Understanding the meaning of the sentence "Im Text wird auf eine weitere Quelle verweisen".
A German native speaker told me that this sentence translated to "The text refers to other sources". If that is the case, I am not clear on why the "werden" auxiliary is being used here. Is this supposed to be a passive construction or a future tense construction?

Question

Understanding the meaning of the sentence  "Im Text wird auf eine weitere Quelle verweisen".
A German native speaker told me that this sentence translated to "The text refers to other sources".     If that is the case, I am not clear on why the "werden" auxiliary is being used here.    Is this supposed to be a passive construction or a future tense construction?

Answer

Yes, this is a passive construction. The sentence "The text refers to an other source" would be "Der Text verweist auf eine weitere Quelle". This version would more be like "An other source is mentioned in the text".