English speakers learning French often produce sentences that are technically correct but unmistakably foreign — La lettre a été écrite par moi, Les enfants ont été punis par leur père, Le livre a été lu par tout le monde. Each sentence is grammatical. None of them is what a French speaker would say. The reason is that French, while it possesses a full passive voice, treats it as a marked, written, often heavy choice. Where English defaults to the passive whenever the patient is more interesting than the agent, French routes the same idea through one of several alternative constructions — and choosing the right alternative is a B2-level skill that separates fluent speakers from textbook speakers.
This page maps the entire toolkit. We will move from the most familiar (the être passive) through the strategies that actually carry the load in modern French (on, se + verbe, se faire) to the more specialized constructions (être à + infinitif, the de agent for verbs of feeling). At the end, a register-and-context map helps you pick the right one in a given situation.
The être passive: when to use it, and when not to
The textbook passive is être + past participle, with the agent introduced by par. The participle agrees with the subject in gender and number — this is non-negotiable.
Le château a été construit au XVIIᵉ siècle par Louis XIV.
The château was built in the 17th century by Louis XIV.
Cette loi sera votée demain par l'Assemblée.
This law will be voted on tomorrow by the Assembly.
Les manifestants ont été dispersés par la police.
The protesters were dispersed by the police.
This passive is alive and well — but it lives mostly in written, formal, journalistic, or institutional registers. News headlines use it constantly: Trois suspects ont été arrêtés. Legal and academic writing rely on it heavily. Spoken French uses it sparingly, and almost never with par + agent in casual conversation.
A direct consequence: many English passives that are perfectly conversational become marked or odd in French passive form. Compare:
❌ Mon vélo a été volé par quelqu'un.
Awkward — overly heavy for spoken French; the par-phrase is uninformative.
✅ On m'a volé mon vélo.
Someone stole my bike. (literally: 'one stole my bike from me')
✅ Je me suis fait voler mon vélo.
I got my bike stolen.
The English speaker's instinct is the être passive; the French speaker's instinct is on or se faire. The shift is so consistent that it is worth treating as a translation rule: when an English passive has a vague or unmentioned agent, do not reach for être in French — reach for on first.
On + active: the workhorse of spoken French
On (etymologically from Latin homō, "person") is the single most important strategy for avoiding the passive. It allows the verb to stay active while leaving the agent generic, indefinite, or unspecified — which is exactly what an agentless English passive does. Crucially, on takes the third-person singular form of the verb (on parle, on a vu, on dirait).
On parle français au Québec.
French is spoken in Quebec. / People speak French in Quebec.
On a annoncé les résultats hier soir.
The results were announced last night.
On dit qu'il est malade.
It is said that he is ill. / They say he's sick.
On m'a appris à conduire à dix-huit ans.
I was taught to drive at eighteen.
The English-speaking learner needs to internalize that on is not slangy or informal in itself — it is the neutral, default impersonal subject in modern French, used in newspapers, academic writing, and conversation alike. (It overlaps with colloquial "we," but that is a separate use; see pronouns/subject/on.) The translation key works in both directions: when you see an agentless English passive, the safest first try in French is an active sentence with on.
On vous attend depuis une heure.
You've been kept waiting for an hour.
On a interdit le tabac dans les restaurants en 2008.
Smoking was banned in restaurants in 2008.
The one limit: on requires that the implied agent be human. You cannot use it when the agent is a force, a substance, or an inanimate cause.
Se + verbe: the pronominal passive for inanimate subjects
When the subject is inanimate and the agent is generic, French often prefers the passif pronominal — a reflexive construction with passive meaning. The verb is in third person, the subject is what would have been the object in an active sentence, and se sits before the verb.
Le français se parle dans cinq continents.
French is spoken on five continents.
Ce vin rouge se boit chambré.
This red wine is drunk at room temperature.
Les billets se vendent en ligne.
Tickets are sold online.
Ce mot ne se dit plus.
That word isn't used anymore.
Ça ne se fait pas.
That isn't done. / That's not the done thing.
The pronominal passive shines for generic statements about how things work — usage, custom, sale, consumption, language. It feels lighter than the être passive and more idiomatic than on when the subject is non-human. It is overwhelmingly common in cookbooks, instruction manuals, and any writing that describes habitual or conventional behaviour.
The construction has two important constraints:
- The subject is normally inanimate. Les enfants se battent means "the children are fighting (each other)" — a reciprocal reading, not a passive one. With human subjects, se
- verbe defaults to reflexive or reciprocal interpretations.
- The reading is generic, not eventive. Cette maison s'est construite en 1900 sounds odd because a one-time completed construction with a real builder is not what the pronominal passive describes. Use a été construite or on a construit instead. The pronominal passive expresses how something is done in general, not what happened on a specific occasion.
Se faire + infinitif: when the subject is affected
Se faire + infinitif is one of the most under-taught and most useful constructions in French. It means roughly "to get [verbed]" or "to have something done to oneself" — the subject is the experiencer of an action carried out by someone else, and there is usually an implication that the subject is affected by what happened (often negatively, but not always).
Il s'est fait voler son portefeuille dans le métro.
He got his wallet stolen on the metro.
Elle s'est fait insulter par un inconnu.
She was insulted by a stranger.
Tu vas te faire renvoyer si tu continues.
You're going to get yourself fired if you keep this up.
Je me suis fait couper les cheveux hier.
I got my hair cut yesterday.
On s'est fait arnaquer par ce vendeur.
We got ripped off by that seller.
Note the contrast in the last two examples: se faire couper les cheveux is causative (the subject arranged for it to happen), while se faire arnaquer is adversative (the subject suffered it). French does not formally distinguish the two — context does the work — but the construction is overwhelmingly used for events that happen to the subject rather than by the subject.
A subtle point on agreement: in se faire + infinitif, the past participle fait does not agree with the subject when followed by an infinitive. Elle s'est fait voler (not faite), Ils se sont fait insulter (not faits). This invariability rule for fait + infinitif has been standard for a long time and was reaffirmed by the Académie française in 1990. If you write faite you will be marked wrong on a French exam.
Se laisser + infinitif: passive submission
Closely related is se laisser + infinitif, which expresses that the subject allowed the action to happen — passive submission, often with a critical or self-critical tone.
Il se laisse insulter sans réagir.
He lets himself be insulted without reacting.
Ne te laisse pas faire !
Don't let yourself be pushed around!
Elle s'est laissé convaincre par ses amies.
She let herself be talked into it by her friends.
The agreement rule for se laissé/laissée parallels se faire: when followed by an infinitive, laissé often does not agree (the 1990 reform recommends invariability), though older usage agrees with the subject when the subject is also the agent of the infinitive. In practice, modern editors prefer invariable laissé.
The semantic distinction between se faire and se laisser is real: se faire + INF says the action happened to the subject; se laisser + INF adds that the subject did not resist or even consented. Il s'est fait avoir ("he got duped") is neutral; il s'est laissé avoir ("he let himself be duped") implies he should have known better.
Être à + infinitif: prospective passive
A specialized but elegant construction is être à + infinitive, which expresses that something remains to be done or is fit to be done. It is a kind of prospective passive — closer to English "to be Xed" in the sense of "needs Xing" or "is to be Xed."
C'est à voir.
It remains to be seen. / We'll have to see.
Cette maison est à vendre.
This house is for sale.
Ces documents sont à signer avant lundi.
These documents are to be signed before Monday.
Tout est à refaire.
Everything needs to be redone.
Ce film est à voir absolument.
This film is an absolute must-see.
The construction is compact, idiomatic, and frequent in real estate listings, classified ads, recipes, and instructions. There is no single English equivalent — it patches together what English distributes across "for sale," "to be done," "needs," and the gerund.
Verbs of feeling: the de agent
A small but important class of verbs takes de (not par) to introduce the agent in passive constructions. These are verbs of feeling, attitude, and abstract relation — aimer, respecter, connaître, suivre, accompagner, précéder, entourer — where the agent is in a stable mental or relational state rather than performing a one-time action.
Cette présidente est aimée de tous.
This president is loved by everyone.
Il est respecté de ses collègues.
He is respected by his colleagues.
La maison est entourée d'arbres centenaires.
The house is surrounded by century-old trees.
Cette professeure est connue de tous ses étudiants.
This professor is known to all her students.
The choice between par and de tracks the distinction between a discrete act (par) and an ongoing state (de). Détruite par un incendie (destroyed by a fire — a single event) versus aimée de ses élèves (loved by her students — an enduring sentiment). Get this wrong and your sentence will sound off, even if it parses. See verbs/passive/by-agent-par-vs-de for the full list and finer distinctions.
Choosing the right strategy: a register and meaning map
| Construction | Register | When to use |
|---|---|---|
| être + participe (+ par) | written, formal, journalistic | a definite past event, often with an explicit or implied institutional agent |
| on + active | neutral, conversational | the agent is human, generic, or unimportant |
| se + verbe (passif pronominal) | neutral | the subject is inanimate; generic, habitual, or descriptive statement |
| se faire + infinitif | conversational | the subject is affected by the action (often adversely); also causative ("get something done") |
| se laisser + infinitif | neutral, slightly literary in some uses | the subject submits to or permits the action |
| être à + infinitif | neutral, idiomatic | something remains to be done or is fit for an action |
| être + participe + de | neutral, slightly literary | the agent is in an ongoing emotional/relational state with the subject |
A practical heuristic for English speakers: start with on, then check the others. If the agent is human and unspecified, on is almost always the most natural choice. If the subject is inanimate and you are describing a habit or a how-it-works, switch to se + verbe. If the subject was affected (especially adversely) by the action, se faire is your friend. Reach for the être passive only when you have a specific, identifiable agent that you want to introduce with par, or when you are writing in a formal register where the construction is expected.
Common Mistakes
❌ Le livre a été lu par moi.
Awkward — never use the par-passive with a personal pronoun in conversation.
✅ J'ai lu le livre.
I read the book. (Just use the active.)
❌ Mon ordinateur a été volé.
Possible but heavy in spoken French; sounds like a police report.
✅ On m'a volé mon ordinateur.
My computer was stolen. (literally 'one stole my computer from me')
❌ Elle s'est faite voler son sac.
Incorrect — when se faire is followed by an infinitive, fait does not agree with the subject.
✅ Elle s'est fait voler son sac.
Her bag got stolen.
❌ Cette maison s'est construite en 1900.
Awkward — pronominal passive does not work for one-time completed events.
✅ Cette maison a été construite en 1900.
This house was built in 1900.
❌ Ce livre est aimé par tout le monde.
Stilted — verbs of feeling take 'de', not 'par'.
✅ Ce livre est aimé de tout le monde.
This book is loved by everyone.
❌ Le français parle ici.
Incorrect — without 'se', this means 'French speaks here'.
✅ Le français se parle ici.
French is spoken here.
❌ Il a été dit qu'elle viendrait.
Heavy and bookish in conversation, though grammatical.
✅ On a dit qu'elle viendrait.
It was said she would come.
Key Takeaways
The être passive exists, but it is the least conversational of French's passive strategies. Reserve it for written and formal registers, or when you genuinely want to foreground an explicit par-agent.
For everyday agentless statements, default to on + active verb. This is the single biggest shift an English speaker needs to make.
For inanimate, generic, or descriptive subjects (how something is done, sold, eaten, said), use se + verbe — the pronominal passive.
When the subject is affected by an action — especially something happening to them — reach for se faire + infinitif (or se laisser + infinitif if they permitted it).
Use être à + infinitif for things that remain to be done or are fit for a use — à voir, à vendre, à signer.
When the agent is in an ongoing emotional state (love, respect, surroundedness), use de rather than par to introduce them.
Mastering these alternatives is what makes the difference between writing French that is correct and writing French that sounds French.
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Start learning French→Related Topics
- Le Passif: OverviewB1 — French passive voice formed with être plus past participle agreeing with the subject. Less common than English passive — French often prefers 'on' + active or the pronominal passive ('ça se vend bien').
- Le Passif: éviter le passif avec onB1 — French uses the passive voice less than English. The most common substitute is 'on' + active verb — a generic third-person subject that translates English 'one,' 'people,' 'someone,' or simply renders the English passive in active form.
- Le Passif Pronominal RevisitéB1 — The pronominal passive (subject + se + verb) lets French express passivity without être. Idiomatic for habits, characteristics, and general truths about non-human subjects: ce livre se lit facilement, le vin se boit avec la viande.
- Le Passif: par vs deB2 — When the passive agent takes par (default, for actions) versus de (for states, emotions, descriptions). Verbs of feeling, accompaniment, and coverage typically take de; the rest take par.
- On: pronom multifonctionA1 — On is the most useful pronoun in French — generic 'one,' colloquial 'we,' and a passive substitute, all in one syllable. This page covers the three uses, the strict 3sg conjugation, the surprising semantic-plural agreement (on est arrivés), and the register split that has made on the dominant 'we' in spoken French while nous survives in writing.
- Se Faire + Infinitive: Passive CausativeB2 — Se faire + infinitive is the natural French equivalent of English 'have something done' and 'get + V-ed' — covering both deliberate arrangements (se faire couper les cheveux) and accidental events (se faire voler, se faire arrêter). Master this construction and you replace clunky paraphrases with idiomatic French.