The passive voice in French

• TERMINOLOGY

  • Le sujet = the subject
  • Le complément d’agent = the agent
  • Le COD = the direct object
  • Le verbe = the verb
  • Le participe passé = the past participle
  • Les pronom personnels = the personal pronouns

• the active voice = the subject performs the action (A)

  1.1 ==La police== a évacué l^^es habitants de ce quartier^^.

  (The polive has evacuated the inhabitants of this district.)

• the passive voice = the subject doesn’t perform the action (P)

  2.1 ^^Les habitants de ce quartier^^ ont été évacués ==par la police.==

  (The inhabitants of this district have been evacuated by the police)

• ==Le sujet- (A) → Le complément d’agent (P)==

  • Le complément d’agent is almost always introduced by “par”

• ^^Le COD (A) → Le sujet (P)^^

• Le verbe (A) → adding “être” (P)

  • “être” = the same tense as the active tense
  • Le participe passé = ACCORD!!! with the subject ( féminin = +e and pluriel = +s)
  • the verb in the passive = the conjugation of “être” + le participe passé avec ACCORD

• REMARQUES/REMARKS

  1. Le sujet (A) = “on” (=one/people) → no complément d’agent (P)

  2. Le sujet (A) = un pronom personnel (je, tu, il, elle, nous, vous, ils, elles) → “par” + forme tonique (moi, toi, lui, elle, nous, vous, eux, elles) (P)

  3. Le complément d’agent uses “par” EXCEPT

     a. after un verbe d’appreciation (PAAD = préferer/to prefer, adorer/to adore, aimer/to love, détester/to hate)

     for example: Le directeur est aimé de tous les élèves = the principal is loved by all the students

     b. when le complément d’agent doesn’t perform the action

     for example: La table est décorée de fleurs = The table is decorated with flowers (the flowers don’t decorate the table themselves)

• The flashcards include some excercices, you can try!

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