French grammar · Advanced
Voice in French: Active, Passive, and Pronominal
Voice, la voix, describes the relationship between a verb and its subject. French has three: the active voice, where the subject acts; the passive voice, built with être plus a past participle, where the subject is acted upon; and the pronominal voice, where a reflexive pronoun makes the action happen to the subject itself.
La lettre a été écrite par un avocat.
The letter was written by a lawyer.
What it is
Voice is not a tense. It is a question about who is doing what: does the subject perform the action, undergo it, or both at once? French answers that question in three ways, and each one uses a different structure while leaving the tense untouched.
On ferme la porte. La porte est fermée. La porte se ferme. — Someone closes the door. The door is closed. The door closes.
How to spot it
Look at the verb form. A plain conjugated verb is active. Être plus a past participle that agrees with the subject is passive. A reflexive pronoun with a non-human subject is usually the pronominal voice.
- Le jury a choisi ce projet. — The jury chose this project. (active)
- Ce projet a été choisi par le jury. — This project was chosen by the jury. (passive)
- Ce mot ne se dit plus. — That word isn't said any more. (pronominal)
- Elle s'est coupée. — She cut herself. (pronominal, reflexive)
Être plus a participle is not automatically passive. With a verb of movement it's simply the passé composé: elle est partie means she left, not she was left.
Voice Quick Reference
The same idea in all three voices
| Voice | Structure | Example | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| Active | subject + verb + object | Le chef prépare le plat. | The chef prepares the dish. |
| Passive | être + participle (+ par) | Le plat est préparé par le chef. | The dish is prepared by the chef. |
| Passive, state verb | être + participle + de | Il est respecté de tous. | He is respected by everyone. |
| Pronominal, reflexive | se + verb, same person acts and receives | Elle se lave. | She washes herself. |
| Pronominal, reciprocal | se + verb, plural subject | Ils se parlent. | They talk to each other. |
| Pronominal, passive sense | se + verb, thing as subject | Ce livre se lit vite. | This book reads quickly. |
| Active with on | on + verb | On a volé mon vélo. | My bike was stolen. |
Common Voice Examples in French
Each voice doing the work it's best at:
Active: the Default
- Les pompiers ont éteint l'incendie.
- The firefighters put out the fire.
- Ma sœur conduit la voiture.
- My sister is driving the car.
- Nous avons signé le contrat hier.
- We signed the contract yesterday.
- Le vent a cassé la branche.
- The wind broke the branch.
French prefers the active voice far more strongly than English does, and a good French sentence usually names its agent.
Passive: When the Agent Doesn't Matter
- Le musée a été construit en 1890.
- The museum was built in 1890.
- Ces règles sont respectées partout.
- These rules are respected everywhere.
- La décision sera annoncée demain.
- The decision will be announced tomorrow.
- Les résultats ont été publiés ce matin.
- The results were published this morning.
The participle agrees with the subject: construit, respectées, annoncée, publiés. This is the most common source of errors in passive sentences.
Pronominal: the Middle Ground
- Ça se voit tout de suite.
- You can see that straight away.
- Le fromage se conserve au frais.
- Cheese should be kept somewhere cool.
- Les portes s'ouvrent automatiquement.
- The doors open automatically.
- Ça ne se fait pas.
- That's not done.
This is the everyday French equivalent of an English passive with no agent, and it's much more idiomatic than être plus a participle.
Naming the Agent: Par or De
- Le roman a été traduit par un poète.
- The novel was translated by a poet.
- Le jardin est entouré de murs.
- The garden is surrounded by walls.
- Elle est aimée de ses élèves.
- She is loved by her pupils.
- La ville a été détruite par un séisme.
- The city was destroyed by an earthquake.
Par introduces an agent that performs an action; de introduces one that describes a state or a feeling.
How the Three Voices Are Built
The tense stays where it was. Changing voice changes the structure around the verb, not the moment you're talking about.
The Passive Keeps the Tense in Être
Whatever tense the active sentence was in, the passive puts it on être and leaves the participle alone. Present est fait, past a été fait, future sera fait, imperfect était fait. The participle never changes for tense.
Le rapport sera relu avant la réunion.
The report will be proofread before the meeting.
Tense lives in être.
The Passive Participle Agrees With the Subject
Because être is the auxiliary, the participle behaves like an adjective and matches the subject in gender and number. This is what distinguishes a passive from a passé composé with avoir, where no such agreement happens.
Les candidates ont été reçues séparément.
The candidates were interviewed separately.
être → agreement, always.
Only a Direct Object Can Become a Subject
A verb needs a direct object to have a passive. Verbs that take à, like téléphoner à, obéir à or donner à quelqu'un, cannot promote that person to subject, which is why French has no equivalent of he was given a book.
On lui a donné un livre.
He was given a book.
No direct object, no passive.
The Pronominal Voice Has Three Readings
A reflexive pronoun can mean the subject acts on itself (elle se regarde), that two subjects act on each other (ils se détestent), or that the verb has a passive sense with no agent at all (ça se mange froid). Context decides which.
Ce plat se sert très chaud.
This dish is served very hot.
Reflexive, reciprocal, or passive.
On Is the Real French Passive
When English uses a passive to hide the agent, French usually switches to on plus an active verb. It is shorter, it sounds natural in speech, and it works with verbs that have no passive at all.
On m'a dit que c'était fermé.
I was told it was closed.
English passive → French on.
Common Mistakes with Voice
Incorrect: La maison a été construit en 1920. — The house was built in 1920.
Correct: La maison a été construite en 1920. — The house was built in 1920.
In a passive the participle agrees with the subject, and maison is feminine. Learners who are used to the passé composé with avoir, where nothing agrees, routinely forget this.
Incorrect: Il a été donné un cadeau. — He was given a present.
Correct: On lui a donné un cadeau. — He was given a present.
French cannot make an indirect object into the subject of a passive. Donner à quelqu'un has no passive of this kind, so the sentence has to be rebuilt with on.
Incorrect: Il est aimé par tout le monde. — He is loved by everyone.
Correct: Il est aimé de tout le monde. — He is loved by everyone.
Verbs of feeling and enduring states take de rather than par for their agent: aimé de, respecté de, entouré de, suivi de. Par belongs with verbs that describe an action.
Incorrect: Elle a été partie tôt. — She left early.
Correct: Elle est partie tôt. — She left early.
Partir has no direct object, so it has no passive at all. Elle est partie is already the passé composé; treating être plus a participle as automatically passive produces a form that doesn't exist.
The Passive Across Tenses and Moods
Only être moves. Read down a column to see the person changing, and across a row to see the tense changing while the participle stays put.
Inviter in the Indicative
The participle invité agrees with whoever the subject is, so it carries an e for a feminine subject and an s for a plural one.
| Pronoun | présent | passé composé | futur simple |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j' | je suis invité(e) | j'ai été invité(e) | je serai invité(e) |
| tu | tu es invité(e) | tu as été invité(e) | tu seras invité(e) |
| il / elle / on | il est invité | il a été invité | il sera invité |
| nous | nous sommes invités | nous avons été invités | nous serons invités |
| vous | vous êtes invités | vous avez été invités | vous serez invités |
| ils / elles | ils sont invités | ils ont été invités | ils seront invités |
The passé composé of the passive stacks two participles: a été invité, literally has been invited. Été itself never agrees.
The Same Verb in Other Moods
The imperfect describes a passive state that lasted, the conditional a hypothetical one, and the subjunctive appears after the usual triggers.
| Pronoun | imparfait | conditionnel | subjonctif |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j' | j'étais invité(e) | je serais invité(e) | que je sois invité(e) |
| tu | tu étais invité(e) | tu serais invité(e) | que tu sois invité(e) |
| il / elle / on | il était invité | il serait invité | qu'il soit invité |
| nous | nous étions invités | nous serions invités | que nous soyons invités |
| vous | vous étiez invités | vous seriez invités | que vous soyez invités |
| ils / elles | ils étaient invités | ils seraient invités | qu'ils soient invités |
Il faut qu'il soit invité shows the pattern clearly: the subjunctive lands on être and the participle is untouched.
Se Faire Plus Infinitive
This is the pronominal way of saying something was done to you, and it is far more common in speech than a true passive. The subject is often responsible for arranging it.
| Pronoun | présent | passé composé |
|---|---|---|
| je | je me fais aider | je me suis fait aider |
| tu | tu te fais aider | tu t'es fait aider |
| il / elle / on | il se fait aider | il s'est fait aider |
| nous | nous nous faisons aider | nous nous sommes fait aider |
| vous | vous vous faites aider | vous vous êtes fait aider |
| ils / elles | ils se font aider | ils se sont fait aider |
Fait stays invariable in this structure, even with a feminine subject: elle s'est fait renvoyer, she got herself fired.
Why French Uses the Passive So Rarely
French has a working passive and mostly declines to use it. Three alternatives cover the same ground more naturally.
On, for an unnamed agent
When you don't know or don't care who did it, French makes on the subject and keeps the verb active. English almost always reaches for a passive in the same situation.
- On a annulé le vol.
- The flight has been cancelled.
- Ici, on parle italien.
- Italian is spoken here.
- On construit une école dans le quartier.
- A school is being built in the neighbourhood.
On takes a third person singular verb even though it means people in general.
A reflexive verb, for general truths
For statements about how things are normally done, a reflexive verb with the thing as subject sounds far more idiomatic than a passive.
- Le vin blanc se boit frais.
- White wine is drunk chilled.
- Ce modèle se vend très bien.
- This model sells very well.
- Comment ça s'écrit ?
- How is that spelt?
This construction cannot take an agent. As soon as you want to say by whom, you need a real passive or an active sentence.
Se faire and se voir, for something done to you
Se faire plus an infinitive puts the person affected in subject position, and se voir does the same in a more formal register.
- Il s'est fait voler son portefeuille.
- He had his wallet stolen.
- Elle s'est fait opérer du genou.
- She had knee surgery.
- Le club s'est vu infliger une amende.
- The club was fined.
Se faire often suggests the subject brought it on themselves or arranged it, which a plain passive does not.
Voice FAQs
- What does la voix mean in French grammar?
- It means voice: the relationship between the verb and its subject. French distinguishes la voix active (le chien mord l'homme), la voix passive (l'homme est mordu par le chien) and la voix pronominale (le chien se mord).
- How do you form the passive voice in French?
- Conjugate être in whatever tense you need and add the past participle, which agrees with the subject: la porte est fermée, la porte a été fermée, la porte sera fermée. Add par plus the agent if you want to name who did it.
- Why does French avoid the passive?
- Because it has two shorter alternatives. On plus an active verb hides the agent (on a volé ma voiture), and a reflexive verb states a general truth (ça se mange avec les doigts). A true passive in French often reads as heavy or administrative.
- When is the agent introduced by de instead of par?
- With verbs describing a state, a feeling or a spatial arrangement rather than an action: il est respecté de ses collègues, le lac est entouré de forêts. Action verbs take par: le mur a été repeint par le propriétaire.
- Is elle est tombée a passive sentence?
- No. Tomber forms its passé composé with être, so elle est tombée just means she fell. Only verbs with a direct object can be passive, and a passive always has an agent you could add with par.