Breakdown of Ces œuvres sont exposées par la galerie.
être
to be
ce
this (before a noun)
par
by, through / out of (motive)
l'œuvre
the work (of art or literature)
Questions & Answers about Ces œuvres sont exposées par la galerie.
Why is the present tense formed with sont plus a past participle? Doesn't that look like the past tense?
It does look a lot like the passé composé! However, because this sentence is in the passive voice, the main action is expressed by the past participle (exposées), while the helper verb être (sont) simply tells us the tense. Since sont is in the present tense, the passive action is happening right now: the works "are exhibited".
Why does exposées end in -es?
In the passive voice, the past participle always acts like an adjective and must agree in gender and number with the subject of the sentence. Because the subject, ces œuvres (these works), is feminine and plural, we must add -es to the basic masculine singular past participle exposé.
Why do we use par for "by" here? Are there times we use a different word?
In the passive voice, par is the standard word to introduce the "agent"—the person or thing actually doing the action (in this case, la galerie). You will sometimes see de used to mean "by", but only with specific verbs that describe states of being, emotions, or conditions (like aimé de for "loved by" or connu de for "known by"). For an active physical action like exhibiting, you always use par.
What kind of "works" does œuvres refer to?