In a French passive sentence, the agent — the doer of the action — is introduced by either par or de. The choice is not free, and it is not random. Par is the modern default: it names someone who does something. De is reserved for a smaller set of contexts where the relationship between subject and agent is more about state, feeling, or description than about a discrete event. La maison a été construite par Pierre (action) but la rue est bordée d'arbres (state). Choosing the wrong preposition is the kind of mistake that immediately marks a foreign accent in writing — even when the sentence is otherwise correct.
This page sets out the rule, the verbs that pattern with each preposition, and the cases where both are possible with a subtle nuance. It is a B2 page because the distinction matters most when you start producing literary, journalistic, or formal French.
The basic rule: action vs state
The semantic distinction is sharp, even if the boundary occasionally blurs.
par introduces the agent of an action — a discrete, dynamic event with a doer.
de introduces an agent (or quasi-agent) in a sentence describing a state, a feeling, or a standing relationship.
Compare these two pairs:
La maison a été construite par Pierre.
The house was built by Pierre. — discrete action, dynamic event → par.
La rue est bordée d'arbres centenaires.
The street is lined with century-old trees. — describes a state, not an event → de.
Le voleur a été arrêté par deux policiers.
The thief was arrested by two officers. — action → par.
Le château était entouré de hautes murailles.
The château was surrounded by high walls. — state of being surrounded → de.
In the par sentences, you can picture the agent doing the action: Pierre laying bricks, the officers wrestling the thief into a car. In the de sentences, the "agent" is not really doing anything — it's part of the surrounding configuration that the subject sits in.
Par: the default
For the vast majority of passive sentences in modern French, the agent is introduced by par. Anything that names a discrete action — building, writing, breaking, signing, painting, killing, electing, repairing, teaching, treating — defaults to par.
Le livre a été écrit par cet auteur en moins de six mois.
The book was written by this author in less than six months.
L'enfant a été élevé par sa grand-mère pendant les premières années.
The child was raised by his grandmother during the early years.
Le tableau a été peint par un artiste flamand au XVIIe siècle.
The painting was done by a Flemish artist in the 17th century.
Le projet sera financé par l'Union européenne et la région.
The project will be funded by the European Union and the region.
L'enquête est menée par un juge d'instruction indépendant.
The investigation is being led by an independent investigating magistrate.
If you have any doubt, default to par. Writing le tableau a été peint de Monet is a clear error; writing le tableau a été peint par Monet is unimpeachable. The danger of over-using par is mild stylistic awkwardness in a few specific cases. The danger of over-using de is producing sentences that are simply ungrammatical.
De: where it lives
The de-agent is more restricted. It clusters around a small number of semantic groups, all of which share the property that the relationship being described is more stative than eventive.
Verbs of emotion and attitude
When the verb describes a feeling, attitude, or evaluation directed toward the subject — the subject is loved, hated, respected, feared by someone — the agent is typically introduced by de.
Common verbs: aimer, adorer, détester, haïr, respecter, admirer, estimer, mépriser, craindre, redouter, oublier (in the sense "be forgotten by").
Cette professeure est aimée de tous ses élèves.
This teacher is loved by all her students.
Il est respecté de ses collègues, même quand ils ne sont pas d'accord avec lui.
He is respected by his colleagues, even when they disagree with him.
Ce dictateur était craint de tout le pays.
That dictator was feared by the whole country.
Cette grande figure est admirée des jeunes générations.
This great figure is admired by the younger generations.
Ce poète, longtemps oublié du grand public, est aujourd'hui redécouvert.
This poet, long forgotten by the wider public, is being rediscovered today.
The reasoning: emotions are not actions. To say X est aimé de Y is not to describe an event of loving but a continuous state of affection. Par would make the love sound oddly punctual.
Verbs of accompaniment and surroundings
When the agent is part of the spatial or social configuration around the subject — what surrounds, accompanies, follows, precedes, or borders — French uses de.
Common verbs: entourer, accompagner, suivre, précéder, border, longer, escorter.
Il est entouré d'amis qui l'aident à traverser cette épreuve.
He's surrounded by friends who are helping him get through this ordeal.
Le président est suivi de ses gardes du corps à chacun de ses déplacements.
The president is followed by his bodyguards on every trip.
La voiture officielle était précédée de deux motards.
The official car was preceded by two motorcycle escorts.
La place est bordée de cafés et de restaurants typiques.
The square is lined with typical cafés and restaurants.
L'allée principale est bordée d'arbres taillés en forme de cône.
The main path is lined with cone-shaped trimmed trees.
Note how each of these describes the surrounding scene rather than an action being done. Using par with these verbs (entouré par des amis, bordée par des arbres) is not strictly wrong, but it shifts the emphasis: it suggests a more active, deliberate action by the agent — appropriate for bordé par les manifestants (deliberately blocking the road) but odd for trees.
Verbs of coverage, filling, and decoration
When the verb describes the subject being covered, filled, decorated, loaded, or otherwise composed of something, the agent is de.
Common verbs: couvrir, remplir, charger, garnir, orner, décorer, peupler, parsemer.
La table est couverte de fleurs et de bougies.
The table is covered with flowers and candles.
Le ciel est rempli d'étoiles ce soir.
The sky is filled with stars tonight.
Le panier était chargé de provisions pour la semaine.
The basket was loaded with supplies for the week.
Les murs sont ornés de tableaux du XIXe siècle.
The walls are adorned with 19th-century paintings.
Le jardin est peuplé d'oiseaux qui chantent dès l'aube.
The garden is populated with birds that sing from dawn.
The intuition here is similar: les fleurs are not acting on the table. They constitute its current state. Using par would imply someone actively performing the covering — appropriate for couverte par un drap (someone draped a sheet over it just now), less appropriate for the static composition.
Verbs of knowledge and renown
When the subject is known, recognized, or acknowledged by someone, de is the traditional choice — though par is increasingly common in this group.
Common verbs: connu, ignoré, oublié, reconnu, apprécié (in the sense "esteemed").
Ce phénomène est connu de tous les physiciens depuis longtemps.
This phenomenon has long been known to every physicist.
Cette région reste largement ignorée des touristes étrangers.
This region remains largely unknown to foreign tourists.
Son nom est reconnu de tous dans le monde de l'édition.
His name is recognized by everyone in the publishing world.
These overlap with the emotion category — knowledge, like feeling, is more a state than an act.
Verbs that take both, with a nuance
A handful of verbs accept both par and de, and the choice carries a real semantic difference. Learn to hear it.
aimer, respecter, suivre
Il est aimé par tous.
He is loved by all. — slightly more event-focused, suggests active demonstrations of affection.
Il est aimé de tous.
He is loved by all. — more stative, more poetic; the standing affection of all those around him.
Le suspect est suivi par deux policiers.
The suspect is being followed by two officers. — active surveillance, ongoing pursuit → par.
Le président est suivi de deux gardes.
The president is followed by two guards. — accompanied by, walking with → de.
Cet artiste est respecté par ses pairs.
This artist is respected by his peers. — they acknowledge his work; almost an active stance.
Cet artiste est respecté de ses pairs.
This artist is respected by his peers. — the standing reputation he has among them.
The difference is delicate but real. Par edges toward action, de toward state. If you want to convey "the relationship of respect that exists between him and his peers," you say de. If you want to convey "his peers actively show him respect," par fits better. Both are correct.
Modern drift toward par
In contemporary spoken French, par is encroaching steadily on de's territory. Aimé par tous, entouré par ses amis, suivi par ses gardes are all heard, especially in less literary registers. The de forms remain the more idiomatic and elegant choice in formal writing, journalism, and literature, but par is acceptable across the board for everyday use.
This means you can produce comprehensible French even if you default to par throughout. But if you want to write polished French — essays, articles, fiction — internalizing the de-verbs is worth the effort.
A quick reference list
The high-frequency verbs that take de for their passive agent:
| Category | Verbs |
|---|---|
| Emotion | aimer, adorer, détester, haïr, respecter, admirer, estimer, mépriser, craindre, redouter |
| Accompaniment | entourer, accompagner, suivre, précéder, border, longer, escorter |
| Coverage / filling | couvrir, remplir, charger, garnir, orner, décorer, peupler, parsemer |
| Knowledge / renown | connaître (être connu), ignorer (être ignoré), reconnaître, oublier |
Everything else — and that's the vast majority — defaults to par.
Drill: identifying the right preposition
Read each sentence and pick par or de. The reasoning is given after each.
Le sénateur a été interrogé par la commission pendant trois heures.
The senator was questioned by the commission for three hours. — discrete action of questioning → par.
Les rues étaient parsemées de feuilles mortes.
The streets were dotted with dead leaves. — descriptive coverage → de.
Cet écrivain est apprécié de ses lecteurs depuis trente ans.
This writer has been esteemed by his readers for thirty years. — standing relationship of appreciation → de.
Le toit de l'église a été restauré par une entreprise locale.
The church roof was restored by a local company. — concrete action → par.
Le ministre est arrivé suivi de toute son équipe.
The minister arrived followed by his whole team. — accompaniment → de.
Cette zone est surveillée par des caméras vingt-quatre heures sur vingt-quatre.
This area is monitored by cameras around the clock. — active surveillance → par.
La salle était comble, remplie d'admirateurs venus de toute l'Europe.
The room was packed, filled with admirers from all over Europe. — descriptive filling → de.
Le contrat a été signé par les deux parties hier matin.
The contract was signed by both parties yesterday morning. — concrete event → par.
Comparison with English
English speakers do not make this distinction at all — by covers both par and de. The street is lined with trees by [the city] and the senator was questioned by the commission both use by in English; in French they sit on opposite sides of the par/de divide.
The closest English analogue is the choice between by and with: English uses with for many of the cases where French uses de (lined with trees, covered with snow, filled with people), and by for the action cases (built by, signed by). This is not a perfect match, but it is a useful heuristic: if your English sentence sounds natural with with, French will probably want de.
The room is filled with smoke.
La salle est remplie de fumée. (with → de)
The roof was repaired by the contractor.
Le toit a été réparé par l'entrepreneur. (by → par)
The bride was followed by her bridesmaids.
La mariée était suivie de ses demoiselles d'honneur. (English by, French de — accompaniment)
The third example shows where the with-heuristic breaks down: English uses by for accompaniment, but French still uses de. The English-to-French mapping is not algorithmic; you have to internalize the French semantic categories.
Common Mistakes
❌ La table est couverte par des fleurs.
Wrong: 'couvrir' takes 'de' for its passive agent when describing the state of being covered. 'Par' would imply someone is actively in the act of covering it.
✅ La table est couverte de fleurs.
The table is covered with flowers.
❌ Cette professeure est aimée par tous ses élèves.
Acceptable in casual speech but stylistically off in writing. Verbs of emotion idiomatically take 'de' when describing standing affection.
✅ Cette professeure est aimée de tous ses élèves.
This teacher is loved by all her students.
❌ La maison a été construite de Pierre.
Wrong: 'construire' is a verb of action, not a verb of state or emotion. The agent must be introduced by 'par'.
✅ La maison a été construite par Pierre.
The house was built by Pierre.
❌ Il est entouré par d'amis.
Two errors: 'par' here should be 'de' (entourer is an accompaniment verb), and 'par d'amis' is a contraction error — 'par' does not contract with 'des/d''.
✅ Il est entouré d'amis.
He's surrounded by friends.
❌ Le ciel est rempli par étoiles.
Two errors: missing article, and 'remplir' takes 'de' rather than 'par' for the descriptive sense. Note that 'de' contracts with the indefinite plural article: 'de des étoiles' → 'd'étoiles'.
✅ Le ciel est rempli d'étoiles.
The sky is filled with stars.
Key takeaways
- par is the default for the passive agent. Use it for any verb describing an action.
- de is reserved for verbs of emotion (aimer, respecter, craindre), accompaniment (entourer, suivre, border), coverage (couvrir, remplir, orner), and knowledge (connu, ignoré).
- The deeper semantic principle: par names a doer; de names an element of state, feeling, or composition.
- Some verbs (aimer, suivre, respecter) take both, with a nuance — par leans active, de leans stative and more literary.
- Modern colloquial French increasingly uses par across the board, but the de-forms remain idiomatic in writing.
- When in doubt, par is safe. De with a non-de-verb is clearly ungrammatical; par with a de-verb is merely stylistically less polished.
- The English heuristic: where English uses with (covered with, filled with, lined with), French often wants de; where English uses by for an action, French uses par.
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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 dans Tous les TempsB1 — The French passive across every tense — present, imparfait, passé composé, plus-que-parfait, futur simple, futur antérieur, conditionnel, subjonctif. The auxiliary être conjugates in any tense; compound passive tenses double up on the auxiliary structure.
- 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 Pronominal à Sens PassifB1 — French speakers prefer the pronominal passive — *ce livre se lit facilement*, *le vin rouge se boit avec la viande* — over the heavy *être + past participle* in many everyday contexts. It's the natural way to express norms, instructions, and how things are done.