The Past 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 past conditional. Let’s start with a simple example.

Active Voice	Passive Voice
Un virus aurait provoqué cette maladie. Apparently, a virus caused this disease.	Cette maladie aurait été provoquée par un virus. This disease was apparently caused by a virus.

Notice that the verb in the active voice is “aurait provoqué”. It is the past conditional of the verb “provoquer” in the active voice. In the second sentence, the form of the verb became: “aurait été provoquée” which is the passive form of the past conditional of the verb “provoquer”.

The form of the past conditional in the passive voice

The Past Conditional in the Active Voice	The Past Conditional in the Passive Voice
the auxiliary “avoir” in the present conditional + the past participle of the verb	the auxiliary “être” in the past conditional + the past participle of the verb

Let’s take the verb chasser

Active Voice	Passive Voice
J’aurais chassé	J’aurais été chassé(e)
Tu aurais chassé	Tu aurais été chassé(e)
Il aurait chassé	Il aurait été chassé
Elle aurait chassé	Elle aurait été chassée
On aurait chassé	On aurait été chassé
Nous aurions chassé	Nous aurions été chassé(e)s
Vous auriez chassé	Vous auriez été chassé(e)s
Ils auraient chassé	Ils auraient été chassés
Elles auraient chassé	Elles auraient été chassées

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:

Active Voice	Passive Voice
Si mon oncle n’était pas intervenu, ils nous auraient fouillés. If my uncle hadn’t intervened, they would have searched us.	Si mon oncle n’était pas intervenu, nous aurions été fouillés. If my uncle hadn’t intervened, we would have been searched.

The Passive voice of the past conditional in the negative form

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

For example:

Active Voice	Passive Voice
Si vous étiez arrivés à l’heure, ils ne vous auraient pas mis à la porte. If you had come on time, they wouldn’t have thrown you out.	Si vous étiez arrivés à l’heure, vous n’auriez pas été mis à la porte. If you had come on time, you wouldn’t have been thrown out.
Si elles n’avaient rien fait, la police ne les auraient pas arrêtées. If they hadn’t done anything, the police wouldn’t have arrested them.	Si elles n’avaient rien fait, elles n’auraient pas été arrêtées par la police. If they hadn’t done anything, they wouldn’t have been arrested by the police.

The passive voice of the past 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 past 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
Si vous étiez arrivés à l’heure, est-ce qu’ ils vous auraient mis à la porte ? If you had come on time, would they have thrown you out?	Si vous étiez arrivés à l’heure, est-ce que vous auriez été mis à la porte ? If you had come on time, would you have been thrown out?
Si elles n’avaient rien fait, est-ce que la police les aurait arrêtées ? If they hadn’t done anything, would the police have arrested them?	Si elles n’avaient rien fait, est-ce qu’elles auraient été arrêtées par la police ? If they hadn’t done anything, would they have been arrested by the police?