Recipient passive (bekommen/kriegen passive)

What it is: The recipient passive (also Dativ- or Adressatenpassiv) is a passive in which the indirect (dative) object - the recipient - becomes the subject. Where the werden-passive promotes the accusative object, this construction promotes the dative one.

When it is used: It puts the beneficiary or affected person in focus. It works only with verbs that take a dative object (schenken, erklären, kündigen, überreichen, zuweisen, mitteilen).

How it is formed:

• Recipient (subject) + bekommen / erhalten / kriegen + … + Partizip II

erhalten is the formal variant, bekommen is neutral, kriegen is colloquial. The accusative object stays accusative.

Examples:

• Sie bekam die Stelle angeboten. - She was offered the position.
• Er bekam (von der Firma) gekündigt. (← Man kündigte ihm) - He was given notice.
• Nach langer Wartezeit bekam die Familie eine Wohnung zugewiesen. - After a long wait the family was allocated a flat.

Common mistakes: It works only with dative-object verbs - you cannot form it from a verb that has no dative. Do not change the accusative object to nominative; only the recipient becomes the subject. Choose register carefully: kriegen is too informal for written texts.

A passive where the indirect object (the recipient) becomes the subject: „Er bekam das Buch geschenkt.“

Where the werden-passive promotes the accusative object, the Rezipientenpassiv promotes the dative one: „Man kündigte ihm“ → „Er bekam gekündigt“. Use bekommen/erhalten (neutral/formal) or kriegen (colloquial) + Partizip II.

Ein Passiv, bei dem das Dativobjekt (der Empfänger) zum Subjekt wird: „Er bekam das Buch geschenkt.“