The Present Conditional in the Passive Voice

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 conditional. Let’s start with a simple example.

Active Voice	Passive Voice
S’ils étaient ponctuels,on les prendrait au sérieux. If they were punctual, they would take them seriously.	S’ils étaient ponctuels, ils seraient pris au sérieux. If they were punctual, they would be taken seriously.

Notice that the verb in the active voice is “prendrait”. It is the present conditional of the verb “prendre” in the active voice. In the second sentence, the form of the verb became: “seraient pris” which is the passive form of the present conditional.

The form of the present conditional in the passive voice

The Present Conditional in the Active Voice	The Present Conditional in the Passive Voice
the root of the verb + rais, rais, rait, rions, riez, raient	the auxiliary “être” in the present conditional + the past participle of the verb

Let’s take the verb prendre

Active Voice	Passive Voice
je prendrais	je serais pris(e)
tu prendrais	tu serais pris(e)
il prendrait	il serait pris
elle prendrait	elle serait prise
on prendrait	on serait pris
nous prendrions	nous serions pris(e)s
vous prendriez	vous seriez pris(e)s
ils prendraient	ils seraient pris(e)s
elles prendraient	elles seraient pris(e)s

Notice that in the active voice the past participle of the verb agrees with the subject that precedes it, whereas in the passive voice, the past participle agrees with the direct object that precedes it.

Let’s take another example:

Si moi j’allais faire le marché habillée comme ça, les gens me prendraient pour une folle.
If I went shopping dressed like that, people would think I was crazy.

Si moi j’allais faire le marche habillée comme ça, je serais prise pour une folle.
If I went shopping dressed like that, I would be taken for crazy.

The Passive voice of the present conditional in the negative form

The negative form of the present conditional in the passive voice is obtained by putting the auxiliary “être” in the present conditional between “ne” and “pas” then adding the past participle of the verb.

For example:

Active Voice	Passive Voice
Il m’a promis que cette agence ne mettrait pas ma maison en vente. He promised me that this agency would not put my house for sale.	Il m’a promis que ma maison ne serait pas mise en vente par cette agence. He promised me that my house would not be put for sale by this agency.
Elle nous a prévenus que la compagnie d’assurance ne rembourserait pas notre fille. She warned us that the insurance company would not reimburse our daughter.	Elle nous a prévenus que notre fille ne serait pas remboursée par la compagnie d’assurance. She warned us that our daughter would not be reimbursed by the insurance company.

The passive voice of the present conditional in the interrogative form

There are three ways to ask questions in French. To avoid confusion, we will only study the passive voice of the “est-ce que” form. The interrogative form of the present conditional in the passive voice is obtained by adding “est-ce que” to the sentence in the passive voice.

For example:

Active Voice	Passive Voice
Est-ce que cette agence mettrait ma maison en vente ? Would this agency put my house for sale?	Est-ce que ma maison serait mise en vente par cette agence ? Would my house be put for sale by this agency?
Est-ce que la compagnie d’assurance rembourserait notre fille ? Would the insurance company reimburse our daughter?	Est-ce que notre fille serait remboursée par la compagnie d’assurance ? Would our daughter be reimbursed by the insurance company?