The passive voice is used to put the focus of a sentence on the object or the action, and often avoid naming the subject at all. The formation of the German passive voice can be quite confusing, so let's go step by step. 

banner5 PLACEHOLDER

The Vorgangspassiv is formed with the verb werden, which in these cases is not translated as "to become," but instead as "to be." These sentences answer the question of "What is being done [to X]?" The sentences below have the following structure: 

Conjugation of werden + past participle

Notice that in the first sentence, the question of who is carrying out the action (making sauerkraut out of cabbage) is left completely unanswered. This is actually the case in the third sentence as well. However, as you can see in the second example, the subject (die Ereignisse) can still be integrated into a sentence in the passive voice by using the preposition von.

Es wird aus Kohl gemacht und es schmeckt sauer.

It is made from cabbage and it tastes sour.

Caption 30, Deutsch mit Eylin: Denk schnell!

 Play Caption

Große Erfindungen werden oft von ungewöhnlichen Ereignissen inspiriert.

Great inventions are often inspired by unusual events.

Caption 3, 200. Geburtstag: Die Geschichte des Fahrrads in 2 Minuten

 Play Caption

Mit dem Handscanner wird jeder Koffer erfasst.

Every suitcase is registered with the handheld scanner.

Caption 40, Ab in den Urlaub: So kommt der Koffer in den Flieger

 Play Caption

A more complex structure is necessary when we ask, for example, "What is/was allowed to be done [to X]?", "What should be done to [X]?", or "What must be done [to X]?" Now werden is kept in the infinitive, and it is the modal verb that is conjugated. The structure for this is: 

Conjugated modal verb + past participle + werden

Erst nach seinem Jahrestag im August durfte hier gefischt werden.

Only after its anniversary in August was fishing allowed here.

Caption 8, Alpenseen: Kühle Schönheiten

 Play Caption

Außerdem sollen Lebensmittel ökologisch angebaut werden.

In addition, food should be organically grown.

Caption 25, Erklärvideos Nachhaltigkeit einfach erklärt

 Play Caption

Das heißt also, dass auch das Adjektiv dekliniert werden muss.

So this means that the adjective must also be declined.

Caption 64, Deutsch mit Eylin: Die 4 Fälle

 Play Caption

Further Learning
Try to remove the subject and re-construct these simple sentences using the Vorgangspassiv. Clicking on the sentence will take you to the Yabla German video that contains the answer!

1. Die Leute essen das Gericht gerne mit Kartoffelpüree.

2. Nun muss ich die Äpfel schälen und schneiden.

3. Er muss die Maske überall tragen.

You're probably very familiar with the German adjective schön. It's one of the most commonly used words in the German language, as well as one of the first words you encounter when learning to speak German. The crowd-sourced online dictionary dict.cc lists up to 20 possible English translations for schön, although it is usually translated into English as "nice," "beautiful," or "pretty," depending upon the context.

Es gibt viele schöne Lindenalleen in Deutschland.

There are many beautiful linden avenues in Germany.

Caption 2, Deutsch mit Eylin - Bäume

 Play Caption

Es ist ein sehr schönes Land und die Hauptstadt heißt Bern.

It is a very beautiful country, and the capital is called Bern.

Captions 14-15, Deutsch mit Eylin - Denk schnell!

 Play Caption

You are probably also familiar with schön as an adverb directly modifying a verb. In the first case below, schön ("beautiful") modifies aussehen ("looks"), and in the second case, schön ("beautiful") modifies sich machen ("makes herself"):

Lavendel sieht schön aus und duftet natürlich sehr gut.

Lavender looks beautiful and, of course, smells very good.

Caption 25, Deutsch mit Eylin - Kräuter aus meinem Garten

 Play Caption

Wenn Lothar eine Party macht, macht Sabine sich extra schön.

When Lothar has a party, Sabine makes herself extra beautiful.

Captions 4-5, Deutsch mit Eylin - Machen vs. tun

 Play Caption

You may be a bit less familiar, however, with schön as an adverb modifying another adverb, as these are not usually translated literally into English:

Allerdings sind die oft ganz schön teuer.

However, they are often pretty expensive.

Caption 56, Deutsch mit Eylin - Erkältungszeit

 Play Caption

Puh, das war ganz schön streng, fand ich.

Phew, that was really pretty strict, I thought.

Caption 9, Deutsch mit Eylin - Ernährungsformen

 Play Caption

The above construction, ganz schön... followed by an adverb, is common in German. If you translated it literally word for word, you would wind up with something clumsy like "very prettily strict," which doesn't really work. Since the adjective schön is sometimes translated as as "pretty," in the sense of "beautiful," it is convenient to translate the adverb schön as "pretty" too. But while "pretty" and "beautiful" are largely interchangeable when using them as adjectives, the adverb "pretty" has different connotations than the adverb "beautifully." And there is another potential problem with translating the phrase ganz schön as "pretty": In German, the adverbial phrase ganz schön is a strengthening modifier, meaning it makes whatever it is modifying stronger, the equivalent of "quite" or "really quite." Note that the second example above emphasizes ganz schön as a strengthening modifier by translating it as "really pretty."

As a colleague of mine aptly pointed out, ganz schön also "often reflects that there's a bit of surprise or unexpectedness (on someone's behalf, not necessarily the speaker) regarding the extent something is the way it is."
 

In English, the adverb "pretty" is either a strengthening or a weakening modifier, depending upon the context and the way in which it is spoken. If spoken with confidence and the emphasis on the main adverb, it strengthens the main adverb. If spoken with doubt, with the emphasis on "pretty," it weakens the main adverb:

How was your tennis match today?
Pretty good. ("Very good")

How was your tennis match today?
Pretty good. ("fairly good," "okay")

If the text above were printed without the emphasis shown in bold print, with no other context to tell if the person was pleased or not so pleased with the tennis match, you would not be able to say with certainty whether they thought the match went really well or was slightly disappointing. The adverb "pretty" is pretty—no, very—ambiguous. The German adverb ziemlich is similar to the English adverb "pretty," in that it can be either a strengthening or weakening modifier, depending upon the context.

If you are ever translating the adverbial phrase ganz schön to English, it may be generally better to use an English adverb that is unequivocally a strengthening modifier, such as "really," or "quite." There is a certain beauty in the parallel of translating ganz schön into the English adverb "pretty," but you should be certain in that case that it is very clear to potential readers that "pretty" is meant as a strengthening modifier. If the context is ambiguous, using "pretty" can lead to an ambiguous translation!

The same applies vice-versa, should you ever be translating English to German: if the English text is "pretty sure" (in the sense of "somewhat unsure"), then you do not want to translate that to ganz schön sicher, because this translates back to "very sure."

Further Learning
How would you translate Sie ist ganz schön schön—as "She is pretty pretty"? Translating can sometimes be a tricky process: equivalent words in different languages often have subtly different cultural contexts and meanings. Go to Yabla German and search for the adverbial phrase ganz schön to learn different ways that it can be translated according to the different contexts, including into the English adverb "pretty."