The Passive Voice of the Present Simple

In this chapter we will study the passive voice. The passive voice is used when the action is more important than the person/the object/the situation that does the action or when the subject is unknown. Only transitive verbs i.e. verbs requiring a direct object are used in the passive voice. In the passive voice, the subject is often omitted or dropped. When rewriting active sentences into the passive form, there are important points to consider. These are the following:

• The direct object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence. It is therefore placed in the beginning of the sentence.
• The form of the verb changes to the following form (the auxiliary “être” be conjugated to the tense of the verb in the active voice + past participle of the verb used in the active voice.)
• The subject of the active sentence becomes the agent of the verb.
• When the subject(agent) is known, we precede it with “par” by.
• The verb in the passive voice agrees with the direct object which is placed in the beginning of the sentence.

In this lesson, we will study the passive voice of the present simple. Let’s start with a simple example.

Active voice:	Le facteur apporte le courrier. The mailman brings the mail.
Passive voice:	Le courrier est apporté par le facteur. The mail is brought by the mailman.

Let’s do a quick grammatical analysis of the two sentences:

In the first sentence, “le facteur” is the subject. He brings the mail; he does the action. So it is put in the beginning of the sentence before the verb. What did he bring? He brought “le courrier”. So “le courrier” is the direct object and it’s placed after the verb. The verb “apporter” is in the present simple and it is in the active form. We conclude then that the sentence in the active voice.

In the second sentence, we notice that the direct object “le courrier” is now in the beginning of the sentence, whereas “le facteur” is at the end of the sentence and it’s preceded with “par” by. The verb is still in the present simple, but its form has changed. It is now composed of two elements: the auxiliary “to be” plus the past participle of the verb in the active voicie. Notice also that the verb “apporter” in the passive form agrees with the direct object “le courrier” whereas in the sentence in the active form, it agrees with the subject “ le facteur”.

The form of the verb in the passive voice (present simple)

Let’s take the verb: traduire

Active Voice	Passive Voice
Je traduis	Je suis traduit(e)
Tu traduis	Tu es traduit(e)
Il traduit	Il est traduit
Elle traduit	Elle est traduite
On traduit	On est traduit
Nous traduisons	Nous sommes traduit(e)s
Vous traduisez	Vous êtes traduit(e)s
Ils traduisent	Ils sont traduits
Elles traduisent	Elles sont traduites

Notice how the past participle in the passive voice agrees in gender and in number with the direct object that precedes the verb.

Now let’s learn how to rewrite a sentence from the active voice to the passive voice.

Let’s take the following example:

Ils agressent beaucoup de filles.
They attack a lot of girls.

First we start by putting the direct object “beaucoup de filles” in the beginning of the sentence. Then we change the verb “agressent” which is in the present simple into the passive form and that will give us “sont agressées”. Then if the subject is important enough to keep in the passive form, we’ll add “par eux” at the end of the sentence. If it’s not important, then it should be dropped. So this will give us the following sentence in the passive voice:

Beaucoup de filles sont agressées (par eux).
A lot of girls are attacked (by them).

Now, why did “ils” become “eux”? “Ils” became “eux” because it no longer has the function of a subject in the sentence. It’s now an agent. The following table explains the changes of the personal pronouns subject in the active voice into the personal pronouns object in the passive voice.

Personal Pronouns Subjects (active voice)	Personal Pronouns Objects (passive voice)
je	moi
tu	toi
Il	lui
elle	elle
nous	nous
vous	vous
Ils	eux
elles	elles

Notice that if the subject of the sentence in the active voice is the indefinite pronoun “on”, it should be dropped in the passive voice.

For example:

Active voice:	On prend les gens pour des imbeciles. We take people for idiots.
Passive voice:	Les gens sont pris pour des imbeciles. People are taken for idiots.

Remember: Don’t forget the direct object /verb agreement.

For example:

Le gouvernement prend des mesures urgentes.
The government takes urgent measures.

Des mesures urgentes sont prises par le gouvernement.
Urgent measures are taken by the government.

Notice how “sont prises” agrees in gender and in number with the direct object.

The negative form: To form the present simple in the passive voice, we put the auxiliary “être” between “ne” and “pas” then we add the past participle.

For example:

Ils ne prennent pas en charge les enfants.
They don’t support the children.

Les enfants ne sont pas pris en charge.
The children are not supported.

The interrogative form: We add “est-ce que” before the direct object.

For example:

Est-ce qu’ils prennent les enfants en charge ?
Do they support the children?

Est-ce que les enfants sont pris en charge ?
Are the children supported?

Remember: It is important to know that the passive voice is not as frequently used as in English as we usually prefer the active form that starts with the indefinite pronoun “On”.

For example:

This attack is seen as a declaration of war.
On voit cette attaque comme une déclaration de guerre.