the subject and decide whether it is still relevant, because you'll be able to include it in the passive sentence by means of door.

(door Marieke)

5. Combine these elements according to the Dutch rules for sentence formation.

De auto (1) wordt (3) gewassen (2) [door Marieke (4)].

The car is (being) washed [by Marieke].

In other words, with these tenses, the tense of the active sentence is 'translated' into the tense of the auxiliary worden in the passive sentence. As with the present tense of the passive voice, make sure that the form of worden (or zullen in the case of the future passive) matches the subject of the passive sentence in number.

Make sure that the form of zijn matches the subject of the passive sentence in number.

Note that the translation of the Dutch passive is gemaakt is has been made in English and not is made. The auxiliary zijn is used only in the perfect and pluperfect tenses of the Dutch passive. Worden is used for the present. So the verb worden does not figure at all in the perfect and pluperfect tenses of the passive voice in Dutch.

Er wordt om twaalf uur vuurwerk afgestoken.

At twelve o'clock fireworks are lit.

In the above passive sentence, the word er makes its appearance. This er is existential er. The presence of this type of er in a passive sentence means that the subject of that sentence (here: vuurwerk) is an indefinite noun (group).

In other words, when the subject of a passive sentence is indefinite, existential er is normally added. It will then take the position of the subject (see sentence structure) and the actual subject itself comes later in the sentence.

Note that the example above would have looked as follows if the indefinite vuurwerk had been substituted by the definite het vuurwerk:

Om twaalf uur wordt het vuurwerk afgestoken.
At twelve o'clock the fireworks are lit.

Another example of this type of sentence (passive with indefinite subject) is:

Er worden in Nederland veel fietsen gestolen.

Many bicycles are stolen in the Netherlands.

Note that er can occur in any position where a subject can be found, for example after the finite verb in the example below:

In Nederland worden er veel fietsen gestolen.

In the Netherlands, many bicycles are stolen.

However, er need not be present if an adverb or adjunct of place occurs in first position:

In Nederland worden veel fietsen gestolen.

In the Netherlands, many bicycles are stolen.

Nevertheless, a construction that looks very much like the passive can be used in combination with intransitive verbs: