The passive voice in French
In this article, we review the passive voice in French. The passive voice indicates that the verb acts on the subject.
ÍNDICE DE CONTENIDOS
Shift the emphasis on the person or thing being acted upon (the subject), rather than the person or thing performing that action (the agent). Therefore, the agent can be omitted because it is less important.
How is the passive voice constructed?
The active voice is when the subject of the sentence performs the action:
Je mange la tarte (“Je” is the subject and eats the cake, so he does the action).
The passive voice is when the subject is not performing the action:
La tarte est mangée par moi (“la tarte” is the theme, but the action is performed by “moi”).
Composition of the passive voice
The passive voice needs the verb “to be” (être) as an auxiliary and the past participle of the verb.
La tarte est mangée: est + past participle of a manger (agrees with the subject of the sentence, here “tarte” which is feminine).
To obtain the passive voice, the verb must be transitive (with a direct object). However, some verbs in French do not have a passive form: coûter, valoir, pouvoir …
When possible, we prefer to find another form in French, since the passive voice is often inelegant or heavy.
- For example, instead of saying: cet article a été écrit par lui (this article was written by him), we prefer to say: c’est lui qui a écrit cet article!
- Or ‘They were beaten’, instead of “ ils ont été frappés ”, we prefer the neuter pronoun “on”: on les a frappés.”
- “Alcohol is not sold here”: en ne vend pas d’alcool ici (instead of l’alcool n’est pas vendu ici).
Most verbs need the preposition “par”, but some use “de”, verbs related to the description: bordé… de, couvert… de, décoré… de, suivi… de, related to feelings: aimé… de, détesté… de, apprécí… de, haï… de (but we can also say aimé… par).
Passive voice and verb tenses
Present time:
- Pierre lit le livrec / Le livre est lu par Pierre / Pierre reads the book / The book is read by Pierre.
We accept the passive voice here because Pierre is a noun, but with pronouns like moi, toi, lui, elle, etc. we prefer:
- Je lis le livre Le livre est lu par moi is not elegant.
I read the book / The book I read is not elegant, so we say: c’est moi qui lis le livre . I am the one who reads the book.
Imperfect
- Pierre lisait le livre Le livre était lu par Pierre.
Pierre read the book The book was read by Pierre.
- C’est moi qui avait lu le le.
I was the one who read the book.
Passé Composé
- Pierre a lu le livre Le livre a été lu par Pierre.
Peter read the book Peter read the book.
- C’est moi qui ai lu livre you.
I read the book.
Future
- Pierre lira le livre Le livre will be lu par Pierre.
Pierre will read the book The book will be read by Pierre.
- C’est moi qui lirai le livre.
I will be reading the book.
Examples
People have to be warned, the passive voice in French is : Les gens doivent être avertis, but we prefer: on doit avertir tout le monde!
- This book was written 2 centuries ago: Le livre a été écrit il ya deux siècles , but better: on a écrit ce livre il ya deux siècles.
- Dogs are not allowed: Les chiens ne sont pas admis , but better: On n’accepte pas les chiens!
- Smoking is prohibited: Fumer est Interdit, but better: Interdiction de Fumer or Il est interdit de fumer.
- They told me …: J’ai été dit is not correct, we say: on m’a dit …
Conjugation of the passive form
Changes in the verb of the sentence
The conjugation of a verb in the passive voice is constructed with the auxiliary being (conjugué au même temps que le verbe de la voix active) (conjugated at the same time as the verb in the active voice) and the past participle of the verb of the sentence to the active voice.
Examples:
| – | Active voice | Passive voice |
|---|---|---|
| Présent | Marie mange une pomme | Une pomme est mangé par Marie |
| Futur | Marie mangera une pomme | Una pomme sera mangée par Marie |
| Passé simple | Marie mangea une pomme | Une pomme fut mangée par Marie |
| Passé composé | Marie a mangé une pomme | Une pomme a été mangée par Marie |
| Imparfait | Marie mangeait une pomme | Une pomme était mangée par Marie |
| Plus-que-parfait | Marie avait mangé une pomme | Une pomme avait été mangée par Marie |
| Futur | Marie mangera une pomme | Una pomme sera mangée par Marie |
To transform a sentence into a passive voice, it must contain a COD. Example: Les enfants jouaient sur le terrain de foot (The children played on the soccer field) => there is no COD, passive transformation is impossible.
The perpetrator should not be a personal pronoun ( Je Tu Il Elle, nous, vous, ils, elles) (I, you, he, she, we, you, they, they) Example: Elle regarde la télévision She is watching television. => the subject is a personal pronoun, transformation is impossible.
The transformation is possible with the personal pronoun ON, but in this case, the passive voice sentence has no agent complement. Example : On annonce la nouvelle. => La nouvelle est annoncée par on. We announce the news. => The news is announced by him.
The preposition even is used to introduce the agent’s complement in most cases. Example: Cette leçon est étudiée par les élèves de CM1. This lesson is studied by the students of CM1.
We use the preposition of to introduce the complement of an agent with the verbs of feeling. Example: Elle est aimée de tout son entourage. Everyone around her loves her.
