Q:

What is the difference between "ist" und "wurde"

What is the difference between the two sentences:

Das Buch wurde geschrieben.
Das Buch ist geschrieben.

Hinweis: Die Frage wurde hier auf Deutsch beantwortet.

A:

As explained in answers to this question in German, the case with ist is called Zustandspassiv (stative passive) and I would translate it simply to “The book is written”, which just emphasizes the state, independent of when it was created in the past. The case with wurde is the Handlungspassiv (dynamic passive) and would be translated to “The book was written”, emphasizing the act of writing it.
There is a difference in time, the ist case doesn’t specify a time, the wurde case took place in the past.
There might not be many differences in practice. For example I could say both:

Das Buch wurde von Shakespeare geschrieben.
Das Buch ist von Shakespeare geschrieben.

And both would mean that Shakespeare is the author of the book.

