Language/French/Grammar/Formation-of-the-passive-in-French
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How to form the passive[edit | edit source]
Using the passive, the focus can be on the receiver of an action (usually what would be the object in the equivalent active sentence) rather than on the agent of the action (usually the subject).
Passives are produced from directly transitive sentences by moving the object noun phrase into the position of the grammatical subject, introducing the verb "être" and, optionally, moving the old subject into a sentence introduced by "par" or "de":
Examples[edit | edit source]
- Nantes a battu Paris St Germain
Nantes beat Paris St Germain
becomes:
- Paris St Germain a été battu (par Nantes)
Paris St Germain was beaten (by Nantes)
- Quand elle est arrivée au commissariat, son mari l'accompagnait
When she arrived at the police station, her husband was with her
becomes:
- Quand elle est arrivée au commissariat, elle était accompagnée de son mari
When she got to the police station, she was in the company of her husband
Notes[edit | edit source]
Note that the rules of agreement for the past participle are those of être: that is, it agrees with the subject:
- Delphine a été battue au tennis (par Suzanne)
Delphine was beaten in tennis by Suzanne
- Georges a été battu au tennis par Jean-Claude
George was beaten in tennis by Jean-Claude
NB: The use of the preposition "par" to introduce the subject generally implies a certain degree of voluntary involvement; the use of de suggests more a state of affairs.
Videos[edit | edit source]
LEARN FRENCH GRAMMAR - THE PASSIVE VOICE[edit | edit source]
Tout sur la voix passive en français[edit | edit source]
Sources[edit | edit source]
Other Chapters[edit | edit source]
Other Lessons[edit | edit source]
- Comparative forms of adjectives
- How to Guess the Gender of French Nouns
- Definite article
- Days
- Masculine and feminine forms of adjectives — A change in written, but not spoken
- Use of en with numerals and quantifiers
- Easy way of generating the imperfect subjunctive
- How to use falloir
- Direct Object Complement
- Homophones
- Abstract versus concrete nouns
- Verb forms — Conjugations
- Stressed pronouns used as the object of a preposition
- Order of multiple pronouns with imperatives
- Vous and Tu Complete Guide