Basic passive voice in the present and passé composé

Paul écrit la lettre.La lettre est écrite par Paul.Paul writes the letter.The letter is written by Paul.

In an active sentence, the subject does the action. In a passive sentence, the subject receives the action instead — the thing that was acted on becomes the subject, and the doer (if mentioned at all) moves into a par-phrase at the end.

Quick shortcut: être (in whatever tense the action happens) + past participle, agreeing with the subject — la lettre est écrite, les lettres sont écrites. The doer, if mentioned, follows par.

Forming the passive: être + past participle

The passive is built with être, conjugated in the tense of the action, plus the past participle of the main verb. Just like a passé composé verb that takes être, that participle agrees with the subject in gender and number:

• La lettre est écrite. (The letter is written.) — feminine singular.
• Les lettres sont écrites. (The letters are written.) — feminine plural.
• Le film est regardé par des millions de gens. (The film is watched by millions of people.) — masculine singular.
• Ces règles sont respectées. (These rules are respected.) — feminine plural.

The passive in the passé composé: avoir été + past participle

To put a passive sentence into the passé composé, put être itself into the passé composé — a été, ont été... — and keep the main verb's participle agreeing with the subject, exactly as in the present:

• La lettre a été écrite par Paul. (The letter was written by Paul.)
• Les fenêtres ont été réparées hier. (The windows were repaired yesterday.)
• Ce livre a été traduit en dix langues. (This book has been translated into ten languages.)

Introducing the agent: par (and sometimes de)

When the doer of the action is mentioned, it usually follows par:

• La maison a été construite par mon grand-père. (The house was built by my grandfather.)

A small set of verbs — mostly ones describing a lasting state, feeling, or covering rather than a single completed action (aimé, respecté, connu, entouré, couvert, accompagné...) — more naturally take de instead:

• Elle est aimée de tout le monde. (She's loved by everyone.)
• La ville est entourée de montagnes. (The town is surrounded by mountains.)

Par is by far the more common choice overall — but a handful of fixed combinations, especially with a state like être entouré de, require de specifically, as the mistake below shows.

Only direct objects can become the subject

A passive sentence can only be built from an active sentence's direct object — never from an indirect object. This is a real difference from English, which does allow an indirect object to become a passive subject ("I was given a book"):

• On m'a donné un livre. (I was given a book. / Someone gave me a book.) — ❌ Je suis donné un livre doesn't exist; me can't become the subject just because it was the indirect object of donner ... à quelqu'un.
• The natural passive here uses the book as subject instead: Un livre m'a été donné. (A book was given to me.) — grammatical, though less natural-sounding than the active version with on.

A separate, more formal construction — the impersonal passive (il m'a été donné un livre) — does technically exist for this situation, but it's rare and bookish; in practice, on + active verb is what French speakers actually reach for.

When to use the passive

The passive is most useful when the doer of the action is unknown, unimportant, or already obvious from context — the focus shifts to what happened to the subject rather than who did it:

• La banque a été cambriolée cette nuit. (The bank was robbed last night.) — the robbers aren't named.
• Le musée a été rénové. (The museum has been renovated.) — who renovated it doesn't matter here.

In everyday spoken French, an active sentence with the impersonal on often replaces the passive when the agent is unknown or unimportant — on a cambriolé la banque is at least as natural as the passive version above. Both are correct; the passive is more common in writing.

Common mistakes

• ❌ La lettre est écrit. → ✅ La lettre est écrite. (the participle must agree with the subject, just like with être in the passé composé)
• ❌ Je suis donné un livre. → ✅ On m'a donné un livre. / Un livre m'a été donné. (an indirect object can never become a passive subject in French)
• ❌ La lettre a écrit par Paul. → ✅ La lettre a été écrite par Paul. (the passé composé passive needs être itself in the passé composé — a été — not just the main verb's participle)
• ❌ La ville est entourée par montagnes. → ✅ La ville est entourée de montagnes. (a small set of state/feeling verbs prefer de over par)

Quick check

Key takeaways

• The passive is être (in the tense of the action) + past participle, with the participle agreeing with the subject in gender and number.
• In the passé composé, être itself goes into the passé composé: a été / ont été + participle.
• The agent, when mentioned, usually follows par; a small set of state/feeling verbs (aimé, entouré, connu...) more naturally take de.
• Only a direct object can become the subject of a passive sentence — an indirect object never can, unlike in English.
• Everyday French often prefers an active sentence with on over the passive when the agent is unknown or unimportant.