The passive voice in French is the opposite of the active voice, and it is formed using the auxiliary verb être meaning to be and a French past participle. Where the active voice concentrates on who performs an action, the passive voice, or le passif in French, focuses on the object rather than the subject. Look at these examples to see the difference:
In the active voice, the subject Les frères Lumière does the action ont inventé on the object le cinéma. What matters most in the active voice is who does the action.
subjectobjectLes frères Lumière ont inventé le cinéma en 1894.Translation: The Lumière brothers invented the cinema in 1894.In the passive voice, it is the other way around. The object le cinéma becomes the subject, but it still undergoes the action a été inventé performed by an agent par les frères Lumière.
subject (=object)agentLe cinéma a été inventé par les frères Lumière en 1894.Translation: The cinema was invented in 1894 by the Lumière brothers.What matters in the passive voice is what is done; you don’t need to specify the agent (who’s done it) because the focus is on the receiver of the action:
subject (=object)Le cinéma a été inventé en 1894.Translation: The cinema was invented in 1894.
In this post we’ll explore first how to form the passive voice, and then when you’ll use it, along with some alternatives to use instead. Let’s get going!
How to form the passive voice in French?
To form the passive voice in French, you will need a couple of tools:
The conjugation of the French auxiliary être meaning to be in all tenses and moods .
The rules of agreement of the French past participle .
A list of verbs which express a state or feeling.
Are you puzzled? Let’s clarify all this right now!
What is the formula to form the passive voice in French?
The first thing you need to remember to form the French passive voice is the formula below:
être meaning to be
past participle
par meaning by + agent
Notice the difference between the passive sentence above and its active counterpart:
Active voice:
agentsubjectOmar Sy joue le rôle principal dans la série Lupin.Translation: Omar Sy plays the main character in the series Lupin.Passive voice:
subjectagentLe rôle principal est joué par Omar Sy dans la série Lupin.Translation: The main character is played by Omar Sy in the series Lupin
As you can see:
The object in the active voice (le rôle principal) corresponds to the subject in the passive voice.
The subject in the active voice (Omar Sy) does not become the object in the passive voice, but is instead introduced by par meaning by.
What pronouns to use with passive verbs in French?
When you’re using pronouns with passive verbs, you need to look at the role the pronoun plays in the passive sentence, not an active sentence. That means that you need to use a subject pronoun for the subject of a passive sentence, even though you would use an object pronoun to replace that noun if the sentence was active.
Let’s have a look at an example:
| Active voice |
|---|
object pronoun Julie a fait le gâteau. → Julie l’a fait. Translation: Julie made the cake → Julie made it. |
| Passive voice |
|---|
subject pronoun Le gâteau a été fait par Julie → Il a été fait par Julie. Translation: The cake was made by Julie → It was made by Julie. |
We follow the same rule in English! You wouldn’t say: ❌ “Him was caught,” you’d say ✅ “He was caught.”
Are there French verbs that cannot be passive?
In French, only the direct objects of transitive-direct verbs can be used as subjects in the passive voice. This is a major difference between passives in English and passives in French.
A transitive-direct verb is a verb that does not require a preposition to introduce the direct object. For example, préparer meaning to prepare is a transitive-direct verb:
Le boulanger prépare le pain. → Le pain est préparé par le boulanger.Translation: The baker prepares the bread. → The bread is prepared by the baker.Because le pain is the direct object in the active voice, it can become the subject in the passive voice.
The objects of transitive-indirect verbs, however, cannot similarly be made the subject of a passive. Transitive-indirect verbs have objects that must be introduced by a preposition. For example sourire meaning to smile is a transitive-indirect verb, because its object is introduced by a preposition, à:
✅ Pauline a souri à Raphaël. → ❌ Raphaël a été souri par Pauline.Translation: Pauline smiled at Raphaël. → Raphaël was smiled (at) by Pauline.Because sourire is a transitive-indirect verb and Raphaël is an indirect object, this sentence cannot be converted into the passive voice.
So can you make transitive-indirect verbs passive at all? Technically no, but there are a couple of ways to achieve a similar effect:
Use a different verb with a similar meaning that is transitive-direct
Use the active voice with the anonymous pronoun on meaning one, keeping the focus on the action:
On (le) lui a demandé.Translation: He was asked.Literally: One asked him.On se souvenait d’elle.Translation: She was remembered.Literally: One remembered her.
Let’s do some conjugation now!
How to conjugate ‘être’ in the French passive voice?
To conjugate être meaning to be in the passive voice, you’ll first need to decide which tense or mood you need to conjugate être in. Well, just like in English, you’ll conjugate être in the same tense and mood as the verb in the active voice. Have a look at the table below to review your conjugations!
Let’s take a simple sentence in the active voice and change it into the passive voice in the most common tenses and moods. For even more examples of être in the passive voice in different tenses and moods check out our extra resource!
| Tense | Active Voice | Passive Voice |
|---|---|---|
Le garçon mange le biscuit. Translation: The boy eats the cookie. | Le biscuit est mangé par le garçon. Translation: The cookie is eaten by the boy. | |
Le garçon mangera le biscuit. Translation: The boy eats the cookie. | Le biscuit sera mangé par le garçon. Translation: The cookie will be eaten by the boy. | |
Le garçon a mangé le biscuit. Translation: The boy ate the cookie. | Le biscuit a été mangé par le garçon. Translation: The cookie was eaten by the boy. | |
Le garçon mangerait le biscuit. Translation: The boy would eat the cookie. | Le biscuit serait mangé par le garçon. Translation: The cookie would be eaten by the boy. |
Speaking of the past participle, I think it is time to mention its agreement with the subject!
How to form the agreement of the past particle in the French passive voice?
To form agreement of the past participle in the passive voice, the past participle will need to agree with the subject of the passive voice in gender and number in French. Can you guess why?! → Because of the auxiliary être!
In a nutshell, here are the endings you need to remember, based on the number and gender in French.
| Number/Gender | Masculine | Feminine |
|---|---|---|
Singular | - | -e |
Plural | -s | -es |
Let’s have a look at a couple of examples:
| Number/Gender | Feminine | Masculine |
|---|---|---|
| Singular | La décision serait déjà prise. Translation: The decision would already be made. | Le repas a été mangé rapidement. Translation: The meal was eaten quickly. |
| Plural | Les chambres seront réservées. Translation: The rooms will be booked. | Les billets ont été vendus en un après-midi. Translation: The tickets were sold within an afternoon. |
All clear?! Now let’s study specific cases.
How to ask questions with the French passive voice?
Using the passive voice when forming questions in French may require a few extra steps. Let’s start with the types of questions that can be used in the passive voice:
In French, you have three ways of asking questions:
Very formal: the noun and verb are inverted
Standard: est-ce que followed by an affirmative or negative sentence
Informal: affirmative or negative sentence pronounced with an inflection
If you want to ask a question in the passive voice, you can use any of the three options above and add par or de to introduce the agent. Some of your questions may also require a French interrogative pronoun, such as qui, in them:
Par OR de + qui + formal question ?
Par qui a-t-elle été reconnue?Translation: Who was she recognized by?Par OR de + qui + standard question with est-ce que ?
Par qui est-ce qu’elle a été reconnue ?Translation: Who was she recognized by?Informal question + par OR de + qui ?
Elle a été reconnue par qui ?Translation: Who was she recognized by?
How to form the passive voice with subject pronouns in French?
When the subject of a sentence in the active voice is a French subject pronoun, this subject pronoun cannot be used as the agent of the passive voice.
However, what you can do is use par + French possessive adjective + soins meaning by someone’s care .
When to use the passive voice in French?
Use the passive voice in French to be neutral, to emphasize the object of the sentence, when the agent of the action is unknown, and in specific types of texts, like a scientific report. However, as you’ll see as you practice your French, the passive voice is not really very common. It is more of a written structure, and rarely will you hear or use the passive voice when speaking. Let’s see here in which contexts you can resort to the passive voice!
To be neutral
In some circumstances, you may want to be impartial. Instead of “accusing” people, you can use the passive voice to avoid telling on somebody!
To emphasize the object
Sometimes it does not matter who’s done something, and the passive voice is used to focus on something else: the object itself or what’s happening with it.
When we don’t know who dunnit!
It could be that you need to use the passive voice because you actually don’t know who’s done something.
In specific fields: law, journalism, history, science
In some fields, it is important to be neutral and the use of the passive voice is a means to sound more professional. In these cases, the passive voice sounds more formal.
Now that we’ve seen when you can use the passive voice, let’s take a look at what to do if we want to avoid using the passive voice.
Alternatives to the passive voice
As we’ve explained, the passive voice is not typically used in spoken French (and there are even cases in which it is not possible to use the passive voice), so sometimes you’ll need to use an alternative. Let’s take a look at the most common passive voice alternatives:
On meaning one, quelqu'un meaning someone, ils meaning they:
Because French people generally don’t use the passive voice when speaking, they resort to the fairly anonymous on meaning one , quelqu’un meaning someone, or ils meaning they. These pronouns do not refer to a particular person, but enable the speaker to use the active voice, which is more dynamic.
On m’a dit que tu étais parti.Translation: I was told you had left.Quelqu’un a laissé la porte ouverte.Translation: Someone left the door open.Dans ce cinéma, ils passent des films en noir et blanc.Translation: Black and white movies are shown in this movie theater.Passive voice with the reflexive pronoun se meaning itself, themselves
Using the reflexive pronoun se is another form of the passive voice in French.
noun or pronoun
se
verb
Ce livre se lit bien.Translation: This book is an easy read.Literally: (lit.) This book is an easy read.Comment ça se prononce ?Translation: How is it pronounced?C’est … qui + verb
This French structure called la mise en relief is used to highlight the subject or the object of a sentence. In English, you’d use the passive voice or, when speaking, you’d stress what you want to emphasize. Let me give you some formulas and examples:
C’est moi qui ai fait toute la décoration.Translation: The decoration was done by me.Ce sont les enfants que garde Damien.Translation: These children are babysat by Damien.
There you go! Look below for a summary of what we’ve seen in this post.
Key facts about the French passive voice
When using the passive voice in French, keep the following tips in mind:
To form the passive voice, there are two formulas you’ll want to learn by ❤:
être meaning to be + past participle + par meaning by + agent with most verbs
être meaning To be + past participle + de meaning by + agent with verbs expressing states and feelings
The past participle agrees in gender and number with the subject of the passive sentence.
Unlike in English, in French a subject pronoun cannot be an agent introduced by par or de in the passive voice.
When using the passive voice, remember that it is not common in French.
The passive voice can be used when you don’t know who's done something or if you’d prefer keeping their identity a secret. Or, maybe, who has done something is not important and you want to emphasize the object instead!
Specific fields, such as science, journalism, law, politics, and history require the passive voice in order to sound neutral and formal.
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