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The passive voice
Document provisoire (septembre 2004)
A. 1. A verb is in the passive voice
when the subject of the verb does not perform the action
signified by the verb, but is the object of this action:
Example:
Active voice: Il a vu le film (The subject
"Il" performs the act of seeing)
Passive voice: Le film a été vu (The
subject "Le film" is the object of the act of
seeing.)
2. The person or thing performing an
action in the passive voice is marked by "par"
Example:
Le film a été vu par la
classe entière.
If the verb in the passive signifies
an unchanging state, "par" is replaced by
"de":
Example:
La maison était couverte de neige.
3. The passive is formed by
conjugating "être" and adding the past participle.
The tense of the passive is the tense of the verb
"être." The past participle of the verb being put
in the passive acts more like an adjective than a verb and
agrees with the subject of the sentence. The past participle
of "être" does not agree.
Example:
"L'inondation a été vue" is in
the passive voice and the passé composé tense.
| Tense |
Active Voice |
Passive Voice |
| Présent |
Elle déteste le poste. |
Le poste est détesté. |
| Passé Composé |
Nous avons rendu la demande. |
La demande a été rendue. |
| Imparfait |
Ils servaient le dîner. |
Le dîner était servi. |
| Plus-que-parfait |
Si seulement tu m'avais invité ! |
Si seulement j'avais été invité ! |
| Conditionnel |
Vous craindriez les souris. |
Les souris seraient craintes. |
| Futur |
La machine produira la
marchandise. |
La marchandise sera produite. |
| Futur proche |
L'agent immobilier vient de vendre la maison. |
La maison vient d'être vendue. |
| Futur antérieur |
L'auteur aura traduit
l'original. |
L'original aura été traduit par
l'auteur. |
| Subjonctif présent |
Je suis content qu'elle sache la
réponse. |
Je suis content que la réponse soit sue. |
NOTE: When translating a complete
action in the past, use the passé composé, not the
imperfect tense:
Example:
Elle a été dépassée.
4. Only transitive French verbs,
those taking a direct object, can be put into the passive.
Non-transitive French verbs cannot be put into the passive
voice.
Examples:
Active: Elle a pris le
jouet.
"Prendre" is transitive since it takes a direct
object, "le jouet." It can thus be put in the
passive voice:
Passive: Le jouet a
été pris.
Active: Elle a répondu au téléphone.
Répondre is intransitive, since it does not take a
direct object, but is rather followed by the preposition
"à."
Passive: This sentence cannot be put into the passive voice
in French.
In English, as opposed to French,
intransitive verbs can be put into the passive.
Example:
Passive: She was spoken to"
("She" is not the direct object of "to
speak," but rather the object of the preposition
"to").
In French, however, intransitive verbs like
"répondre" and "parler," which are
followed by the preposition "to," cannot be put
into the passive.
As a result, the English passive sentence, "She
was spoken to," cannot be translated by a French
passive. It must be translated in the active voice:
Example:
On lui a parlé."
NOTE1: "She was listened to" can be translated by a
French passive,because "écouter" takes a direct
object in French:
Example:
Elle a été écoutée.
NOTE2: Verbs conjugated with
"être" in the active voice (monter, descendre,
aller, etc.) are normally intransitive and cannot be put in
the passive.
Example:
Elle est partie.
A few of these verbs, however, can be conjugated with
"avoir." They then take on a different meaning and
can be put into the passive:
Examples:
Jeanne a monté la valise => La
valise a été montée par Jeanne.
B. French uses the passive voice
primarily for stylistic reasons, either to faciliate a
transition between sentences ("Le pauvre
garçon qui était couvert de fourmis.") or to
accent a word. One way in which French accents words is to
put them at the end of a phrase or a sentence ("Tu
as été blessé par ta mère?").
Mostly, French tries to avoid the
passive (Remember, the active voice is obligatory if the verb
is not a transitive verb).
The French avoid the passive in the following ways:
1. If the agent of the action is
given, exchange the subject and the object and transform the
passive sentence into an active sentence:
Example:
Paul a été remarqué par
l'enfant=>
L'enfant a remarqué Paul.
2. If no agent is given, use
"on" as subject of an active sentence. The subject
of the passive becomes the object.
Example:
Le gorille sera découvert.=>
On découvrira le gorille.
3. If the action is habitual or
conventional (normally in the present tense), keep the same
subject but replace the passive voice with a pronominal verb
in the active voice.
Example:
Le dîner se sert à huit
heures.
Cela ne se fait pas, voyons !
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