How do you form the passive voice?

Firstly, let’s explain what the active voice is: it’s where the subject of the sentence performs the action of the verb (this is the type of sentence you’re most familiar with).The passive voice is basically the opposite by which I mean that the action of the verb is performed on the subject of the sentence. The passive voice is formed by using the conjugated verb être and the past participle of the main verb. Just like any past participle that follows être in the passé composé, the past participle should agree with the new subject both in gender and number.With this in mind, here’s an example:Je mange une pomme - this is in the active voicePassive voice formation:1 Une pomme will become our new subject in the passive voice2 The correct conjugation of être will follow, so in this case, est3 The past participle of manger is mangé but we’ll need an extra e to make it agree so we end up with...Une pomme est mangée (An apple is eaten)And this is an introduction on how to form the passive voice in French :)

Answered by Katerina J. French tutor

1605 Views

See similar French A Level tutors

Related French A Level answers

All answers ▸

Explain the meaning of the subjunctive mood and give some examples of when it is used


For my oral exam in French, how do I put forward my ideas concisely?


Penses-tu que le metteur en scène que vous avez étudié devrait être étudié par des générations futures ? (Do you think that the director you studied should be studied by future generations?)


When and how do you use "Passé Composé" ?


We're here to help

contact us iconContact usWhatsapp logoMessage us on Whatsapptelephone icon+44 (0) 203 773 6020
Facebook logoInstagram logoLinkedIn logo
Cookie Preferences