A passive sentence flips the perspective on an event. In an active sentence, the subject does something to a patient: Hugo a écrit ce livre. In the corresponding passive, the patient becomes the subject and the doer either disappears or is demoted to a par-phrase: Ce livre a été écrit par Hugo. The truth conditions are the same — the same Hugo wrote the same book — but the focus shifts: the passive sentence is about the book; the active is about Hugo.
This page covers the standard French passive at sentence level: the être + past participle construction, the agent phrases with par and de, the question of when to use the passive at all, and the past participle agreement rule that makes French passives more visible to the eye than their English counterparts. The wider toolkit — the alternative ways French expresses passive meaning without the être construction — is treated in the dedicated passive-strategies page; here we stay with the canonical sentence-level passive.
The basic frame: être + past participle
The French passive consists of three pieces: a subject (the patient), the verb être in the appropriate tense, and the past participle of the lexical verb. The participle agrees with the subject in gender and number — this is non-negotiable.
La porte est fermée.
The door is closed.
Le livre a été écrit par Victor Hugo.
The book was written by Victor Hugo.
La maison sera construite l'année prochaine.
The house will be built next year.
Cette décision avait été prise par le directeur.
This decision had been made by the director.
The tense lives on être: est fermée (present), a été écrit (passé composé), sera construite (future), avait été prise (plus-que-parfait). The participle of the lexical verb stays put and agrees with the subject.
A useful way to see the structure: the passive in French always contains être, and the lexical verb appears only as a participle. There is no equivalent of English get + participle as a passive auxiliary in standard French — the door got closed must be paraphrased differently (often with se faire; see the strategies page).
Past participle agreement with the subject
This is the single most important formal feature of the French passive. The participle agrees in gender and number with the grammatical subject, and the agreement is always visible in writing even when it doesn't change pronunciation.
La maison est construite en pierre.
The house is built of stone. (feminine singular: -e)
Les manifestants ont été arrêtés par la police.
The protesters were arrested by the police. (masculine plural: -s)
Les portes seront ouvertes à neuf heures.
The doors will be opened at nine o'clock. (feminine plural: -es)
Cette loi a été votée hier.
This law was passed yesterday. (feminine singular: -e)
A French speaker who writes la maison est construit without the -e will be marked wrong by any teacher or editor; the agreement is felt as a basic correctness criterion. English passives have no equivalent visual signal — the house is built, the houses are built — so this is a habit learners must build.
The rule operates regardless of tense: la maison est construite, a été construite, avait été construite, sera construite, aurait été construite. In every form, the participle agrees with la maison.
Expressing the agent: par versus de
When the doer of the action needs to be mentioned, French uses one of two prepositions: par (the default, used for actions) and de (used for states, feelings, and a small set of more formal or literary collocations). Choosing between them is one of the genuinely subtle points of French passive grammar.
Par introduces the agent of an action — someone or something who actively did the thing. This is the default and accounts for the vast majority of agent phrases.
La lettre a été écrite par mon grand-père.
The letter was written by my grandfather.
Le voleur a été arrêté par les gendarmes.
The thief was arrested by the gendarmes.
Cette chanson a été composée par Édith Piaf.
This song was composed by Édith Piaf.
De introduces the agent in three more specific contexts. First, with verbs of feeling, esteem, or accompaniment — aimer, respecter, accompagner, suivre, connaître — where the relationship is more a state than an action.
Elle est aimée de tous ses élèves.
She is loved by all her students.
Ce professeur est respecté de ses collègues.
This professor is respected by his colleagues.
Le président était accompagné de sa femme.
The president was accompanied by his wife.
Second, with descriptive or stative passive forms — sentences that describe a result or condition rather than an event.
La table était couverte d'une nappe blanche.
The table was covered with a white tablecloth.
Le ciel était parsemé d'étoiles.
The sky was scattered with stars.
La place est entourée de cafés.
The square is surrounded by cafés.
Third, in fixed expressions and more literary registers, de may appear where par would be the everyday choice. Connu de tous ("known to all"), suivi de près ("followed closely") — these read as more elevated than connu par tous, which would feel slightly awkward.
The pattern under all three uses: de signals that the agent is in a stable, descriptive, or affective relation to the patient, while par signals an active, event-like causation.
Pierre est respecté de ses collègues.
Pierre is respected by his colleagues. (state, feeling)
Pierre a été frappé par un inconnu.
Pierre was hit by a stranger. (event, action)
The two prepositions are not interchangeable. Saying Pierre est respecté par ses collègues sounds slightly off — as if respect were a discrete event rather than an ongoing attitude. Conversely, Pierre a été frappé de ses collègues would be incoherent — the agent here is the cause of an action, and par is required.
When to use the passive — and when not to
This is where French and English diverge most sharply. English uses the passive constantly, in conversation as well as in writing. French uses the être passive much more sparingly, and reserves it for specific contexts.
The passive is a comfortable choice in French when:
- The agent is unknown or irrelevant and the focus is genuinely on the patient.
- The register is formal: news writing, legal language, academic prose, official notices.
- The sentence sits in a written register where the alternatives would feel too colloquial.
Trois suspects ont été interpellés ce matin.
Three suspects were detained this morning. (news register, agent unmentioned)
L'accord sera signé demain à Bruxelles.
The agreement will be signed tomorrow in Brussels.
Ces œuvres sont conservées au musée du Louvre.
These works are kept at the Louvre.
The passive becomes awkward, foreign-sounding, or simply wrong when:
- The sentence is in a casual spoken register.
- The agent is human, indefinite, and conversational ("someone," "people").
- The English original used a passive primarily for stylistic reasons that French handles differently.
In conversation, French speakers reach for on + active verb in cases where English would happily use a passive.
On m'a volé mon portefeuille.
My wallet got stolen. / Someone stole my wallet.
On a annoncé les résultats hier soir.
The results were announced last night.
On parle français au Québec.
French is spoken in Quebec.
Each of these would be a passive in English. In French, on takes the role of generic agent and the verb stays active. The passive equivalents (Mon portefeuille a été volé, Les résultats ont été annoncés, Le français est parlé au Québec) are not wrong, but they sound heavier and more formal than the situation usually warrants.
The competing strategies — on + active, se + verb (the pronominal passive), se faire + infinitive — are covered in detail in the passive-strategies page. The point at sentence level is that an English speaker's instinct to translate was/were + verb directly with a/ont été + participe is often wrong, and that paying attention to register is essential to choosing well.
The passive across tenses
The passive can be formed in any tense by conjugating être in that tense. The participle of the lexical verb doesn't change with the tense.
La maison est construite.
The house is built. (present)
La maison était construite quand je suis arrivé.
The house was already built when I arrived. (imparfait)
La maison a été construite l'an dernier.
The house was built last year. (passé composé)
La maison sera construite avant juin.
The house will be built before June. (futur)
La maison aurait été construite par un architecte célèbre.
The house was supposedly built by a famous architect. (conditionnel passé — used here to mark uncertain reporting)
A note on the difference between est construite and a été construite: the present passive (est construite) typically describes a current state — the house exists, fully built; while the passé composé passive (a été construite) describes the past event of construction. English doesn't always distinguish these clearly (the house is built can mean either), but French does.
La porte est fermée.
The door is closed. (state — currently shut)
La porte a été fermée à dix heures.
The door was closed at ten o'clock. (event — someone closed it)
This is one of the genuinely useful subtleties of the French passive: it can express both a state and an event, depending on the tense of être.
Passives without an agent
Most French être passives don't mention an agent at all. Adding par X is a deliberate choice; omitting it is the default.
Le bâtiment a été détruit pendant la guerre.
The building was destroyed during the war.
Cette règle est respectée dans tous les pays européens.
This rule is observed in all European countries.
Le film sera projeté à dix-neuf heures.
The film will be shown at seven p.m.
When no agent is mentioned, the passive places maximum emphasis on the patient. The reader's attention stays on the building, the rule, the film — the doer is genuinely unimportant or unknown.
This agent-less use is where the passive shines in French. When you do want to name the agent, ask whether par X is doing real work in your sentence. Le livre a été écrit par Hugo is informative because Hugo's authorship is the point. Mon vélo a été volé par quelqu'un is heavy without being informative — quelqu'un adds nothing, and on m'a volé mon vélo is the better choice.
Restrictions: what cannot be passivized
Not every active sentence has a passive counterpart. The basic rule is that only verbs with a true direct object can passivize: their object becomes the subject of the passive sentence.
This excludes:
- Intransitive verbs: dormir, partir, arriver. There is no object to promote.
- Verbs that take an indirect object only: parler à quelqu'un, téléphoner à quelqu'un. French does not allow the indirect object to become the passive subject the way English sometimes does ("she was given a book" — French has no equivalent passive).
- Pronominal verbs: se laver, s'enfuir. Their grammar is already reflexive.
- Verbs of state in many cases: avoir, posséder, coûter — though there are exceptions and idiomatic uses.
❌ J'ai été parlé par Pierre.
Wrong — parler à takes an indirect object, which cannot become the passive subject.
✅ Pierre m'a parlé.
Pierre spoke to me.
This is one of the points where French is stricter than English. English allows I was given a book, I was told the truth, I was offered a job — promoting an indirect object to passive subject. French does not. The corresponding French sentences must stay active or use on: On m'a donné un livre, On m'a dit la vérité, On m'a offert un emploi.
Reading the passive in news and formal writing
If you read French newspapers, government documents, or legal texts, you will encounter the être passive constantly. Recognizing it quickly and parsing the agreement makes complex texts much more accessible.
Le projet de loi a été adopté à l'unanimité.
The bill was adopted unanimously.
Plusieurs personnes ont été blessées dans l'accident.
Several people were injured in the accident.
Une enquête sera ouverte par le procureur.
An investigation will be opened by the prosecutor.
The signature of the news passive is the combination of être in the relevant tense, agreement on the participle, and either no agent at all or a specific institutional agent (par la police, par le gouvernement, par le tribunal). Once you recognize the pattern, the structure of news headlines clarifies dramatically.
Common Mistakes
Forgetting participle agreement with the subject
❌ La maison est construit en pierre.
The participle must agree with la maison — feminine singular -e.
✅ La maison est construite en pierre.
The house is built of stone.
The agreement is automatic for native speakers and feels essential to correctness. Train yourself to add the -e, -s, -es without thinking about it.
Using par where de is expected (or vice versa)
❌ Elle est aimée par tous ses élèves.
With verbs of feeling like aimer, the agent takes de, not par.
✅ Elle est aimée de tous ses élèves.
She is loved by all her students.
The par/de split correlates with action versus state. Aimer, respecter, accompagner describe ongoing relations and take de in the passive.
Translating English passives mechanically with être
❌ Mon vélo a été volé par quelqu'un.
Heavy and uninformative — par quelqu'un adds nothing.
✅ On m'a volé mon vélo.
My bike got stolen. / Someone stole my bike.
When the agent is generic ("someone," "people"), French prefers on + active verb. Reaching for être + participle here marks your French as overly literal.
Trying to passivize an indirect object
❌ J'ai été donné un livre.
French does not allow indirect objects to become passive subjects.
✅ On m'a donné un livre.
I was given a book. / Someone gave me a book.
English allows this kind of passive (I was given); French strictly requires that only direct objects passivize. The fix is on + active.
Treating the present passive and the passé composé passive as interchangeable
❓ La porte a été fermée.
Means 'the door was closed (someone closed it at some point)' — describes the event, not the current state.
✅ La porte est fermée.
The door is closed. (current state)
If you mean the door is currently shut, est fermée is the right choice. If you mean someone closed it at some specific point, a été fermée is right. English often blurs the two; French is more precise.
Key Takeaways
The standard French passive is être + past participle, with the participle agreeing with the subject in gender and number. The agent, when expressed, is introduced by par (default, action) or de (state, feeling, accompaniment). The construction works in any tense, with the tense living on être.
What separates fluent French from textbook French is knowing when not to use the passive. French reaches for on + active in conversational and indefinite-agent contexts where English happily uses a passive. The être passive lives mostly in formal, written, journalistic, and institutional registers; in casual speech, alternative strategies handle the same communicative work.
Three habits to build: always agree the participle with the subject; choose between par and de based on whether the agent's role is event-like (action) or state-like (feeling, accompaniment); and check the register before reaching for the passive at all. If the agent is generic and the sentence is casual, on + active is almost always the better choice.
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