What is the passive tense?

This is a tricky one many students struggle with. The passive isn’t acutally a tense, it’s a “mood”, since it can be put into virtually any tense! The mood you will have learned at GCSE is called the indicative, e.g. Je regarde la télé. This is where the subject is the main focus of the sentence - I am watching the TV. Whereas the passive places the importance onto the object (e.g. la télé) by flipping the sentence around. La télé est regardée par moi. Be careful though, because here ‘regardé’ needs an extra ‘e’ because it’s describing the TV (as being watched) and is feminine.

HC
Answered by Henry C. French tutor

2583 Views

See similar French A Level tutors

Related French A Level answers

All answers ▸

Is there a sure-fire way of knowing if a noun is masculine or feminine?


What is the imperfect tense? When would you use it?


Translate the following sentence from English to French. The next day, the police arrived at the shop to determine what the thief had taken.


What is the difference between "mieux", "meilleur(s)" and "meilleure(s)"?


We're here to help

contact us iconContact ustelephone icon+44 (0) 203 773 6020
Facebook logoInstagram logoLinkedIn logo

MyTutor is part of the IXL family of brands:

© 2026 by IXL Learning