English loves the passive: the bridge was built, my bag was stolen, it is said thatâŠ. French has a passive too, and it is easy to build â but French speakers avoid it far more than English speakers do. Learning the passive is really about learning the three things French uses instead.
ĂȘtre (in whatever tense you need) + past participle, agreeing with the subject.
| Tense | French | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Présent | La maison est vendue. | The house is sold. |
| Passé composé | La maison a été vendue. | The house was sold. |
| Imparfait | La maison Ă©tait vendue. | The house was (being) sold. |
| Futur | La maison sera vendue. | The house will be sold. |
| Conditionnel | La maison serait vendue. | The house would be sold. |
| Subjonctif | âŠque la maison soit vendue. | âŠthat the house be sold. |
The participle always agrees with the subject: le pont a été construit, la maison a été construite, les ponts ont été construits.
English happily says "I was given a book" or "he was told the truth". French cannot: donner and dire give things to people, so the person is an indirect object and can never become a passive subject. Je suis donné un livre is impossible. French says On m'a donné un livre.
If you name who did it, par is the default. De appears with verbs of emotion, and with states rather than actions.
| French | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Le pont a été construit par Eiffel. | luh pohn ah ay-tay kohn-strwee par ay-FEL | The bridge was built by Eiffel. (action) |
| Il est aimé de tous. | eel ay tay-may duh TOOS | He is loved by everyone. (feeling) |
| Elle est respectée de ses collÚgues. | el ay res-pek-tay duh say ko-LEG | She is respected by her colleagues. |
| La table Ă©tait couverte de poussiĂšre. | lah tahbl ay-tay koo-vairt duh poo-SYAIR | The table was covered in dust. (state) |
| La route est bordée d'arbres. | lah root ay bor-day DARBR | The road is lined with trees. |
Most of the time, though, French simply leaves the agent out â and then reaches for one of the alternatives below instead.
This is the big one. Where English reaches for a passive to avoid naming a doer, French reaches for on. It is shorter, more natural, and overwhelmingly more common in speech.
| English passive | Natural French | Stiff French passive |
|---|---|---|
| My bag was stolen. | On m'a volé mon sac. | Mon sac a été volé. |
| I was told that⊠| On m'a dit que⊠| â (impossible) |
| It is said that⊠| On dit que⊠| Il est dit que⊠(rare) |
| French is spoken here. | On parle français ici. | Le français est parlé ici. |
| We were asked to wait. | On nous a demandĂ© d'attendre. | â (impossible) |
Note the fourth row: on even rescues sentences where the French passive is technically legal but sounds like a translation. If in doubt, use on.
For general truths, habits and instructions, French uses a reflexive form with a thing as the subject. There is no doer at all, stated or implied.
| French | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Ăa se dit. | sah suh DEE | People say that. / That's said. |
| Ăa ne se fait pas. | sah nuh suh fay PAH | That isn't done. (social rule) |
| Ce plat se mange froid. | suh plah suh mahnzh FRWAH | This dish is eaten cold. |
| Le vin blanc se sert frais. | luh van blahn suh sair FRAY | White wine is served chilled. |
| Ăa s'Ă©crit comment ? | sah say-kree ko-MAHN | How is that written? |
| Les billets se vendent en ligne. | lay bee-yay suh vahnd ahn LEE-nyuh | Tickets are sold online. |
When something happens to the subject â whether they arranged it or suffered it â French uses se faire + infinitive. This is extremely common and has no clean English equivalent beyond "get".
| French | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| se faire voler | suh fair vo-LAY | to get robbed |
| se faire renverser | suh fair rahn-vair-SAY | to get knocked down |
| se faire couper les cheveux | suh fair koo-pay lay shuh-VUH | to get one's hair cut |
| se faire opérer | suh fair o-pay-RAY | to have an operation |
| Il s'est fait avoir. | eel say fay tah-VWAHR | He got taken in / conned. |
| Je me suis fait voler mon vélo. | zhuh muh swee fay vo-lay mohn vay-LOH | I got my bike stolen. |
There is a close cousin, se voir + infinitive, used in more formal registers: Il s'est vu refuser l'entrĂ©e â "he was refused entry". You will meet faire + infinitive properly in Lesson 14; note for now that fait in these constructions is invariable: elle s'est fait voler, never faite.
| Situation | Reach for | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Formal writing, named agent | true passive | Le rapport a été rédigé par la commission. |
| Speech, unknown doer | on | On a annulé le vol. |
| General rule or habit | pronominal | Ăa se mange avec les doigts. |
| It happened to the subject | se faire | Elle s'est fait arrĂȘter. |
The true passive belongs to administrative and journalistic French: Le dĂ©cret a Ă©tĂ© publiĂ© au Journal officiel. In conversation it can sound pompous â French speakers will almost always choose on. Note too the formal set phrases ĂȘtre chargĂ© de ("to be responsible for") and il est interdit de, which are passives in form but function as fixed expressions.
Same structures. QuĂ©bĂ©cois is, if anything, even more attached to on and to se faire: J'me suis fait passer un sapin ("I got swindled" â literally "had a fir tree passed to me") is a wonderfully QuĂ©bĂ©cois use of the construction. Watch also for calques from English in casual speech, such as Il a Ă©tĂ© donnĂ© un prix, which is non-standard in both varieties.
Fill in ĂȘtre in the right tense, agreeing with the subject.
Fill in the missing word so the sentence uses on.
1. What's the most natural French for "My bag was stolen"?
2. Why is Je suis donné un livre impossible?
3. Ce plat se mange froid means: